háng shū 行书
Running Script
介于草书和楷书之间的一种书法艺术形态。它保留了隶书的基本结构，以自然连笔、书写流畅便捷、容易辨识为主要特征。一般认为行书起源于东汉刘德升，盛行于魏晋。行书有“行进”和“行云流水”的意思，它没有固定的形态和写法，不属于一种独立的字体，适合于任何书写工具，不同人的书写各有特色。东晋王羲之（303—361，一作307—365，又作321—379）的《兰亭集序》、颜真卿（708—784）的《祭侄季明文稿》、苏轼（1037—1101）的《寒食帖》是三大行书法帖典范，风格鲜明，具有极高的审美价值。
Running script is a calligraphic form between cursive script and regular script. A Chinese character written in the style of running script retains the basic structure of characters written in official script. Running script features smoothly-linked strokes, and the characters written in this style are easy to recognize. Generally, people believe that running script was created by Liu Desheng of the Eastern Han Dynasty and became popular in the Wei and Jin eras. This writing style reminds one of drifting clouds and flowing water. It has no fixed arrangement for the radicals of a character and can be executed with any writing tools. The same characters written in this style by different people are different in appearance. The best-known masterpieces in this style are Wang Xizhi’s (303-361, or 307-365, 321-379) “Preface to the Collection of Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion,” Yan Zhenqing’s (708-784) “Draft Elegy to Niece Ji Ming,” and Su Shi’s (1037-1101) “The Cold Food Observance.” They are distinctive in style and have great aesthetic value.
