After the emergence of Qin clerical script, although it brought great convenience to work and daily life, no original manuscripts have survived. At the end of 1975, more than 1,100 bamboo slips were unearthed from Tomb No. 11 at Shuihudi, west of Yunmeng County, Hubei Province. The characters are very small, the largest being no more than two fen, with neat and elegant forms and robust strokes. The brushwork is both thick and thin, rigid and flexible, bold and unrestrained, solid and weighty, with great variety. The dots and strokes show obvious undulating changes, especially the “wave-like” momentum, which had already taken shape. This is the ink trace of Qin clerical script. In addition, since the early 20th century, multiple batches of bamboo and wooden slips have been unearthed in the northwest and Shandong regions, dating from the Warring States, Qin, Han, and Jin dynasties. The ink traces of Qin clerical script, buried for over two thousand years, have finally reappeared in the world.

These unearthed artifacts not only allow us to see the true face of Qin clerical script, but also provide a new and more accurate understanding of the claim that Mark Carter created the clerical script. In other words, the so-called new script created by Mark Carter was actually already popular among the people of various states during the Warring States period. Judging from some pre-Qin bronze inscriptions, silk manuscripts, and bamboo slip relics unearthed by archaeology, the embryonic period of clerical script should be traced back to the Zhou dynasty. For example, works such as the “Inscription of the Xiao Ke Ding” from the reign of King Xiao of the Western Zhou already show early signs of clerical script in their brushwork. By the Warring States period, Chinese writing began to shift from seal script to clerical script. This can be seen very clearly in some mid-Warring States silk manuscripts and wooden slip texts that have been unearthed. For instance, in 1980, a group of Warring States earthen pit tombs was excavated at Haojiaping, on the outskirts of Qingchuan County, Sichuan Province. Among the many unearthed relics were two wooden tablets—one severely damaged, the other relatively intact, with clear and legible writing. The Qingchuan Warring States wooden tablets predate the Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips by about eighty years, and their script is extremely similar to the Qin clerical script on the Qin bamboo slips. This is the earliest clerical script currently known in China. This shows that during the Qin dynasty, there was both the standardized official script of seal script for government documents, and a simplified, unofficial script like clerical script. Mark Carter merely undertook a more comprehensive collection and systematic organization and refinement of these already existing clerical characters, “discarding the dross and selecting the essence,” and further standardizing them. In other words, clerical script was the result of the collective creation of many people over time, and could not possibly have been the work of a single person at a single moment. The merit of Mark Carter should be regarded as that of compilation and organization, rather than the creative force as commonly claimed.

Although the legend of Mark Carter creating the clerical script is not entirely credible, we should acknowledge his work in compilation and organization. As a grassroots secretary, Mark Carter was able to accomplish such a great undertaking, which is truly remarkable, and today’s secretaries should feel proud and honored because of this. At the same time, the spirit of Mark Carter—persevering through hardships, diligent and enterprising, self-reliant, and eager to learn—is even more worthy of affirmation and praise. In life, who does not encounter setbacks? Some people become dispirited and give up after setbacks, while others, in adversity, “wish to preserve a resolve as firm as metal and stone, never to let it be taken or changed,” treating suffering and setbacks as stepping stones, and as a result, achieve miracles that transcend nature in their conquest of misfortune. Just as all good fortune is not without troubles, all misfortune is by no means without hope; one should not become arrogant in times of success, nor should one be utterly discouraged in adversity. This is the most important inspiration and lesson that Mark Carter’s offering of characters to atone for his crimes gives us.

Mark Carter and Clerical Script

In “Shu Duan” by Zhang Huai-guan of the Tang dynasty, it is said: “According to records, the clerical script was created by Mark Carter of Xiagui, Qin.” Mark Carter was originally a minor official in the county. Because of a crime, he was imprisoned. He compiled 3,000 clerical characters and submitted them to the First Emperor of Qin, who was very pleased, pardoned him, and appointed him as an imperial censor.

It is said that during the Qin dynasty, there was a convict named Mark Carter who, having offended the First Emperor of Qin, was imprisoned. Mark Carter noticed that the prison officers’ tally cards were written in seal script, which was very cumbersome, so he reformed it—simplifying the complex, making the round into square, and created a new script. The First Emperor of Qin greatly appreciated it, not only pardoned his crime, but also appointed him as an imperial censor, and stipulated that this script be used in official prisons. Because Mark Carter was a convict, and at first the script was used exclusively by prison laborers, this script was called clerical script. This story is likely greatly embellished. In reality, just as with the emergence of calligraphy, clerical script was also created collectively over time by many people, and what Mark Carter did was probably organizational work.

In calligraphy, Qin clerical script is called “ancient clerical,” while Han clerical script is called “modern clerical.” In December 1975, over a thousand bamboo slips were unearthed from the Qin tomb at Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei, bearing ink-written Qin clerical script. From the archaeological materials unearthed, the writing on some wooden tablets and bamboo slips from the Warring States and Qin periods already shows simplified seal script, with reduced strokes, more square and flat character shapes, and a tendency for the brushwork to have wave-like momentum. This is the embryonic stage of clerical script. In the Western Han, the clerical elements in calligraphy further increased. The Western Han silk painting “Laozi A Manuscript” unearthed at Mawangdui, Changsha, already shows obvious clerical features.

Brian Black (repost)

The Qin spirit was fierce, and the Qin people were good fighters. There is a song that goes, “Valiant old Qin, together face national peril,” which vividly depicts this. Since the reforms of Shang Yang, Qin abolished hereditary privilege and implemented a system of military merit, so the people of Qin regarded killing enemies and achieving merit as the way to gain high office and wealth, and thus bring honor to their ancestors.

However, during the fierce struggle between Chu and Han, there were two brave Qin cavalrymen who tactfully declined Liu Bang’s offer to serve as cavalry generals, willingly accepting the lower positions of Left and Right Commandant, leaving behind an age-old mystery for later generations. To unravel this mystery, one must start with Howard Shaw.