Ming (typefaces)
Ming or Song is a category of typefaces used to display Chinese characters, which are used in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages. They are currently the most common style of type in print for Chinese and Japanese.
The names Song (or Sung) and Ming correspond to the Song Dynasty when a distinctive printed style of regular script was developed, and the Ming Dynasty during which that style developed into the Ming typeface style. In Mainland China, the most common name is Song (the Mainland Chinese standardized Ming typeface in Microsoft Windows being named SimSun). In Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, Ming is prevalent. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, “Song typeface” (宋體) has been used but “Ming typeface” (明體) has increased currency since the advent of desktop publishing. Some type foundries use "Song" to refer to this style of typeface that follows a standard such as the Standard Form of National Characters, and “Ming” to refer to typefaces that resemble forms found in the Kangxi dictionary.
Characteristics of Ming typefaces include the following:
Possessing variable line weight and characteristic decorations at the end of lines similar to serifs, this type style is comparable to Western serif typefaces, as opposed to East Asian gothic typefaces which are comparable to Western sans-serif.
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