The Calligrapher — Zhāng Xiàoxiáng 张孝祥

Song lyricist and calligrapher famed for his robust running script.

Song calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《柴沟帖》. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

When the old man Huangshi dropped his shoe from the bridge and Zhang Liang 跪, knelt, to set it back on his foot without anger, he passed a test of patience that won him a book of war. 跪下 and 跪拜 name that bending of the knee, once the posture of respect and service alike.

Common words & phrases

• 跪下 kneel down · kneel
• 跪拜 kowtow · worship on knees
• 跪倒 fall on knees · kneel down
• 下跪 kneel · go down on knees

Read the story behind the character

At a temple, a pilgrim 跪拜, kneels in worship, while a child is told to 跪下, kneel, in apology and a soldier 跪倒, falls to his knees, at a comrade's grave. A petitioner 下跪, goes down on his knees, for mercy. Zhang Liang's humble knee now bends in prayer, grief, and shame. The bent knee now serves prayer, apology, and grief in turn.

Why this character belongs on skin

Kneeling is the most eloquent position the human body knows. 跪 means to go down on the knee — before an emperor, before an altar, before a beloved with a question in hand. The same gesture holds the greatest submission and the greatest proposal, punishment and prayer, defeat and devotion. The mystics understood its paradox: Simone Weil wrote that kneeling, rightly done, is not collapse but attention, the body becoming a vessel aimed at something beyond itself. Strength is required for it — anyone can stand; it takes a certain courage to put your weight deliberately on the ground and stay there. To wear this character is not to wear submission. It is to claim the knowledge of what you would kneel for — the person, the principle, the mercy — and to honor the rare gravity of that list. The knee bends only toward what the whole life has chosen.