Chinese Characters

After the Warring States period (475 BC-221BC), only seven states survived. The script used in Qin State fell into the category of the large Script. However, the scripts used in the other six state were different in their appearance. These scripts were called the Six-State Ancient Script. During the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), Prime Minister Li Si collected all the different systems of writing used in different parts of the country in an effort to unify the writing system. He simplified the ancient Zhuan and created the Small Seal Script. These styled characters look more semiotic because they have fewer strokes and moved further away from earlier Pictorial representations. Lishu, the Clerical Script, came into being during the period between the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty. At that time, government offices employed a large number of Liren, low-grade clerks, to copy the huge flaw of government documents. These clerks had to turn the curved and rounded strokes of the Seal Script into linear and square shapes to speed the copying of documents. This script was thus called Lishu, The Clerical Script. Initially people used either the Small Script or the Clerical Script. Gradually the clerical writing style became more widespread until it replaced the Seal Script in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).
The common use of the Clerical script marks a turning point in the development of written Chinese characters. According to etymologists all the written scripts that are used before the birth of the Clerical Script should fall into the category of ancient style characters, which include the Oracle Bone Script, the Bronze Script, the Large Seal Script, and the Small Seal Script. The Clerical Script and other styled scripts born a later date belong in the category of modem styled characters.