The Calligrapher — Zhāng Jízhī 张即之

Song master of vigorous regular and running script.

Song calligrapher (), master of regular script/running script — known for 《佛遗教经》. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

猴 is the monkey, the clever trickster of 西遊記's 孙悟空, the 猴王 (monkey king) who rebels against heaven. The 周易 and folk belief rank it among the zodiac animals, lively and mischievous. Acrobats performed 猴戏 (monkey shows) to mimic its antics for cheering crowds.

Common words & phrases

• 猴子 monkey
• 猴王 monkey king
• 猿猴 apes and monkeys
• 猕猴 macaque
• 猴戏 monkey show

Read the story behind the character

Kids adore the 猴子 (monkey) at the zoo, and 孙悟空 the 猴王 (monkey king) headlines cartoons and movies. Scientists study 猕猴 (macaque) for medicine, and 猿猴 (apes and monkeys) fill nature docs. During New Year, 猴戏 (monkey shows) and masks keep the trickster's laughter alive.

Why this character belongs on skin

Every culture's favorite sinner is a monkey. 猴 is the monkey — the animal radical beside a phonetic that echoes of noble lords, which is exactly the joke: the ungainly clown who turns out to be greater than the kings. China crowned one above all — Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, born from stone, who stole the peaches of immortality, scratched his name into the Buddha's own palm, and was pressed under a mountain for five hundred years before trading his pride for a pilgrim's band and a road west. He is laughter and riot and redemption in one body: rebellion punished, then harnessed, then made holy. To wear 猴 is to claim his inheritance — mischief with a purpose, defiance with a heart, the refusal to bow just because bowing is expected. Ink it on the arm that raises hell. Stay clever, stay irreverent, stay moving. The journey west is long, and it needs a monkey on it.