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

In the Yanzi Chunqiu, the envoy Yanzi describes the crowded streets of Linzi, capital of Qi, where people stood 'shoulder to shoulder and heel to heel' — 比肩继踵. The image stuck for two thousand years because 踵, the heel, is exactly what you notice in a press of bodies. The character pairs the foot radical with 重, 'heavy,' as if each heel carried the weight of the one behind it.

Common words & phrases

• 接踵 one after another · crowded
• 踵武 follow in footsteps
• 举踵 rise on tiptoe
• 踵至 arrive in succession

Read the story behind the character

At the subway turnstile during the morning rush, commuters 接踵 press forward the instant the gate swings. One heel lands where the last has lifted, and the crowd 踵至 in an unbroken stream toward the platform. A late arrival finds no gap to slip through — the bodies move as a single creature, heel to heel, each person's pace borrowed from the stranger just ahead.