The way that a typographic stroke is made can define the word it makes as well as the tone of the copy. Asian languages, such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean use very specific typefaces to write out their complicated characters.
Before the computer age, Asian writing was typically calligraphic. Their characters flowed and differed in stroke value, creating a piece of art in itself. When computers showed up, there had to be a more clear and direct way to show these characters more simply. A group of san-serif typefaces popped up, making it easier to print in Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
The typefaces Ming and Song are the most widespread typefaces used today. The Ming typeface is a mixture between the calligraphic handwriting of the past and the simplified san-serif computer faces of today. In China, the Ming typeface is more prevalent, while in Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan the Song typeface is widely used.
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| Top - Ming Middle - San-serif Bottom - Regular Script |