Ming typefaces

Ming typefaces
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	Minh thể
Simplified Chinese	Minh thể
Literal meaning	Mingtypeface
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin míng tǐ Bopomofo ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄊㄧˇ Wade–Giles ming2 ti3 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping ming4 tai2 Southern Min Tâi-lô bîng-thé
Song
Traditional Chinese	Tống thể
Simplified Chinese	Tống thể
Literal meaning	Songtypeface
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin sòng tǐ Bopomofo ㄙㄨㄥˋ ㄊㄧˇ Wade–Giles sung4 t‘i3 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sung3 tai2
Korean name
Hangul	명조체
Hanja	Minh triều thể
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Myeongjoche
Japanese name
Kanji	Minh triều thể
Kana	みんちょうたい
Transcriptions Romanization Minchōtai

A page from aMing dynastyedition of theBook of Qi

MingorSongis a category oftypefacesused to displayChinese characters,which are used in theChinese,JapaneseandKoreanlanguages. They are currently the most common style of type in print for Chinese and Japanese. For Japanese and Korean text, they are commonly calledMinchoandMyeongjotypefaces respectively.

Name

The namesSong(orSung) andMingcorrespond to theSong dynastywhen a distinctive printed style ofregular scriptwas developed, and theMing dynastyduring which that style developed into the Ming typeface style.In Mainland China, the most common name isSong(the Mainland Chinese standardized Ming typeface inMicrosoft Windowsbeing namedSimSun). InHong Kong,Taiwan,JapanandKorea,Mingis prevalent. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, "Songtypeface "(Tống thể) has been traditionally used, but "Mingtypeface "(Minh thể) has gained popularity since the advent ofdesktop publishing(the Traditional Chinese standardized Ming typeface inMicrosoft Windowsbeing namedMingLiU). Sometype foundriesuse "Song" to refer to this style of typeface that follows a standard such as theStandard Form of National Characters,and "Ming" to refer to typefaces that resemble forms found in theKangxi Dictionary.

Characteristics

Characteristics of Ming typefaces include the following:

• The basic structure ofregular script
• Thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes
• Triangles at the end of single horizontal strokes, calleduroko(Lân,literally "fish scales" ) in Japanese, comparable toserifs.These are a print analog of the slight dot caused by pausing one's brush (dùnĐốn), the "pause technique", used to reinforce the beginning or ending of a stroke, which is characteristic ofregular script.
• Overall geometrical regularity

Possessing variable line weight and characteristic decorations at the end of lines similar toserifs,this type style is comparable to Westernserif typefaces,as opposed toEast Asian gothic typefaceswhich are comparable to Westernsans-serif.

Variations

Often there are different ways to write the same Chinese character; these are collectively referred to asvariant Chinese characters.Some of the differences are caused by character simplification, while others are purelyorthographicdifferences such as stroke styling. The styling of the strokes used in old Ming typefaces came from the style used in theKangxi Dictionary.

In mainland China, the modern standardized character forms are specified in theList of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese.Some characters in the list differ from the Kangxi forms solely because they areSimplifiedwhile others differ because they use a different variant or orthography.

In Taiwan, theStandard Form of National Charactersspecifies the modern standardized forms. Unlike the mainland standard, the Taiwan standard uses mostly preexisting character forms but reference back to the style ofregular scriptand reform Ming typefaces based on regular script style extensively, which had attracted criticism from many peoples.

After the postwarkanji reformsin Japan, most of the Kangxi style characters were calledkyūjitai(old style), while the reformed characters were calledshinjitai,causing newer dictionaries to either incorporate both styles or omit the Kangxi styles. In Korea, most typefaces use the Kangxi forms.

There are differences between print and script forms of many Chinese characters, just as there are differences betweencopperplateand most people's handwriting. Some of these differences are persistent and specific to a style, but others may be no more significant than variations between individual typefaces. None of these variations usually hinder reading.

History

China

Theprintingindustry from theTang dynastyreached an apex in theSong dynasty,during which there were three major areas of production:

• Zhejiang,where publications imitated theregular scriptofOuyang Xun
• Sichuan,where publications imitated the regular script ofYan Zhenqing
• Fujian,where publications imitated the regular script ofLiu Gongquan

When Song lost control of northern China to theJin ( kim ) dynasty,its capital was moved toLin'an(modernHangzhou), where there was a revival of printing, especially literature from Tang left in what was conquered by the Jin dynasty. Many publishers were established in Lin'an, includingChén zhái shūjí pù(Trần trạch thư tịch phô) established by Chen Qi (Chinese:Trần khởi),from which publications used a distinct style of regular script with orderly, straight strokes. Modern typefaces of this style are classified asimitation Song typefaces(simplified Chinese:Phảng tống thể;traditional Chinese:Phảng tống thể). In theMing dynasty,the straightening of strokes in a reprint of a publication from Lin'an started a shift to what became the basis of the Ming style.

• 
  A page of a publication fromZhejiangin aregular scripttypeface which resembles the handwriting ofOuyang Xun.
• 
  A page of a publication fromChén zhái shūjí pù.

Japan

The charactersMinh triều thể(Minchōtai),literally "Ming Dynasty form", in a reimpression of old Ming typeface in 1912 by Tsukiji Type Foundry

Ming typefaces(Minh triều,Minchō,lit. "Ming Dynasty")are the most commonly used style in print in Japan. There are several variations in use, such as the textbook style and the newspaper style.

The creator of modern Japanese movable-type printing,Motoki Shōzō(or Motogi), modeled his sets of type after those prevailing in China, having learned an electrolytic method of type manufacturing from the AmericanWilliam Gamblein 1869. Motoki then created, based on Gamble's frequency studies of characters in the ChineseBible,a full set of type with added Japanese characters; in addition to Chinese and Latin characters, Japanese text uses the syllabarieshiraganaandkatakana.

Korea

In Korean, a similar category of typefaces for the Korean alphabethangulwas calledmyeongjo(the Korean reading for the same Chinese characters "Minh triều") until recently, influenced by the Japanese term. A Ministry of Culture-sponsored standardization of typography terms in 1993 replacedmyeongjowithbatang( "바탕"), the Korean word for" foundation "or" ground "(as opposed to" figure "), and is the current term for the typeface.

Ming typefaces in computing

See also:List of CJK fonts § Ming

Technically, onlyChinese characterscan be printed in a Ming typeface. However, most modern typefaces (that is, digital typefaces) often also includekanaglyphs in a matching style, usually in a precise style resembling handwriting with a brush. Modern Ming typefaces also incorporateRoman typeglyphs for Latin characters, letterlike symbols, and numbers. In its modern role comparable to that of western serif typefaces, both kana and Latin characters are usually part of a complete typeface.

Ming typefaces are used officially by the government of China, Japan and Korea.

See also

• East Asian gothic typeface
• Chinese calligraphy

External links

• Nihongo resources: Japanese typefaces
• sci.lang.japan FAQ list of Japanese writing styles
• [chinese mac] Fontstypefaces included with Mac OS and WindowsArchived2007-02-05 at theWayback Machine
• differences between some Ming typefaces
• www.kinkido.netInformation on Chinese typefaces, including Ming typefaces.(in Japanese)