Qing Zhuanshu: Inheritance And Evolution,

The Qing Seal Script (zhuan shu) plays an important part in the Chinese calligraphy history. Seal Script had long been declining prior to Qing. But because of the emergence of inscription archeology, Seal Script regained its public interest in the Qing dynasty. And the late Qing witnessed the booming and evolving of the Seal Script for almost a hundred year. Many excellent calligraphers, while inheriting the tradition, explored new form and styles, and created huge amount of great calligraphic works. Later on, the establishment of inscriptology ( Bei Xue) also revolutionized Seal Script. The thriving Seal Script was both the need and result of inscription archeology. And it shows the maturity of Chinese Calligraphy in Qing dynasty as well as the openness of the calligraphers at that time.The inheritance and transformation of the Seal Script tradition reveals the social and cultural change in Qing. Seal Script had long been treated as entry level calligraphy until Qing, when it had been applied with multiple form and styles. It is fair to say that it is in Qing when the Seal Script finally got back to the family of calligraphy art. Also it is during that time, the Seal Script started to merge into other forms of calligraphy creation. And the Chinese calligraphy stepped into a new era which is characterized by confluence and innovation.This paper explores some of the Seal Script calligraphers' biography and works. It also categorizes the Seal Script based on the styles for analysis and explanation from my view as a calligraphy practitioner , with expectations to gain insights on how the social and cultural changes of Qing affected scholars' perspective on calligraphy, how this changing perspective affected the Seal Script styles and how we could learn to preserve and develop this old traditional art in our contemporary context.