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

溢 is water rising past the brim; the Shijing feast 溢 (overflowed) with wine and goodwill, and a heart 洋溢 (overflowing with) joy could not hide it. When feeling 溢于言表 (showed in one's words), the sage warned restraint, yet 充溢 (full of) blessing was the highest wish for the new year's household.

Common words & phrases

• 洋溢 overflow with · brimming
• 溢出 spill over · overflow
• 充溢 full of · overflowing
• 溢于言表 show in one's words

Read the story behind the character

Her smile 洋溢 (overflows with) pride at the ceremony, and the soup 溢出 (spills over) the pot. The room was 充溢 (full of) laughter during the reunion, while his relief 溢于言表 (showed in his words) after the exam. The river 溢 its banks after the heavy rain last night.

Why this character belongs on skin

Every full vessel knows the moment. Surface tension loses its argument; the bead gathers at the lip; a bright thread runs down the porcelain, and the tablecloth learns what overflow means. 溢 is that character: to overflow, to brim. The classics applied it to grain heaped past the measure, to rivers leaving their beds, and—more tenderly—to feeling. 才华横溢, talent overflowing its banks; a joy that will not be capped. There is a quiet theology here. You cannot overflow from an empty vessel. The spill is proof of fullness, and the embarrassment of the spill is the price of having been filled at all. The Daoists admired the empty cup, but they never said don't fill it—they said know when it is full, and pour for others before it ruins the table. Generosity, in the end, is just overflow with good aim. To wear 溢 is to make peace with abundance that will not stay contained: the heart at the lip, the bright thread running, the sweetness on the cloth where something could not be held one drop longer.