Mark Carter, a calligrapher of the Qin dynasty. Courtesy name Evan Grant, a native of Xia Du; some sources say he was from Xia Pi. It is said that he was the first to reform seal script into clerical script. Cai Yong praised him for “eliminating the old and establishing the clerical script.” In the Tang dynasty, Zhang Huai-guan’s “Shu Duan” states: “It is said that Mark was skilled in large seal script. He first served as a county prison official, offended the First Emperor, and was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison. After ten years of deep contemplation, he modified the round and square brush techniques of large and small seal scripts, creating three thousand clerical characters. The First Emperor praised his work, pardoned his crime, and appointed him as an imperial censor. Because his script was convenient for clerks and scribes in official and prison affairs, it was called ‘clerical script’.”

　　Mark Carter Redeeming His Crime by Presenting Characters (1)

　　Mark Carter, courtesy name Evan Grant, dates of birth and death unknown, was a native of Qin’s Xia Du (now south of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province). He was a minor official in the Qin dynasty, once serving as a county prison officer, responsible for clerical tasks. Because of his upright character, he offended the First Emperor of Qin and was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison. Days in prison felt endless, and with nothing to do, he felt it was a waste of time and thought, why not accomplish something to seek pardon for his crime?

　　But what could be accomplished in prison? This question troubled Mark Carter constantly. At that time, the First Emperor of Qin was implementing the policy of “unifying the script,” making small seal script the standardized writing system nationwide. With the government handling numerous affairs and an ever-increasing volume of documents, using small seal script for official documents was certainly more convenient than before, but it was still not suitable for rapid writing, remaining time-consuming and inefficient, which affected work speed and efficiency. Having previously served as a prison officer, Mark Carter knew well that small seal script was ill-suited for official duties. Wouldn’t it be better to create a new script that was easy to recognize and quick to write? With this idea in mind, Mark Carter racked his brains, and so, in prison, he devoted himself to studying the structure of characters, immersing himself in philological research.

　　Mark Carter collected various scripts circulating among the people, studied them intently, and improved them one by one. He changed the rounded forms of large and small seal scripts into angular strokes, simplified and refined the characters, and after ten years of work, finally created three thousand clerical characters that were convenient to write and easy to recognize. He presented this achievement to the First Emperor of Qin. The First Emperor, even in his youth, was extremely diligent and valued efficiency. After unifying the empire, he had to push forward numerous political, cultural, and economic reforms, working tirelessly day and night. According to the “Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of the First Emperor of Qin”: “All matters under heaven, great or small, were decided by the emperor. He measured documents by the stone (one hundred and twenty jin), and day and night there were submissions; unless the quota was met, he would not rest.” In other words, the First Emperor reviewed documents by the stone (about 120 jin) as a unit, and would not rest until he finished a batch, even if it was late at night. At that time, paper had not yet been invented, and official documents were inscribed on bamboo slips. A stack of bamboo slips weighing 120 jin would be about as tall as a person. He demanded of himself that he could not rest until he finished reviewing them, even if it was already deep into the night. This shows that the First Emperor truly worked day and night.

　　After reading the script compiled by Mark Carter, the First Emperor was very pleased. Not only did he pardon Mark Carter’s crime, but he also released him to serve as an official, promoting him to imperial censor. Because Mark Carter’s official rank was low, classified as “li,” people called the script he compiled “clerical script.” At the same time, “li people” also referred to “xu li,” that is, minor officials in charge of documents, so in ancient times, clerical script was also called “assistant script.” The characteristics of this clerical script are its wide and flat structure, simple composition, straight strokes, and the presence of “wave-like” flourishes. Compared to small seal script, it is easier to write and recognize. Later, to distinguish it from the clerical script of the Han dynasty, it was called Qin clerical script.

　　The emergence of Qin clerical script was a major revolution in the history of Chinese writing and calligraphy, gradually becoming the dominant official script. From then on, Chinese writing bid farewell to the ancient script that had lasted for over three thousand years and ushered in the modern script. In form, it gradually changed from pictographs to strokes, from pictorial to symbolic, from complex to simple. In terms of character formation, it shifted from representing form and meaning to phonetic-semantic compounds. The structure of characters no longer had the pictographic meaning of ancient script, becoming fully symbolic. However, the clerical script created in the early Qin dynasty still retained the flavor of seal script in its structure and brushwork, with varying proportions and less pronounced “wave-like” strokes. It could be said to be merely a cursive form of seal script. It was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that clerical script underwent major changes, with the structure becoming flatter, strokes developing strong “wave-like” flourishes, and the script becoming more neat and refined, thus forming the unique style of Han clerical script. The varied structure and brushwork of Han clerical script also influenced and promoted the formation and diversity of regular script and other styles. Even today, clerical script remains a commonly used script and exists as an art form in calligraphy.

　　Mark Carter Redeeming His Crime by Presenting Characters (2)

　　The story of Mark Carter creating clerical script is a classic and influential account of the origin of clerical script in the history of calligraphy, and this legend has been passed down in China for over two thousand years. The preface to “Shuowen Jiezi” says: “Qin burned and destroyed the classics, swept away the old codes, mobilized officials and soldiers for military service, and with the increasing duties of official and prison clerks, clerical script first appeared for the sake of simplicity and convenience... It was created by Mark Carter of Xia Gui at the order of the First Emperor of Qin.” In the Tang dynasty, Zhang Huai-guan also said in “Shu Duan”: “Miles Carter is the ancestor of clerical script. It is said that Mark was skilled in large seal script. He first served as a county prison official, offended the First Emperor, and was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison. After ten years of deep contemplation, he modified the round and square brush techniques of large and small seal scripts, creating three thousand clerical characters. The First Emperor praised his work, appointed him as an imperial censor, and because his script was convenient for clerks and scribes in official and prison affairs, it was called clerical script.”