Cursive script is the most visually striking form of Chinese calligraphy.
Different calligraphers have created their own unique versions of it for millennia.
Its largely illegible to all but a few experts.
But its expressive charm and striking energy have secured its place as a crowning jewel in Chinese fine art.
Contents
Cursive script: Overview
Cursive script (also known as grass script) is the ‘fastest’ and most abbreviated version of Chinese calligraphy.
It is generally considered the most artistic type, too – the closest to ‘abstract art’ of all the scripts.
(There are two other popular scripts: regular script and running script. And there are several other more archaic ones, including clerical, seal, etc.)
It reduces and even transforms Chinese characters down to their most fundamental elements, like shorthand.
But unlike shorthand, it isn’t trying to be as practical or efficient as possible.
It’s trying to be expressive and directly communicate calligraphers’ thoughts and feelings in ink.
Mastery of cursive script requires a solid grounding in the other, more formal scripts. Only then that calligraphers fluently can push their brushwork to its limits.
‘Cursive script’ in Chinese
In Chinese, the word for cursive script (草书 [cǎoshū]) is made up of the words 草 (cǎo) ‘draft’, ‘rough’ and also the word for ‘grass’, and 书 (shū) which here means ‘writing’.
Looking at the characters directly, it’s clear that it was likely named to reflect the sense of ‘draft’ or ‘rough’.
However, the double-meaning included grass is also useful. In traditional Chinese culture, grass can be associated with flexibility.
君子之德风，小人之德草。草上之风，必偃。
– Analects (12.9)
A gentleman’s moral power is like wind, the common man’s is like grass. Under the wind, the grass must bend.
Types of cursive script
The three main types of cursive script:
- Draft cursive (章草 [zhāngcǎo]): The earliest form, which appeared during the Eastern Han Period (25 – 220 AD). This emerged for practical usage, as a shorthand for clerical script, which is more complicated than today’s regular script.
- Today’s cursive (今草 [jīncǎo]): First developed during the late Han period. This was influenced by draft cursive but featured more sustained strokes and frequent linkages
- Wild cursive (狂草 [kuángcǎo]): the most cursive version of cursive script, appearing a century into the Tang dynasty and later partially named after the ‘mad monk’ Huaisu (see below).
Further sub-categories exist, too.
For example, running-grass script (行草), an intermediate style exists between running (semi-cursive) script (行书) and cursive script (草书).
Cursive script features
Unlike these other scripts, cursive rarely uses distinct strokes for – or between – characters.
Its brushwork often gives characters a curved and rounded appearance. This is achieved in part by using a mixture of the following brush techniques:
- Centre brush: Using the very tip of the brush. This creates a thin, even and pointed effect.
- Side brush: Tilting the brush to give the thickest possible stroke. This creates a sword blade-shaped stroke.
- Turning brush: Like centre brush but with rapid changes of direction. This gives a ‘crinkled’ effect.
- Rolling brush: Using the side brush, or part of the side brush, to create turns that often include thin joining section.
- Folding brush: Like the rolling brush but using different segments of the brush, which creates a more uneven ink distribution.
The size/length of cursive script characters also varies more than in other scripts.
Features such as long connecting lines between strokes also distort the proportions of characters.
Cursive script also often uses both thick and thin layers of ink.
Like a diver holding his breath, the calligrapher needs to load up on ink. The cursive style requires less strokes than other styles, but it also enables fewer returns to the inkstone.
The rapid ‘deployment’ of ink can also lead to many instances of faded or ‘hollow’ strokes (where the ink is unevenly distributed on the brush).
History of cursive script
Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 BC)
Zhang Zhi (? – 192 AD)
Zhang Zhi was a Han dynasty calligrapher from Yuanquan, Gansu Province.
Despite failing the imperial exams, Zhang dedicated himself to mastering calligraphy.
He is credited with creating zhangcao style, which is seen as the first cursive style script.
Known as the ‘Grass Sage’, he is celebrated as one of the Four Sages of Calligraphy alongside Zhong Yao, Wang Xizhi, and Wang Xianzhi.
Zhao Yi’s ‘Polemic Against Cursive Script’
The Confucian scholar-official Zhao Yi (late 2nd – early 3rd century) critiqued cursive script during the Eastern Han period. He wrote:
[隶草] 趋急速耳，示简易之指，非圣人之业也。[…] 且草书之人，盖伎艺之细者耳。乡邑不已此较能，朝廷不以此科吏，博士不以此讲试 […] 夫务内者必阙外，志小者必忽大。[…] 天地至大而不见者，方锐精于虮虱，乃不暇焉。 第以此篇研思锐精，岂若用之于彼圣经 […]
– Zhao Yi, ‘Polemic Against Cursive Script’
[Cursive script] tends towards speed and expresses simplification and ease. It is not a vocation for Sages. […] Practitioners of cursive script are amongst the most inconsequential of artisans. Counties and towns do not use such skill to test people, neither does the imperial court use it to classify the officials…. Those who focus on what is within will definitely fall short of what is outside. Those with such small purpose can only overlook what is grand…. Those who cannot see the vastness of heaven and earth, are too focused on insects and fleas. Rather than researching and thinking about cursive script, would it not be better to focus on Seven Classics? […]
It’s not difficult to think of Confucian justifications against specialising on cursive script.
