Script (English)	Script (Chinese)	Script (Translation)	Starting Time	Example
Jia Gu Wen	甲骨文	bone/shell script	Pre-Qin period (2000 BC- ?)	jiaguwen
Jin Wen	金文	bronze engraving	ChunQiu-ZhanGuo period (770 BC-221 BC)	YuDing 盂鼎
Zhuan Shu	篆書	seal style	Qin-Han dynasties (221 BC - 220 AD)	YiShan Bei 繹山碑  (Da Zhuan, Qin dynasty)
Li Shu	隸書	official style	East Han dynasty (25-220 AD)	HuaShan Bei 華山碑
Cao Shu	草書	grass style, "swift style"	Han dynasties (about 48 BC)	QianZiWen 千字文
Kai Shu, Zhen Shu	楷書，真書	regular style	Han dynasties (173 AD)	Xin Jing 心經
Xing Shu	行書	running style	Han dynasties (87 AD)	LanTing Xu 蘭亭序

While JiaGuWen and Jin Wen are no more useful and few people recognize them, the other scripts persist through the past 2000 years. The most popular for printing is Kai Shu , but the most useful for daily use is Xing Shu. While Cao Shu may be much too simplified and personalized to be recognized by most people in common utility, only certain commonly Cao characters are used. Zhuan Shu is almost limited to seal carving. To the surprise of most people, Cao Shu was developed about the same time as Kai Shu, and may be even earlier. Certain Cao characters appeared as early as Han dynasty when Kai Shu was not well developed. Han dynasty should be called thegolden era for script development. While Zhuan is still in use, there was a rapid transition to Xing Shu to cope with the social development of commerce and military engagements. Cao Shu first evolved from Li Shu to become Zhang Cao (formal "Grass" style with no linking of characters). Kai Shu actually was a product of further standardization of Zhang Cao.

Here is an illustration of the different scripts of the same characters. See how well the characters are preserved through more than 5000 years of history. It is also obvious from the availability of characters that many abstract concepts already existed at that time. The existence of the word "ten thousand" in JiaGuWen shows the advance concept of numbers at that time. The continuity of Chinese culture and civilization is indebted to the preservation of forms of various scripts throughout the ages.