Regular script

Sheng Jiao Xu by Chu Suiliang: calligraphy of the Kaishu style
Sheng Jiao Xu by Chu Suiliang: calligraphy of the Kaishu style

The regular script, or in Chinese kaishu (楷書 pinyin: kǎishū) and Japanese kaisho, also commonly known as standard regular (正楷), is the newest of the Chinese calligraphy styles (peaked at the 7th century), hence most common in modern writings and publications (after the non-calligraphic printing Song Ti). It is also occasionally known as true script (真書 zhēnshū) and standard script (正書 zhèngshū).

Regular script came its current form in the 5th century during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Script from this period is the "Wei regular" (魏楷 Weikai). Some consider the regular script to be the direct derivative of clerical script, while others believe running script also has influence in some regular script calligraphers' styles as well.

The most famous regular script calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty whose style are imitated by latecomers include:

  • The early Tang four great calligraphers (初唐四大家):
    • Ouyang Xun (歐陽詢)
    • Yu Shinan (虞世南)
    • Chu Suiliang (褚遂良)
    • Xue Ji (薛稷)
  • "Yan-Liu" (“顏柳”)

Those regular script characters with width (or length) larger than 5 cm (2 in) is usually considered larger regular script, or Dakai (大楷), and those smaller than 2 cm (0.8 in) usually small regular script, or xiaokai (小楷). Those in between are usually called medium regular script, or zhongkai (中楷). Or are compared in relation to those around.

'Kaishu' in Regular Script
The characters "Kaishu"

Beginners often are recommended to start with the Eight Principles of Yong, which are said to contain the fundamentals of most, if not all, of the regular script calligraphy.

Notable artifacts with the Regular Scripts include:

The Zhuyin used to annotate texts, although not true Chinese characters, are virtually always written in the regular script style as well.