The Calligrapher — Wú Xīzǎi 吴熙载

Qing seal-script master who perfected the Deng Shiru (邓石如) style.

Qing calligrapher (), master of seal script — known for 邓石如弟子. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

(Guan Hanqing's 窦娥冤, a Yuan 杂剧, has a wronged wife cry injustice to heaven until snow falls in summer; the play still opens the season at the 剧院. 剧 then meant the acted tale, fierce and sung. The character 剧 is the intense made public on a stage.

Common words & phrases

• 戏剧 drama · theater
• 剧本 script · play
• 剧烈 violent · intense
• 剧场 theater
• 电视剧 TV drama

Read the story behind the character

The 电视剧 runs six nights a week. The 剧本 lands on the table for the read. The pain is 剧烈 after the fall. The 剧场 fills for the premiere. The word names the show, the script, and the sharp turn of feeling. The 电视剧 runs six nights a week, the 剧本 lands on the table, and the pain is 剧烈 after the fall.

Why this character belongs on skin

The spotlight finds the actor and for two hours the fake grief is more real than the real one. This character 剧 joins words with a measure of force, the concentrated feeling that theatre and battle share — both are intensity given form. We fear the dramatic, yet the Buddhists warn against the dulling of feeling as much as its excess; the warrior knows the battle is never mild. To be intense is to be fully present to the weight of a moment. To wear this mark is to refuse the anesthetic of moderation, to admit some things are worth the full volume. Let it lie where your pulse is loudest, a quiet vow to feel at the proper pitch, neither numbed nor performed. The ink is a small rebellion against the flat century, proof that you insisted on the height of the feeling, that you would rather be undone by a thing than merely pass through it unchanged.