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

Whispered by its own sound, the character 蹑 means to step so lightly the ground does not know you are there. To 蹑足 is to approach without a sound, the careful creep of a servant in a sleeping hall or a thief testing a floorboard. It is the opposite of a stride — a tread borrowed from cats and from people who do not wish to be found by anyone awake in the house.

Common words & phrases

• 蹑手蹑脚 to walk stealthily · to tiptoe
• 蹑足 to step · to approach quietly

Read the story behind the character

Upstairs a father 蹑手蹑脚 down the hall to fetch a glass of water, lifting each foot clear of the creaking board by the bathroom. His daughter, awake, hears nothing and sleeps on. To 蹑足 into a room is the small domestic art of absence — moving so the house stays asleep around you, the light left off, the door eased shut without a single click that would give you away.