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

嗦 is a character that rarely stands alone; it lives only inside a few spoken compounds, a small piece of the mouth-radical family that the vernacular shaped for everyday sound. It carries no grand classical lineage, yet it does exactly what early sound-words did — pins a feeling to the mouth. In 哆嗦 it trembles, in 囉嗦 it talks on and on, and so a humble, late-born character still does the old work of miming life with the lips.

Common words & phrases

• 哆嗦 tremble · shiver
• 啰嗦 wordy · long-winded

Read the story behind the character

A child 哆嗦 (trembles, shivers) in the winter wind; a scared passenger 哆嗦 as the plane hits turbulence. A relative grows 囉嗦 (wordy, long-winded) in old age, repeating the same story at dinner, and a boss's 囉嗦 email trails on for three screens. 嗦 lives in these two common words — the shiver of cold or fear, and the talk that will not stop — the small, human textures of modern days.