勸
to advise; to urge; to try to persuade; to exhort; to console; to soothe
Closest English meanings
to advise·urge·persuade·to exhort
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
Xunzi opens his essay 勧学 — “encouraging learning” — with the line that blue comes from the indigo plant yet beats it. 勧 here is persuasion by patience, not command. 勧善 the temples preached, and 勧農 the magistrate who walked the fields urging the spring plowing. The word trusted reason over the whip.
Common words & phrases
- 勸告 to advise · counsel · admonition
- 勸導 to persuade · to guide · to exhort
- 勸說 to persuade · to convince
- 勸阻 to dissuade · to discourage
Read the story behind the character
A friend 勧告 a smoker to quit; 勧阻 is what a bystander does when a fight starts on the platform. 勧說 fills the helpline script at a debt office, and 勧導 the park ranger's gentle word to a rule-breaker. The character moves from the Confucian classroom to a stranger's voice stopping a worse evening.
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