Large Seal Script: Chinese Writing before Qin 大篆：先秦文字

The development of Chinese calligraphy in the Pre-Qin period can be divided into four phases, namely the Shang dynasty, the Western Zhou dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period.

There were few historical materials about Chinese writing until oracle-bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty appeared. It is said that there was a book of rubbings from the Yu period of the Xia dynasty (2070 BC), but its authenticity cannot be confirmed. Therefore, it is more reliable to say that the history of Chinese calligraphy stated from the Shang dynasty.

The Chinese writing characters in the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties had already involved the three basic elements in calligraphy art, namely the line strokes, word structure and composition. The earliest forms of calligraphy were mainly represented by oracle-bone inscription of the Shang dynasty and bronze inscription of the Western Zhou dynasty.

The representative writing in the Spring and Autumn Period is probably the Meng Shu (Alliance Pledge). They were found written on cloth, wood and jade. The writing was normally light and swift. The picture shown below is the famous Houma Mengshu written on jade. It is mainly a record of how the aristocrat Zhao Meng of the Jin State made use of the alliance pledge to bring the defeated adherents under control so as to consolidate his own ruling position after conquering his political opponents. The characteristic of each stroke is that the starting (head) is heavy and the ending (tail) is light, resembling a tadpole. This writing gave some hint of the creation and development of clerical (li) and cursive (cao) styles in the Han Dynasty.

It is believed that the stone drum inscription first appeared in the Warring States period, probably in the Qin state. It is considered to be a transitional form from bronze inscription in the Zhou dynasty to later small seal script in the Qin dynasty.

Large Seal script or Great Seal script is a traditional reference to all types of Chinese writing systems used before the Qin dynasty. The term is in contrast to the name of the official script of the Qin dynasty, which is often called Small or Lesser Seal Script (Xiaozhuan, also termed simply seal script). However, due to the lack of precision in the term, scholars often avoid it and instead refer more specifically to the provenance of particular examples of writing.

.

先秦的书法文字发展可以分为四个阶段：商朝，西周，春秋与战国。

在甲骨文出现以前，有关中国文字的历史资料很少。据说禹的夏朝（公元前二世纪）有一本书的拓本，但无法考证其真实。所以，比较可信的说法是，中国书法的历史始于商朝。

商朝与西周的书写文字都已经具备了书法艺术的三个基本元素：线条、结字与章法。最早的书法形式以商朝的甲骨文与西周的金文为代表。

盟书可能是春秋时期的书写代表。盟书书写于帛、木与玉。文字一般轻飘。这里所显示的是著名的‘候马盟书’。它记录了晋国的贵族赵孟（赵简子）以盟书来控制被他击败的对手，并在战胜他的政治对手后加强他的政治地位。每字的线条头重尾轻，犹如蝌蚪。这种写法显然对汉朝的隶属与草书有启示作用。

一般认为石鼓文可能出现于战国时期的秦国。它被认为是由金文到秦朝篆书的过渡文字。

传统上，所有秦朝以前的文字都叫做‘大篆’。这是与秦朝官方文字‘小篆’相对照。但是，为了避免混乱，学者一般避免用‘大篆’而引用个别字体名称。