Formal Play: Chinese Lettering Manuals from the 20th Century

In the early twentieth century, a unique of form of lettering called meishuzi emerged in China against a backdrop of profound cultural, political, and social change. Occupying an ambivalent position among a deeply rooted calligraphic tradition and a rapidly changing print tradition, meishuzi became an experimental playground unencumbered by traditional notions of form making and the constraints of print technology.

Initially the domain of commercial artists with a simple goal of drawing as much attention to words as possible, the practice of meishuzi spread to a more general audience and was eventually marshaled into larger ambitions of nation-building. Capturing these dynamics are the many instructional books produced during this period which documented shifting attitudes and ideas in lettering. 

Drawing on Letterform Archive’s collection of these manuals spanning 1930 to 1971, this talk examines the dynamics among visual experimentation, tradition, and politics and the negotiations in form making that emerged. What the saga of meishuzi reveals is not a set of specific styles but a set of lettering practices amid turbulent change.