The Calligrapher — Guō Zhōngshù 郭忠恕

Five Dynasties–early Song master renowned for his seal script.

五代宋初 calligrapher (), master of seal script — known for 《汗简》. Five Dynasties–early Song

Cultural Story

鹏 is the giant roc of Zhuangzi's 逍遥游, a bird whose wings darken the sky as it rises from the northern sea toward the southern dark. Built from the bird radical with the sound 朋, 鹏 embodies limitless aspiration. Later lore fixed it as the supreme mythical bird of soaring, fearless scale.

Common words & phrases

• 大鹏 giant roc · roc
• 鹏程 bright future · roc's flight
• 鲲鹏 kun and peng · mythic birds

Read the story behind the character

The 大鹏 (giant roc) headlines tech firms and airlines named for reach, while 鹏程 (roc's flight) wishes a “bright future” to graduates. In 鲲鹏 (kun and peng) the roc pairs with the leviathan, a favorite image for startups and speeches about thinking beyond ordinary horizons.

Why this character belongs on skin

Zhuangzi begins with the 鹏: a fish of the northern deep named Kun, vast beyond measuring, that transforms into a bird whose back covers the sky. To rise, it needs wind ninety thousand li thick; below it, the small cicada laughs—what's the point of flying so high? And the roc does not answer. Some natures are built for altitude, and no small creature's ridicule can argue them out of the sky. This is the character Chinese gives its children named 大鹏: ambition without apology, transformation without looking back—from the deep water of who you were into the wide air of what you might be. Ink it on the shoulder blade, where the wing once was. The cicada and the dove never understand, and Zhuangzi does not scold them; small knowledge is real knowledge, suited to small branches. But the sea wind is still there, still enormous, still waiting. Then grow into it.