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

Quzhou, the city in Zhejiang once called Sanqu, sits where the river roads met and earned its very name from the character for a crossing of ways. The Tang capital's jiuqu, its nine great thoroughfares, were sung by poets as the arteries of Chang'an, broad enough for processions and markets together. A crossing of roads was the enduring image of a city's busy life.

Common words & phrases

• 通衢 thoroughfare
• 衢州 Quzhou · city in Zhejiang
• 九衢 numerous streets

Read the story behind the character

A long-distance bus pulls into Quzhou station on a busy tongqu, a national thoroughfare, while a map marks the jiuqu of the old town where lanes multiply. The character names the place and the road alike, a word for any artery where routes converge and the traveller must choose which stream to follow onward.