page_title: Shorthand
section_title: Imperial China
hierarchical_section_title: Shorthand / History / Imperial China
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of The Treatise on Calligraphy
context_page_description: Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphein. It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys, and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys, depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal.
  Many forms of shorthand exist. A typical shorthand system provides symbols or abbreviations for words and common phrases, which can allow someone well-trained in the system to write as quickly as people speak. Abbreviation methods are alphabet-based and use different abbreviating approaches. Many journalists use shorthand writing to quickly take notes at press conferences or other similar scenarios. In the computerized world, several autocomplete programs, standalone or integrated in text editors, based on word lists, also include a shorthand function for frequently used phrases.
  Shorthand was used more widely in the past, before the invention of recording and dictation machines.
context_section_description: In imperial China, clerks used an abbreviated, highly cursive form of Chinese characters to record court proceedings and criminal confessions. These records were used to create more formal transcripts. One cornerstone of imperial court proceedings was that all confessions had to be acknowledged by the accused's signature, personal seal, or thumbprint, requiring fast writing.‹See TfM› Versions of this technique survived in clerical professions into the modern day, and influenced by Western shorthand methods, some new methods were invented.
caption: Sun Guoting's Treatise on Calligraphy, an example of cursive writing of Chinese characters
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