This study takes cursive scrip of the Sui and Tang Dynasties as the analysis material. The research methods are image comparison and literature analysis. The purpose of the study is to explore the factors that affect the rules of configuration forming cursive scrip and then analyze the ways of shaping the configuration of cursive scrip. The investigation focused on summarizing the cursive method of Han bamboo slips and exploring the etymology of cursive scrip. These two findings help to achieve the purpose of the study. The main research materials include Zhiyong's "the Thousand-Character Essay", Sun Guo-ting's "Shu Pu" and Ho Chih-Chang’s "Book of Filial Piety". The research results are as follows:
1. In order to speed up handwriting, cursive script uses specific strategies for shortening writing distance, which are turning at the joints of strokes, moving the joints of strokes, changing the shape of the strokes, and changing stroke orders.
2. Most of cursive script with extremely simple shapes and structures could be understood the context of development by bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty which had shapes of varying complexity. The cursive writing methods summarized from the simplified process include: using adjustable strokes, sharing strokes with the same shape, turning strokes at an intersection, moving the connection point of strokes, turning curves into straight lines, combining two strokes into one, changing the writing direction, reducing strokes, and changing stroke order.
3. The etymology of cursive script is diverse, including seal script, official script, bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty, variant characters, and components of mature cursive structures.
4. The ways of extracting symbols of Sui and Tang cursive script can be divided into two categories which are extracting outlines and extracting features. There are four basic types of extracting outlines : (1)reserving beginning and ending symbols of characters with the structure of left and right components, (2) reserving beginning and ending symbols of characters with the structure of upper and lower components, (3) reserving beginning and ending symbols of characters with the structure surrounded by upper left components, and (4) reserving beginning and ending symbols of characters with the structure surrounded by lower left components. With these four types of basic forms, they have been expanded to eight variations, each of which has an increased component named middle symbol. Most of the omitted strokes of cursive script are in the middle symbol of a character.
5. The reason for a character written in diverse structures or for different characters written in the same structure is related to the cursive method or the way of extracting symbols. A character written in diverse structures could come from different cursive methods or reserving diverse outlines. Different characters written in the same structure could come from the results of using cursive method or the preserved shapes just the same.