The Calligrapher — Yǒng Xīng 永瑆

Qing prince famed for elegant regular script in the Zhao-Ouyang manner.

Qing calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 成亲王. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

In 水浒传, when the brave must flee, they 跑, run, for the hills or the river, the character naming the quick escape that 走 once did in older prose. A sentinel 跑 to warn the camp, a general 跑 his horse to the front. The novel fixed 跑 as the word for flight on foot that modern runners now borrow for sport.

Common words & phrases

• 跑步 run · jog
• 跑车 sports car · roadster
• 奔跑 run · dash
• 跑道 track · runway
• 跑腿 run errands

Read the story behind the character

At a park, a man 跑步, jogs, at dawn while a collector admires a red 跑车, sports car, and a child 奔跑, dashes, after a kite. A courier 跑腿, runs errands, across town and a track host walks the 跑道, runway. The outlaws' escape from Liangshan now powers a morning routine and a joyride. The flight from danger and the morning jog are one word worn two ways.

Why this character belongs on skin

At its root, 跑 is the simplest thing a body can do with fear or joy: run. The foot element beats at the left while 包, a wrapping, doubles its sound — a whole creature slung forward, arms closing around the wind. Children know the character before they can read it; so does anyone who has sprinted for a last train, a falling child, the pure animal pleasure of speed on an empty road. But the word also runs in places no foot goes: markets run hot, thoughts run wild, a rumor runs through a town overnight. There is something honest about a character that admits we spend half our lives fleeing something and the other half chasing something, and often cannot tell the difference. To carry 跑 is to keep the legs of your soul — to be, at any age, still capable of motion toward what you want, and away from what would cage you.