The Calligrapher — Xuē Jì 薛稷

Tang regular-script master of gentle, rounded elegance.

Tang calligrapher (649–713), master of regular script — known for 《信行禅师碑》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

(The phrase 年高德劭 honours the elder of high virtue; the 劭农 edicts of old urged the fields tilled and the grain stored. The character 劭 is the lift given to what is good, the encouragement of crop and character alike. It names the worth a long life earns.

Common words & phrases

• 德劭 of high virtue · worthy
• 劭农 encourage farming

Read the story behind the character

(The citation calls him 德劭 at the gift. The 劭农 order shows in the agriculture lecture. A 贺词 pairs 劭 with long years. The word now appears in the tribute and the speech, the praise of a life well kept. The citation calls him 德劭 at the gift, the 劭农 order shows in the agriculture lecture, and a 贺词 pairs 劭 with long years.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a way a man grows fine the way a riverbed grows deep—silently, year by year, by what passes through him. 劭 is that quality in Chinese: not fame, which is weather, but worth, which is geology. The classical phrase 年高德劭 describes elders whose virtue has outlasted every fashion, every empire that forgot itself. Confucius would have understood: the gentleman is not polished; he is weathered, like bronze dug from a tomb still singing. To carry 劭 on your skin is to make a quiet vow—that character is cumulative, that you are building something no single day will show. Western tales call it integrity: one piece, unmoved. The ancients carved it into rank and jade and naming lines, wishing their sons this slow gold. Ink takes it beautifully, one sure stroke beside the shoulder blade or over the heart, a private standard you will feel when you stand straight. Nothing louder. Nothing less.