section_path: History/Cursive and semi-cursive
section_name: Cursive and semi-cursive
paragraph_text: Cursive and semi-cursive
  
  Cursive script (草书; 草書; cǎoshū) was in use as early as 24 BCE, synthesising elements of the vulgar writing that had originated in Qin with flowing cursive brushwork. By the Jin dynasty (266–420), the Han cursive style became known as 章草 (zhāngcǎo; ' orderly cursive '), sometimes known in English as 'clerical cursive', 'ancient cursive', or 'draft cursive'. Some attribute this name to the fact that the style was considered more orderly than a later form referred to as 今草 (jīncǎo; ' modern cursive '), which had first emerged during the Jin and was influenced by semi-cursive and regular script. This later form was exemplified by the work of figures like Wang Xizhi (303–361), who is often regarded as the most important calligrapher in Chinese history.
  
  An early form of semi-cursive script (行书; 行書; xíngshū; ' running script ') can be identified during the late Han, with its development stemming from a cursive form of neo-clerical script. Liu Desheng (劉德升; c. 147 – 188 CE) is traditionally recognised as the inventor of the semi-cursive style, though accreditations of this kind often indicate a given style's early masters, rather than its earliest practitioners. Later analysis has suggested popular origins for semi-cursive, as opposed to it being an invention of Liu. It can be characterised partly as the result of clerical forms being written more quickly, without formal rules of technique or composition: what would be discrete strokes in clerical script frequently flow together instead. The semi-cursive style is commonly adopted in contemporary handwriting.