The Calligrapher — Zhào Zhīqiān 赵之谦

Qing pioneer who fused seal-script vigor into every style.

Qing calligrapher (), master of 篆隶/running script — Qing eclectic who fused seal, clerical and painting sensibilities into one bold hand. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

The Bin airs open the Shi Jing with the poem Qi Yue, the seventh month, a farmer's calendar of toil from frozen dawn to the storing of grain in the hills of Bin. The character bin is that old western land, and its songs are the most earthly in the book, full of locusts, wine, and the year's slow turn. They are the voice of the field set to music.

Common words & phrases

• 豳风 Bin air · ode of Bin
• 豳州 Bin prefecture

Read the story behind the character

A literature class recites Qi Yue from the Bin airs, tracing the crop through the old months, and a museum labels Bin Zhou as a seat of early Zhou culture. The character bin rarely leaves the classroom or the exhibit now, a place-name kept alive by the poem. It still teaches the year as the farmer sang it.