Style of Chinese clerical script characterized by an exaggeration of sweeping strokes that differs from Qin clerical script. The clerical script from the Western Han Dynasty seen in bamboo and wooden slips and silk manuscripts is very similar to the Qin clerical script; however, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the script evolved into the so-called bafen script with aforementioned stroke exaggerations (visually similar to the tail of a goose). The typical works written in bafen were the engravings on stelae from the late Eastern Han. They were recognized as fine arts due to their well-balanced forms and fluent strokes.
