Xiaozhuan
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XiaozhuanQinquan.jpg
XiaozhuanQinquan.jpg
Engraving referring to standard weights for balance
Xiaozhuan (小篆), or Hsiao-chuan was the title of a work on Chinese characters compiled by Li Si during the reign of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.
Before the Qin conquest of the other regions of China, regional characters were used, and under unification of China, currency, laws, weights, measures and writing was to be systematised. Thus, the characters which were different to those found in Qin were discarded, and Li Si's xiaozhuan character became the standard.
Li Si's compilation is known only through Chinese commentaries through the centuries. It is purported to contain 3,000 characters. The name of the work gives rise to the style of characters used, "small seal script".