Zhong Yao is known as the “Father of Standard Script” (Kaishu).
Zhong Yao was a calligrapher and statesman of the late Eastern Han and Cao Wei periods. Living from 151 to 230, he is traditionally credited as the first great master of regular, or standard, script—kaishu in Chinese. His work helped establish the balanced forms and disciplined structure that later became the basis of ordinary handwritten Chinese.
Kaishu did not appear suddenly as Zhong Yao’s personal invention. It developed gradually from earlier clerical writing during the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods. Zhong Yao’s importance lies in refining and popularizing the emerging form. His celebrated models include the Xuanshi Biao, Jianjizhi Biao, and Liming Biao, though the originals survive mainly through later copies and adaptations.
Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun, and Yan Zhenqing are also central figures in the history of regular script, but they belong to later generations and are associated with different stages of its refinement. Zhong Yao’s title therefore identifies his foundational role, not a claim that every feature of kaishu originated from a single hand.