The Calligrapher — Yáng Shìqí 杨士奇

Ming statesman renowned for his regular script and the Taige (court) style.

Ming calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 台阁体. Ming dynasty

Cultural Story

(The folk art of 剪纸 cuts red paper into window flowers for the new year; a pair of 剪刀 and a folded sheet turn a grandmother's hand into a flock of birds. The craft runs from Shaanxi to Hebei. The character 剪 keeps the two blades that cross and bite the sheet.

Common words & phrases

• 剪刀 scissors · shears
• 剪裁 cut out · tailor · trim
• 剪辑 editing · cut · montage
• 裁剪 cut · tailor · trim
• 剪断 cut off · snip

Read the story behind the character

The 剪辑 trims the clip to thirty seconds. The 剪刀 snap the thread. The tailor 剪裁 the coat to the measure. The wire is 剪断 at the post. The word names the cut, the edit, and the crossed steel on the table. The 剪辑 trims the clip to thirty seconds, the 剪刀 snap the thread, and the tailor 剪裁 the coat.

Why this character belongs on skin

Before the word meant the blade, it was the blade — two edges crossing in the hand, the tool that shapes by removal. Jiǎn is to cut, to clip, to trim the excess until the true form appears, as a gardener cuts the hedge to find the shape hidden inside it. The ancients used it for the scholar's lamp wick and the lover's kept lock of hair; cutting as both utility and devotion. To wear jiǎn is to trust subtraction — that what you remove reveals more than what you add. It is the editor's wisdom, the artist's restraint. A man marked with this character has cut away the life he was told to want and kept the smaller, truer one. Let it rest where the hands would hold the shears, a permanent gesture of refinement by release.