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

汪 is the sound a dog makes — 'woof' — and also deep, spreading water; the 說文解字 says '深廣也', deep and wide. 莊子 used it for the vast. A 汪 is a puddle, and 汪洋 the boundless sea. The character held both the small splash in the road and the endless, deep blue of the ocean.

Common words & phrases

• 汪汪 (dog) bark · woof · (water) deep
• 水汪汪 limpid · bright (eyes)
• 汪洋 vast expanse of water

Read the story behind the character

汪 is sound and water: a dog goes 汪汪 (woof, bark), a child's eyes are 水汪汪 (limpid, bright), and the sea stretches 汪洋 (vast expanse of water). We use it for a puddle after rain or the deep shine in a happy eye. The character is bark, brightness, and boundless blue at once.

Why this character belongs on skin

A dog barks once and the sound gathers in the courtyard; water, too, gathers—spreading into a 汪, a deep bright pool, a vast sea. The character pools meaning the way water pools: abundant, sudden, alive. Think of standing at the edge of something far larger than you, the surface trembling with light, and feeling the old canine loyalty in your own chest—the urge to guard, to announce, to love without restraint. To wear 汪 is to claim that depth, that readiness, that bark of the faithful heart. You are not a shallow stream. You are the gathered water, the loyal beast at the gate. Let this mark sit where your pulse is loudest, a reminder that what you feel collects into something whole, something deep enough to drown in or to drink from, depending entirely on who approaches you.