Fangsong (or Imitation Song) is a style of

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

for

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s modeled after that used in block-printed works from Lin'an during the

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

. The script used in the printed work is derived from

regular script The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period , and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the t ...

. Fangsong is the standard typeface in official documents produced by the Chinese government, and civil drawings in both China and Taiwan.

Characteristics

Characteristics of Fangsong typefaces include: *The basic structure of

. *Relatively straight strokes, with horizontal strokes slanting up slightly. *Low stroke width variation between horizontal and vertical strokes, with strokes usually being relatively thin. *Overall geometrical regularity.

History

The

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

industry that began during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

reached an apex in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, during which there were three major areas of production: *

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, where publications imitated the regular script of

Ouyang Xun Ouyang Xun ( zh, c=歐陽詢, w=Ou-yang Hsün, p=Ōuyáng Xún; 557–641), courtesy name Xinben ( zh, c=信本, w=Hsin-pên, p=Xìn běn), was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, and writer of the early Tang dynasty. He was born in Changsha, Huna ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, where publications imitated the regular script of

Yan Zhenqing Yan Zhenqing (; 709 – 23 August 784) was a Chinese calligrapher, military general, and politician. He was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy is equal to ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, where publications imitated the regular script of

Liu Gongquan Liu Gongquan (), courtesy name Chengxuan () (778—865), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, and politician who lived during the late Tang dynasty, Tang dynasty. Liu Gongquan was especially famous for regular script () and was one of the 4 calli ...

When Song lost control of northern China to the

Jin dynasty (1115–1234) The Jin dynasty (, ), officially known as the Great Jin (), was a Jurchen people, Jurchen-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and empire ruled by the Wanyan clan that existed between 1115 and 1234. It is also often called the ...

, its capital was moved to Lin'an (modern

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

), where there was a revival of printing, especially literature from Tang left in what was conquered by the Jin dynasty. Many publishers were established in Lin'an, including ''Chén zhái shūjí bù'' (陳宅書籍鋪) established by Chen Qi (), from which publications used a distinct style of regular script with orderly, near-constant-width, straight strokes, simplifying carving for

woodblock printing Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of textile printing, printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page ...

. Modern typefaces that imitate this Song Dynasty carving style are called Fangsong, or "imitation Song", typefaces. The first typeface of this kind was produced in 1915 by brothers DING Shanzhi and DING Fuzhi, based on block-printed books from the Song dynasty as well as the stroke design in a Qing Dynasty copy of 朱柏庐先生治家格言 which was block-printed in an imitation Song style. The resulting metal

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...

face was called Juzhen Fangsong (). It was used by the to print a collection of classical texts called ' starting in 1921.

In computing

The aforementioned standard uses of Fangsong all make use of digitized typefaces. "fangsong" was added to the list of generic font families in CSS Font Module Level 4 of 2024. This allows a Fangsong font to be used without knowing its name, the same way writing "serif" in CSS requests any serif font.

References

Chinese calligraphy Chinese type styles {{typ-stub