The Calligrapher — Zhōng Shàojīng 钟绍京

Tang calligrapher famed for the regular-script Lingfei Jing.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《灵飞经》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

In the ancient codes, 免 meant to remove a cap or hood as a mark of pardon or release from punishment. The Book of Rites lists 免 as a mourning gesture, the hat doffed at a grave. A county that paid no grain tax was called 免税, freed by imperial edict. The gesture was always concrete: something taken off, something let go.

Common words & phrases

• 避免 avoid · prevent
• 免费 free · gratis
• 免得 so as not to · lest
• 免除 exempt · remove
• 免税 tax-free · duty-free

Read the story behind the character

A cafe advertises 免费 wifi above the door; a duty counter at the airport marks 免税 in red. A parent says 免得 the child catches cold, and tucks the coat tighter. To 免除 a fee the clerk taps the keyboard twice, and the balance on the screen drops to zero.

Why this character belongs on skin

To be released is its own kind of grace. Miǎn is exemption—the tax lifted from the poor, the conscript sent home, the burden set down that you had carried as if it were bone. The Christians called such a thing mercy; the Daoists called it the art of not forcing what the current would do for you. To wear this character is to claim a freedom you did not earn by striving—the pardon that arrives when you finally stop performing for the gate. Let it rest where a weight used to press. You are discharged at last. The ink is the stamp on the document that says you may go, and the only signature required was your own exhausted, relieved hand.