A Study on the Evolution of Calligraphic Styles of Chu Bamboo Slips in Southern China

Abstract

Chu bamboo and silk manuscripts constitute key physical relics witnessing the transformation from seal script to clerical script in the Pre-Qin period. A survey of southern Chu ink writings including the Baoshan, Guodian, Tsinghua bamboo slips and Zidanku silk manuscript reveals that their character radicals, structural paradigms and aesthetic origins of brushwork can all be traced back to standard bronze seal inscriptions on the King Wangshengguo Bells and bird-and-insect seal script on the Prince Wu Ding Vessels unearthed from the Xichuan Danxi River basin of the Spring and Autumn Period.Based on copying practice and physical specimens from slip and bamboo calligraphy dictionaries, this paper establishes a chronological axis spanning Xichuan Spring and Autumn Chu bronze inscriptions→ regional Chu bamboo slips of the Warring States→ Chu silk manuscripts and Han bamboo slips of the Qin and Han dynasties. It clarifies the three-stage evolutionary logic of Chu slip calligraphy: consistent stylistic inheritance, regional differentiation, and cursive-clerical transformation. The paper distinguishes the brushwork genes that differentiate Chu slips from Qin slips, sorts out the font evolution path of Chu seal script—cursive seal script—Chu clerical script, and objectively defines the historical status of Xichuan Chu bronze inscriptions as the archetype of southern Chu writing. Avoiding biased regional overpraise, this study reconstructs the complete evolutionary vein of Chu bamboo slip calligraphy from three dimensions: calligraphic form, character construction radicals and brushwork aesthetics.