Editing Seal script (section)

== Unified small seal script ==
{{main|Small seal script}}
The Qin script—as exemplified in bronze inscriptions prior to unification—had evolved organically from the Zhou script starting in the Spring and Autumn period. Beginning around the Warring States period, it became vertically elongated with a regular appearance. This was the period of maturation for the small seal script. It was systematized by prime minister [[Li Si]] during the reign of Qin Shi Huang through the elimination of most character variants, and was imposed as the imperial standard.{{sfn|Chen|2003}} Through Chinese commentaries, it is known that Li Si compiled the ''{{transliteration|zh|[[Cangjiepian]]}}'', a partially-extant wordbook listing some 3,300 [[Chinese characters]] in the small seal script. Their form is characterized by being less rectangular and more squarish.

In the popular history of Chinese characters, the small seal script is traditionally considered to be ancestral to [[clerical script]], which in turn prefigured every other script in use today. However, recent archaeological discoveries and scholarship have led some scholars to conclude that the direct ancestor of clerical script was proto-clerical script, which in turn evolved out of the lesser-known ''vulgar'' or ''popular'' writing of the late Warring States to Qin period.{{sfn|Qiu|2000}}

The first known [[character dictionary]] was the 3rd-century&nbsp;BC ''{{transliteration|zh|[[Erya]]}}'', collated and referenced by [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]] and his son [[Liu Xin (scholar)|Liu Xin]]; it is no longer extant. Not long after, the ''{{transliteration|zh|[[Shuowen Jiezi]]}}'' ({{circa|100&nbsp;AD}}) was written by [[Xu Shen]]. The ''Shuowen''{{'}}s 9,353 entries reproduce the standardized small seal forms for each entry, organized under 540 [[Radical (Chinese character)|radicals]].

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:XiaozhuanQinquan.jpg|Small seal inscription on a Qin standard prototype weight—made from iron, and unearthed at [[Wendeng]], [[Shandong]] in 1973
File:BronzePlaque-EdictOfSecondEmperor-Qin-ROM-May8-08.png|Edict of [[Qin Er Shi]] in seal script. In the popular history of Chinese characters, the small seal script is traditionally considered to be the ancestor of [[clerical script]]
</gallery>