HSING-SHU

Pinyin Xingshu (Chinese: running script), a semicursive Chinese script that developed out of the Han-dynasty li-shu script at the same time that the standard k'ai-shu script was evolving (1st3rd century AD). The characters of hsing-shu are not abbreviated or connected, but strokes within the characters are often run together. The best-known example of early surviving Chinese calligraphy, Lan-ting hs (Essay on the Orchid Pavilion), written in 353 by Wang Hsi-chih but surviving only in a T'ang copy (618907), is written in this script.