The Calligrapher — Wèi Fūrén 卫夫人

Jin woman calligrapher and teacher of Wang Xizhi; author of the 'Brush Array' (Bizhen) treatise.

Jin calligrapher (272–349), master of regular script — Lady Wei, the teacher of Wang Xizhi and one of the first famous women calligraphers. Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian lean constantly on the word wei to mark reported speech, writing huo wei, someone said, before a rumor or a court whisper. The character wei is the historian's hinge, the pivot between event and voice, naming who called a thing what. Through the chapters wei introduces emperors, assassins, and cooks with the same plain tag of saying.

Common words & phrases

• 所谓 so-called · what is called
• 称谓 appellation · title
• 谓语 predicate
• 何谓 what is meant by

Read the story behind the character

A grammar book labels wei yu the predicate, the part that says something about the subject, and a dictionary lists cheng wei for a title of address. A reader meets suo wei, the so-called, in a skeptical headline, and asks he wei before a strange term. The character wei still does its old grammatical work of naming and saying.

Why this character belongs on skin

A thing is not a thing until someone names it. The sage calls water soft and it becomes the gentle that wears the mountain; the poet calls the beloved 'my country' and a war begins. This character is the act of saying — to call, to refer, to declare what something is. Confucius insisted on the rectification of names, that a ruler must be truly a ruler, for language is the first contract of order. In the Gospel, the word was with God and the word was God; to name is to create. You who choose this ink are naming yourself, claiming an identity the world tried to refuse you. Say it plainly on your skin: this is who I am. Not the rumor, not the role, but the true designation. The character is small, the claiming enormous. Wear it like a signature only you can sign.