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What is Chinese Cursive? | TutorMing Blog

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What is Chinese Cursive?

August 20, 2014 (http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/what-is-chinese-cursive/) / Sara
(http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/author/mingadmin/)

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As a native speaker of Mandarin, a question I often get from my foreign friends
is What does Chinese cursive look like?
We dont really have a word for cursive in Mandarin. The closest is (co
sh), literally means rough script. The character also appears in the phrase
rough draft, , however it is also the character for grass. Thus, you may
notice that sometimes Chinese cursive is mistranslated into grass script. If
someones handwriting is messy or rough, you can use the word as an
adjective.
Note: Chinese cursive is different from Chinese calligraphy. Calligraphy is the
art of putting ink on paper in words. Chinese cursive is merely a style of
penmanship. There are Chinese calligraphers that choose to write in print.
Below is an example of Chinese cursive side by side with normal Chinese
typography.

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(http://www.tutorming.com/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/cursivechinese.png)
Image Source: Wikipedia
As you can see, the number of strokes diminishes and the strokes merge
together. To put it quite simply, Chinese cursive to us looks like English
cursive does to you.
Most modern Chinese is written from left to right, however calligraphers
usually write the traditional way up to down and right to left.
Cursive Chinese handwriting is extremely difficult for beginners at Chinese to
read. In order to read Chinese handwriting, you need to know the strokes.
Especially the order of the strokes, and which way they are written. With those
who write with very languid strokes, even native speakers have those what
the heck is that supposed to say? moments. There are times when someones
handwriting is so scribbled that even were at complete losses as to what it
says.
That is partially why Chinese cursive is no longer as commonly used. It can be
difficult to read, and in the digital age, many people type on a computer
instead of writing things by hand.
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Handwriting is sometimes considered as a representation of that person. In

fact, people have once used these interpretations to compare the handwriting
of two opposing leaders in Chinas history: Mao Zedong and Chiang-Kai-shek.

(http://www.tutorming.com/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/handwriting.jpg)
From Maos handwriting (left) we can see that it is very script-like. People have
said that his handwriting has no frame, just like that of a poets, which they
say represent his style of thinking.
Chiangs writing, on the other hand, looks extremely neat and orderly. Each
character would fit into a perfect square. People say that it looks like the
writing of a military man, which perhaps represented his philosophy.
What do you think? If you learn Chinese, would you attempt ?
Chinese Language (http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/category/chinese-language/), Culture
(http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/category/chinese-culture/), Learning Chinese
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Comments
7 Stroke Order Rules for Chinese | TutorMing Blog
(http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/7-stroke-order-rules-forchinese/) says:
April 3, 2015 at 1:06 am (http://www.tutorming.com/blog/index.php/what-is-chinesecursive/#comment-37748)

[] Chinese. Having the wrong stroke order would cause ink to fall
differently on the page and make Chinese cursive literally indistinguishable.
No worries, were here to []

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