The Song script (simplified Chinese: 宋体; traditional Chinese: 宋體) or Ming script (simplified Chinese: 明体; traditional Chinese: 明體) is a category of serifed typefaces used to display Chinese family of scripts such as traditional and simplified Chinese characters as well as their borrowed (e.g. Japanese kanji and Korean hanja) and radical-derived relatives (e.g. katagana). First invented during the Song dynasty and matured during the Ming dynasty, they are currently the most common printing and text display/editing fonts for Chinese and Japanese language publications.
The former term "Song" is the official terminology used in Mainland China, while the latter "Ming" is used prominently in Taiwan and Hong Kong and is a loanword from post-restoration Japan, as the typefaces are commonly called Mincho tai (Hiragana: みんちょうたい) and Myeongjo che (Hangul: 명조체) — both literally translate to "Ming dynasty font" — respectively in Japanese and Korean texts.