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

Liu Bang set a price on his enemy, gou qie, a thousand catties of gold and a fief for the head of Xiang Yu, and the reward rang through the camps. The character gou is that buying, the act of paying to possess what one wants. From the bounty the word passed to gòu mǎi, the everyday purchase, and to shōu gòu, the merchant who buys the harvest up before the price moves.

Common words & phrases

• 购买 buy · purchase
• 购物 shopping
• 采购 procure · purchase
• 收购 acquire · buy up
• 订购 order · subscribe

Read the story behind the character

A shopper gòu wù on the phone and gòu mǎi the ticket in two taps, while a firm cǎi gòu the parts for the line. A publisher dìng gòu the series, and a chain shōu gòu the rival's stock. The character gou still means the money that reaches out to take hold of a thing.

Why this character belongs on skin

You reach across the counter of the world and take what you want into your hands. 购 is to buy, to acquire, the simple ancient act of exchange that built every city. The shell-money radical 贝 at its root reminds us that all possession was once the sea's, something gathered, something given. But the deeper purchase is the one that costs you, the thing you acquire by becoming worthy of it. The poets warn that what is bought too cheaply is kept too loosely; the treasure is the thing for which you paid in attention. To wear 购 is to claim the power of choosing, of reaching out and saying this, this will be mine. Let it rest on your skin like a coin pressed into the palm, a small character that says you reached, and what you wanted, you took, and the taking made it yours in a way nothing given ever could be.