Cursive script emerged in the early years of the Han dynasty as a result of its convenience in writing. Its basic characteristics can be summed up as: an impression of vigorous and unrestrained spirit is revealed in the rhythmic and fast movement of brushes.

There are three phases of the development of cursive script - early cursive script, Zhang style cursive script, and modern cursive script. Early cursive script paralleled in development with official script and was generally called "official cursive script", which had some elements of seal-cursive script. Zhang style cursive script was a blend of early cursive with Han official script, with strokes hooked together in forms of waves, each character standing independently from another, flat and square and moving horizontally.

Simon Leys admits [NYR, April 18] that he hasn’t understood the central chapters of The Chinese Art of Writing and that this “disqualifies [him] from writing a fair, comprehensive review” of it. He could have stopped there. He prefers instead to suggest that if he was baffled, it was because those chapters are unintelligible, their style abstruse.