The Calligrapher — Yán Zhēnqīng 颜真卿

Tang master of robust regular script; co-creator of the enduring 'Yan style'.

Tang calligrapher (709–784), master of regular script/running script — the Tang moral paragon whose upright, muscular regular script became the model of Chinese integrity in writing. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

When Meng Changjun's client Feng Xuan found the lord's tenants crushed by debt, he burned their 债券 on the spot, winning their loyalty at a stroke. The "Records of the Historian" keeps the scene: the bonds consumed, the people cheering. The word 債 here was a written claim, a slip of bamboo whose power lay in being held and, once, released.

Common words & phrases

• 债务 debt · liability
• 债券 bond
• 欠债 owe money · debt
• 债主 creditor

Read the story behind the character

A trader buys government 债券 for the pension fund; a shop 欠债 to its supplier as sales slip. The 债主 sends the second notice, and the family weighs 债务 against income each month. The word still names the written claim — a certificate, a ledger line — the paper that says someone is owed, and keeps asking until it is paid.