Ming (typeface)
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Ming typeface, known as Song typeface in mainland China, is a category of typefaces used in printing Chinese characters, which are used in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages. It is currently the most used typeface category for Chinese and Japanese.
NameThe two names of the typeface correspond to the two dynasties in Chinese history, the Song Dynasty during which the typeface was created and Ming Dynasty during which the typeface flourished. In Mainland China, the most common name is "Song typeface". In Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, "Ming typeface" is used. In Taiwan, both names are prevalent.
CharacteristicsThis typeface is characterised, among other things, by the following:
These characteristics are visible in the example above. Possessing variable line weight and characteristic decorations at the end of lines similar to serifs, this type is comparable to Western serif typefaces, as opposed to the Gothic styles which are comparable to sans-serif. Often there are number of different ways to write the same Chinese character, they are collectively referred to as variant Chinese characters. Some of those differences are caused by character simplification or word choices, while others are purely orthographic differences such as stroke styling. The styling of the strokes used in the old Song and Ming fonts came from the style used in Kangxi dictionary. After the postwar Kanji reforms in Japan, the most of the Kangxi style characters were considered as Kyujitai (old style), causing newer dictionaries to incorporate two letter styles, or to simply reject the old styles. In modern China, the government uses the new orthographic style, which is incorporated into MingLiU version 5.03 or above. In Japan, dictionary entries offer both new and old fonts. In Korea, popular fonts such as Batang are based on Kangxi style.[1] VariantsThe imitated Song typeface (simplified Chinese: 仿宋体; traditional Chinese: 仿宋體; pinyin: fǎng sòng tǐ) combines the line weights of regular Song typeface with the stroke layout and decoration of regular script (for example, the horizontal strokes are tilted towards upper right). Unlike the regular Song typeface, it is not called Ming typeface. There are some variations between the printed and handwritten forms of many Chinese characters, especially in the orientation of smaller strokes and the shape of certain radicals. Some of these differences are persistent and specific to printed type (or even the Minchō style), but others may be no more significant than variations between individual typefaces. None of these variations usually hinder reading. However, special styles of Ming type (textbook type (Japanese: 教科書体, kyōkashotai) matching the recommended handwritten forms are used in school textbooks, in order to prevent confusion amongst learners. HistoryChinaThe printing press appeared in China during the Song Dynasty. At the time, each print block contained two portrait-oriented pages placed side by side. The print blocks were all cut from rectangular planks such that the wood grain ran horizontally. Because the grain ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve patterns with the grain, like horizontal strokes. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and very easily break. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. To prevent wear and tear, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface. The Song typeface was already in full production during the Song Dynasty; however, it was not mature. More popular typefaces at the time were those that imitated Chinese calligraphy styles, such as the works of Yan Zhenqing (颜体; Yán-tǐ), Liu Gongquan (柳体; Liǔ-tǐ), and Ouyang Xun (欧体; Ōu-tǐ). It was not until the Ming Dynasty, as wood price increased, that the Song typeface become more popular because it can be carved into smaller sizes than the other typefaces. This font has changed so little since the Song Dynasty that people during the Ming Dynasty nicknamed it the "static typeface." Also during the Ming Dynasty, this typeface spread to Japan and Korea, and it was since known in those countries as the Ming typeface. JapanIn Japanese text, Hiragana, Katakana, and the Latin alphabet are also used. It is the most commonly used style in print. In Japan there are several variants of the Minchō style, such as the textbook style or the newspaper style. The name Minchō means Ming Dynasty, which was the era during which movable type printing (invented in the eleventh century) flourished in China, and during which Minchō-style type was first created. 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 American William Gamble in 1869. Motoki then created, based on Gamble's frequency studies of characters in the Chinese Bible, a full set of type with added Japanese characters. KoreaIn Korean, a similar category of typeface for the Korean alphabet hangul was called myeongjo (the Korean reading for the same Chinese characters “明朝”) until recently, influenced by the Japanese term. A Ministry of Culture-sponsored standardization of typography terms in 1993 replaced myeongjo with batang, the Korean word for "foundation" or "ground" (as opposed to "figure"), and this is the term now current. Ming typefaces in computing
Strictly speaking, only Chinese characters are thus printed in Song type. However, most modern type sets (that is, digital fonts) have included glyphs for Kana script characters in a matching variable-line-width style, usually in a precise style imitating calligraphic handwriting with a brush. In its modern role comparable to that of western serif fonts, both kana and Roman glyphs are usually part of a complete type set. In fact, modern digital Song fonts also incorporate serif (typically Roman) glyphs for Latin characters, letterlike symbols, numbers. Well-known modern-day Ming typefaces include the Morisawa foundry's "Ryūbundō Minchō" (Ryūmin) as well as Adobe's "Kozuka Mincho" family, designed by Kozuka Masahiko (also creator of the popular gothic font "ShinGo"). Pan-Unicode typefaces commonly seen in computing include: Japanese typefaces commonly seen in computing include:
Chinese versions include:
Korean versions include:
See alsoExternal links
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