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

Zhan originally meant towering and prominent, the Shuo Wen family giving it a high, pointed look. Zhan ran (prominent, lofty) praised a young talent who stood above his peers. Over time the sense slid from height to newness, and zhan xin (brand new) now means fresh out of the wrapper, the peak become the just-arrived, sharp-edged and impossible to miss.

Common words & phrases

• 崭新 brand new · brand-new
• 崭然 prominent · lofty
• 崭露头角 show one's talent

Read the story behind the character

You unbox a zhan xin (brand new) phone and peel the film off the screen, while a grad zhan lu tou jiao (shows her talent) at the first meeting. A car ad screams zhan xin model, and a friend's zhan ran (prominent, lofty) rise at work surprises everyone. You call the repainted room zhan xin, and a startup launches a zhan new app that tops the charts overnight.

Why this character belongs on skin

The new thing arrives like a mountain no one has named. 崭 is the peak that has not yet been worn smooth by pilgrims' feet, the blade fresh from the forge, the love in its first unbroken morning. The mountain-radical lifts it above the flat acre of the ordinary; the ancients used it for the sharp edge that has not yet learned compromise. We are suspicious of the new, calling it naïve, but the new is the only thing with a future—the rest is museum. A child's first word, a country's first freedom, a man's first honest grief: all 崭, all trembling at the top of their own height. Ink this where you began again, and let it stand as a flag: I am not what wore me down. I am the unweathered peak, and the climbing has not started yet.