The Calligrapher — Yú Shìnán 虞世南

Tang court calligrapher revered for refined, restrained regular script.

Tang calligrapher (558–638), master of regular script — Tang master of quiet, inward regular script and teacher to the imperial academy. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

The Shuowen gives 奠 as 'to set down an offering,' a character showing wine (酉) placed beneath, the libation poured to anchor a rite. From that solemn act it widened to mean establishing and settling: a dynasty's 奠 base, a house's 奠基 (laying of the foundation). The Classics also use 奠 for mourning — 祭奠, the offerings set before the dead. To 奠 was to make something firm by an act of respect, whether founding a state, raising a wall, or bidding a spirit farewell.

Common words & phrases

• 奠定 establish · settle
• 奠基 lay foundation · found
• 祭奠 offer sacrifice to · mourn
• 奠仪 funeral gift · condolence money

Read the story behind the character

The treaty 奠定 (established, settled) peace between the rivals; a mayor 奠基 (lays the foundation) for the new subway. Families 祭奠 (offer sacrifice to, mourn) ancestors at Qingming with food and incense, and relatives send 奠儀 (funeral gift, condolence money) to a grieving home. 奠 is the modern word for founding and for farewell — the cornerstone laid with ceremony, and the offering set before the dead to keep them honored.

Why this character belongs on skin

This is the character poured over ritual wine, the libation set down before a temple stone is laid—a beginning made sacred by an offering. It appears on Chinese gravestones, for the dead are founders too: of families, of the ground we stand on. There is gravity in it. Every real undertaking demands something be poured out first—the ease, the old self, the safe version of your life. The builders knew it; the mourners know it; you know it, from the threshold moments when you gave something up and crossed anyway. A foundation is a gift to a future self you will never meet. Ink this as a cornerstone: whatever you build next, build it over a libation, and mean it.