The writing system which is rather mature and can Be used to record Chi-nese literature comprehensively is supposed to have begun with the Inscrip-tions on Bones and Tortoise Shells of the Xia and Shang dynasties. Inscrip-tions on Bones and Tortoise Shells can also be called Characters of Yin Ruins (because it was found in the remains of Yin, capital of the Shang Dynasty) or Oracle inscriptions (for most of which were records of divination).
    Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells are pictographic and have the characters of Pictographic Characters and Associative Compounds as the major part. The inscriptions are slim in form. Even in the same paragraph, the words may be of different sizes or forms. All the above are evidences that the Inscriptions on Bones and Shells are consistent with the characteristics of the ancient pictographic characters.
    Time elapsed. In order to meet the needs of "lasting long, " people began to engrave words into the bronze wares, which resulted in the Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Objects and Bronze Inscriptions (bells and tripods are the most frequently seen in bronze). In the Western Zhou Period, the characteristics of the Bronze Inscriptions developed predictably: strokes of the characters are fuller and thicker than those of the inscription on bones and tortoise shells. In the late Western Zhou Period, the Bronze Inscriptions became more and more symbolized and abstract instead of being pictographic, and became to appear square in shape. Generally speaking, there are more pictographic characters in the Bronze Inscription than in the Inscriptions on Bones and Tortoise Shells, but less variant in forms and less complicated in strokes.
    Great changes took place in the late Zhou Dynasty. Soon the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period came into being. The later generations named the words used by the Qin State in this period as "the Big Seal Charac-ters." Big Seal Characters were based on the Bronze Inscriptions. However they are more even in strokes than the latter and more neat and reasonable in structure.
After unifying the six states, the Qin State unified characters in order to consolidate and develop its country. This is a big reform in the character his-tory of China. Characters after the reform were called Xiaozkuan (the Small Seal Characters), or Seal Characters of Qin, with the inscribed stone of the Qin State on Mt. Tai as representative. Since then inscriptions of seal charac-ters have become one of the Chinese traditional arts.
    Xiaozhuan are more well-balanced and tidy in shape and more concise than Big Seal Characters. A large number of the variant forms of Chinese characters in the Bronze Inscriptions had disappeared. Strokes of Xiaozhuan turned out round and well-balanced. All of the above indicated that Xi-aozkuan had been further regulated and set writing, which realized an epoch-making step on the basis of the Big Seal Characters. As means of written com-munication,  Xiaozhuan are easier to use; as the unified characters by the state, the use of Xiaozhuan occupies a very important historical position. From the viewpoint of philology, Xiaozhuan is a bridge connecting the an-cient Chinese characters and the modern ones.
After the unification of China by the Qin State,  people changed the round stokes of Xiaozhuan into square ones, and even made some omissions sometimes only for the sake of convenience. Thus there came into being the Official Script, also called the Official Script of Qin. In the Han Dynasty, the Official Script had become popular and occupied the dominant position, while Xiaozhuan declined rapidly.
    The Official Script changed the round shape of Xiaozhuan into square one, and developed strokes of different forms, which were rather beautiful and decorative.
    The Official Script had almost lost all the pictographic characteristics of the former Chinese characters. Chinese characters were transformed into writ-ten symbols, which were purely made up of strokes, to record Chinese lan-guage. The Official Script is a milestone in the history of Chinese characters' development,  laying a solid foundation for the square Chinese characters which has been in use for over 2,000 years.
    During the Han Dynasty, the Official Script developed into a standard letter-form, and also further evolved into the Cursive Hand. First, there ap-peared Zhangcao (the Ancient Cursive Hand), with stokes of grass style, which are easier and quicker to write; then Jincao (Today's Cursive ttand), which is more fluently and quickly written; finally there came Kuangcao (the Unchained Cursive Hand), very difficult to read because of its quick and u-nique writing which has broken away from the pragmatic value and become a pure art.
    With the Official Script's changing into Cursive Hand,  the Regular Script came into being in the end of the Han Dynasty. The Regular Script had steady and well-balanced structure and was square in shape. Easy to write and read, it can serve as a model, which is why it was called the Regular Script. The development of the Regular Script reached its climax during the Tang Dy-nasty. The Movable-Type Printing in the Song Dynasty equipped the Regular Script with standard print hand. The Regular Script which is still in use today is the letter form used for the longest time of any.
    Between the Cursive Hand and the Regular Script there was the Running Hand, which was popular during the Wei and Jin periods, or the Northern and Southern dynasties, and is still used today. It's quicker in writing than the Regular Script and much easier to grasp than the Cursive Hand, while combining the simplicity of the former together with the fluency of the latter. So far, it is still the most used letter-form for handwriting.
    In a word, Chinese characters have had a long history. Its birth and de-velopment have been a long and complicated process. During its progress, the steady and invariable aim has been toward a convenient means of visual com-munication that has been concise and standardized as well as pleasant to the eye.