The Calligrapher — Wèi Qīwú 魏栖梧

Tang calligrapher of regular script, follower of the Chu Suiliang style.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《善才寺碑》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

In the Han Feizi the sage observes that a long sleeve dances well, chang xiu shan wu, wealth and advantage making the grace easy, the xiu, the sleeve, the dancer's instrument and excuse. The hanging cloth became the image of means as much as limb. To have the sleeve was to have the room to move.

Common words & phrases

• 袖子 sleeve
• 领袖 leader · leadership
• 长袖 long sleeve
• 袖口 cuff

Read the story behind the character

A coat's xiu zi sleeve brushes the desk as its wearer writes, and a nation's lingxiu, leader, waves from the balcony in full view. The shop sells a chang xiu long sleeve shirt and the tailor finishes the xiu kou cuff with a button. The character is the cloth at the arm's end that now also names the one who leads.

Why this character belongs on skin

The sleeve is where a secret is kept in every old story — a letter, a dagger, a folded note from someone who should not be writing. The character 袖 hangs the cloth radical like a curtain on the body's side, and in Chinese opera the sleeve is the whole language of grief and invitation. A flick conceals a tear; a slow drag across the face hides a smile. The warrior hides his hand within it; the scholar draws it long to show he belongs to no trade of the fist. To carry this mark is to admit you are a person of interiors, that not everything you feel is on display. The Dao says the usefulness of a vessel is the empty space inside. Let the character rest at your wrist, where the cloth would fall, a reminder that the most dangerous thing about you is what you choose not to reveal.