The Calligrapher — Chǔ Suíliáng 褚遂良

Tang chancellor and regular-script master of elegant, balanced strokes.

Tang calligrapher (596–658), master of regular script — Tang master of graceful, tensile regular script favored by the imperial court. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

添 is to put more water in, hence to add; households 添 (added) a child or a room as blessings grew. A host 增添 (added) wine to honor guests, and the Shijing mood of plenty wished every family 添 clothing before winter. To 添乱 (make trouble worse) was to disturb a careful, ordered plan.

Common words & phrases

• 添加 add · append
• 增添 add · increase
• 添置 add · purchase
• 添补 replenish · fill up
• 添乱 make trouble worse

Read the story behind the character

She 添置 (purchases) a new sofa for the apartment, and he 添补 (replenishes) the fridge before guests arrive. The app 添加 (adds) a contact with one tap, while the toddler 添乱 (makes things worse) by spilling the milk. Spring 增添 (adds) color to the bare balcony garden overnight.

Why this character belongs on skin

No river refuses a tributary. Tiān is to add, to increase — the small character built from water (氵), as if every true addition were a drop more of the flowing thing. The ancients used it for the guest given a place at the table, the child born into the line, the year that brought one good thing more than it took. To wear tiān is to stay open to abundance, to believe the cup is not full merely because it stopped hurting. It is the opposite of the closed hand. A man marked with this character welcomes what arrives — the late love, the second chance, the meaning that came only after the lesson. Let it sit where you would feel something enter you, a quiet yes to whatever good the current still carries.