#Chinese calligraphy font android full#
#Chinese calligraphy font android free#

In the 1800s, Western missionaries tried to use movable type to mass-produce spiritual texts, modeling their fonts off Mingti. GuanвЂ™geti soon morphed into what is known as Mingti today. вЂњOverall,вЂќ Tan said, вЂњit was a style that, while superficially retains a strong smell of calligraphic freedom, was, deep down, the most ready for mechanical reproduction.вЂќ GuanвЂ™geti was easy to copy by hand, and ultimately to engrave. The standard style for government, it basically translates to вЂњofficial style.вЂќ Appearance-wise, it was sterile, a result of what Peiran Tan, an editor at The Type, a Chinese typography media collective, called the вЂњsmother the artistic spontaneity and irregularity of Chinese calligraphy.вЂќ Starting from the Zhou dynasty (1046вЂ“256 B.C.) and lasting until the final Qing dynasty (1644вЂ“1912), calligraphers would paint in styles the emperors liked, who would not only collect works, but also produce their own.Д«y the start of the Qing dynasty, the favored style was called guanвЂ™geti.

It was practiced only by scholars and aesthetic tastes were at the whim of emperors. Before mass reproduction, writing was mainly done in calligraphy - one of the six arts to be mastered in order to be the Chinese equivalent of a Renaissance man. Type and the way characters have been portrayed has always been political in China. However, for a variety of practical, aesthetic, and political reasons, woodblock printing remained the norm for centuries.

#Chinese calligraphy font android full#

Printing began with the carving of full pages onto blocks of wood - but artist Bi Sheng, who lived from 990 to 1051 A.D., invented movable type, where each character is carved on its own block that can then be rearranged to a custom order. Wilson LeeДЄs any good Chinese student learned in Sunday language school or while living in a Chinese-speaking country, printing is one of ChinaвЂ™s four great inventions (alongside paper, gunpowder, and the compass).

Type designer Julius HuiвЂ™s passion project, Ku Mincho, is an attempt to radically rethink Chinese fonts. вЂњI want my type foundry to be one that spreads this, so that itвЂ™s clearer for everyone what Chinese cultureвЂ™s roots are.вЂќ вЂњI think all typefaces should have a вЂtraditional Chinese feel,вЂ™вЂќ Hui said.

His research and dedication to the history of Chinese typography is, improbably, a revolutionary act.

#Chinese calligraphy font android free#

He intends to take it back to its roots before the influence of Japanese designers, and to free it from the cultural gravity of the mainland, where even typefaces come under the purview of the state. Hui said that the point of the project is not just an exercise in aesthetics, but an attempt to вЂњdecolonizeвЂќ Chinese type. To create it, Hui enlisted two of his former colleagues, Kin Cheung and Sammy Fung, who each have more than 30 years of experience in Chinese type design. Ku Mincho is a Mingti typeface, based on Ming dynasty calligraphy. вЂњThereвЂ™s no emotion behind them,вЂќ Hui told Rest of World. Most of the fonts on the market have gone through a process of convergent evolution to become blocky and conventional.

Hui, who previously designed the New York TimesвЂ™ Chinese logo and a custom typeface for tech giant Tencent, believes that Chinese type design has become stagnant and unoriginal. Now, forced to head home by the pandemic after only six months, he found himself with little paid work, but finally able pursue a passion project that heвЂ™d been sitting on for more than six years: Ku Mincho, a radical rethinking of Chinese type. The previous year, heвЂ™d quit his вЂњtoo comfortable and steadyвЂќ job at Monotype, one of the worldвЂ™s largest type foundries, and moved to Munich. In 2020, type designer Julius Hui flew back to his native Hong Kong.