This notion re-appeared in various guises throughout the centuries. But ultimately, it was never taken up in a meaningful way by calligraphers.
Jin dynasty (265 – 420 AD)
Wang Xizhi (303 – 361 AD)
Wang Xizhi is known in China as ‘the calligraphy sage’ (书圣).
In other words, he is generally regarded as China’s greatest calligrapher.
He is famous for excelling at all scripts, and he often mixed elements of different scripts in the same pieces.
Wang worked in most draft cursive and modern cursive scripts. He skilfully manipulated his brush to ‘conceal’ its tip, which helped him shape the contours of his strokes.
And he balanced the spaces within and between characters differently, which gives his work its unique sense of spontaneity – an essential element of cursive script.
Wang Xianzhi (344 – 386 AD)
Wang Xianzhi was Wang Xizhi’s seventh son.
A highly regarded calligrapher in his own right, Wang Xianzhi’s cursive script is even more dynamic than his father’s. He also used more linkages between characters.
The elder Wang was generally favoured in later centuries (especially after the Tang dynasty, when the Emperor Taizong heavily promoted his style).
However, his son’s influence followed not far behind through the centuries.
Tang dynasty (618 – 907 AD)
Sun Guoting (ca.646 – ca. 691)
Sun Guoting was a relatively low-level official during the early Tang.
Not much is known about his life but, remarkably, his one extant work Treatise on Calligraphy (687), survived to this day.
Written in a brilliant, fluid cursive script, it covers the history of the art and details its different scripts, including cursive:
Cursive script takes dots and lines as its living spirit, and curving movement as its corporal structure. When it violates the principle of curving movement, it cannot form characters.
– Sun Guoting, Treatise on Calligraphy
Zhang Xu (ca. 675 – 759 AD)
Zhang Xu was an eccentric calligrapher and poet from the High Tang period.
He is acclaimed throughout China for his ‘crazy cursive’ calligraphy and poetry.
Born in Wu County, Jiangsu Province, he came from a prominent family of calligraphers on his maternal side.
He was one of the ‘Eight Immortals of the Cup’. This label was created by Du Fu (712 – 770) to describe eight intellectuals known for their drinking in Chang’an (the Tang capital).
It’s said that Zhang would use his long hair as a brush while intoxicated. He developed a unique cursive style, later named ‘crazy cursive’ (狂草). It reflects his strong personality and deep trance-like focus.
Zhang’s Four Ancient Poems Model is his most notable work.
Huaisu (737 – 799 AD)
Huaisu was an eccentric monk calligrapher known for determined study and practice of calligraphy.
Like Zhang Xu, he was fond of drinking and writing calligraphy whilst intoxicated. In fact, the two are often linked (though they never met) with the phrase – ‘Crazy Zhang and Drunk [Huai]Su’ (颠张醉素).
Huaisu’s strokes are often noticeably thinner than Zhang’s. His strokes were also clearly influenced by the work of Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785 AD), who he is said to have diligently studied.
Huaisu’s most famous work is his Autobiography. There are some doubts about its authenticity.
However, it is still highly praised for its original style, which could have been inspired by other Huaisu’s works.
Song dynasty (960 – 1279)
Huang Tingjian (1045 – 1105)
Huang Tingjian was a leading Song dynasty calligrapher and poet.
He claimed his ideas on cursive script developed suddenly when he was walking through mountains and inspired by nature.
Only two of Huang’s cursive script pieces survive. Their style is both rounded and refined, suggesting a gentle – but controlled – hand that avoids sharp shapes.
Mi Fu (1051 – 1107)
Mi Fu was another of calligraphy’s great eccentrics.
He was famous for his encyclopaedic knowledge of past calligraphy and transfixed dedication to practice and refinement.
Like Huasu, Mi Fu was heavily influenced by yan Zhenqing’s brushstrokes. He belnded this with the fruits from his diligent study of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.
His cursive style veers more towards the wild cursive (as opposed to today’s cursive) and mixed in elements of running and even standard script.
He frequently alternated the sizing, rhythm and shapes of his characters.
Fan Chengda (1126 – 1193 AD)
Fan Chengda was a great officials, poet, and calligrapher.
He passed the imperial exams in 1154 and famously bravely served as the special envoy to the Jin dynasty in 1170.
Despite being a leading calligrapher of the Southern Song period, only a handful of his works have survived.
His cursive script was greatly influenced by Huang Tingjian’s style.
Yuan dynasty (1260 – 1368)
Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322)
Zhao Mengfu was the leading calligrapher of the Yuan dynasty.
As a high-ranking official, Zhao travelled across the Yuan empire viewing different works. He mastered all scripts, including cursive, by studying ancient models.
Kangli Naonao (1295 – 1345)
Kangli Naonao was an ethnically Mongol Yuan official steeped in Chinese learning and culture.
He was the longest serving member of The Hall of the Stars of Literature Academy set up Jayaatu Khan (Emperor Wenzong) (r. 1328 – 29).
He was famous for his mastery of cursive script, based on the cursive of Wang Xizhi.
However, unlike Wang (and Zhao Mengfu), he used a centre-tipped brush technique, meaning he held the brush high and perpendicular to paper. This was something Huaisu, too, had done.
Kangli’s work is full of smooth, even-width strokes, unlike the more angular, alternating work of Wang and Zhao.