Like European writing, the same word could be recognized whether written in Gothic script or italics, whereas Chinese characters had six different writing styles.
The oldest script was "seal script." Nowadays, it was generally used for carving seals or stamps. After Lam Qua finished a work for a Chinese client, he would leave his own seal on it, and collectors who acquired a famous painting would likewise leave their own stamps.
Seal script developed several different forms, generally used for inscriptions or book prefaces. Later, seal script evolved into "clerical script," the Qin dynasty's new official writing style. Documents drafted by government offices had to be written in clerical script.
Later still came "regular script," a standardized style. Scholars and men of letters who hoped to rise in the world all learned to write regular script. It then evolved into "running script," a rapid writing style, or rather, a freer style, though no strokes could be omitted. By contrast, for the sake of quick notation, "cursive script" allowed writing to be done in a concise and swift manner. Merchants often used this style, and some ancient books also used cursive script for their prefaces.
"Song typeface" was named after the Song dynasty. During the Song dynasty, printing developed by leaps and bounds. Printing was a movable-type technique in which Chinese characters were carved onto wood. This technology had been invented at the beginning of the tenth century AD, and forty years after its appearance, the Song dynasty was founded. Of all the typefaces, this was the one most similar to the writing Nick had seen on the note with the lotus flower.
In Water Margin, Gao Qiu won the emperor's favor because he was skilled at cuju, while Cai Jing became Huizong's chancellor because he excelled at calligraphy. Many people