As people’s communication became more frequent in the Eastern Han Dynasty, they tended to seek a more efficient way to do their handwriting. At the same time, paper was invented which facilitated writing. Cao Shu or Cursive Script as is seen and written today was developed and became mature and very common in the Jin Dynasty (265 AD to 316 AD). A sample is shown on the right.
This free flowing and much abbreviated style enabled the writer who was normally an educated person to express himself * artistically. Characters were not confined to their respective squares and could be written as small or as large as the calligrapher wished. Characters can be positioned leaning towards the left or the right and strokes may have various thickness and can be joined together so as to create as much contrast as possible yet maintaining harmony in the entire calligraphy work.
*There were not that many women who were fortunate enough to have an education in ancient China, but the most famous and respected Chinese calligrapher in the entire Chinese history, WANG XiZhi, learned calligraphy from a lady by the name of Madame Wei.
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