The Calligrapher — Lǐ Liúfāng 李流芳

Ming literatus and calligrapher; one of the Four Masters of Jiading famed for running script.

Ming calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《西湖诗》. Ming dynasty

Cultural Story

政 is the straightening of the state. The Zuo Zhuan says 政者正也 — to govern is to set things right. Confucius served as 政 in Lu and despaired. The word joins the ruler's authority to the carpenter's plumb line. 财政 is the grain and coin; 行政 the daily running of the office of men, from the capital down to the county.

Common words & phrases

• 政治 politics · political
• 政府 government · administration
• 政策 policy · guideline
• 行政 administration · executive
• 财政 finance · fiscal
• 市政 municipal · city affairs

Read the story behind the character

政治 is the fight on the news; 政府 the building with the flags; 政策 the leaflet in the mailbox. 市政 is the pothole the city 修补; 行政 the form you file. The word sits on every ministry and every complaint, the machinery by which a billion strangers agree, more or less, to share one road and one rule.

Why this character belongs on skin

Order is the first kindness a state offers its people. The character sets an upright stroke beside the acts of correction — zhèng, government, the administration that keeps the roads straight and the harvest shared. Confucius said to govern is first to set oneself right; the ruler is the needle, the realm the cloth. When the center holds, a thousand small lives can unfold without fear. To carry this is not to praise power but to honor the order you keep within, the steady hand that governs your own wild country. Let it rest on your skin as a quiet authority, the law you made for yourself. And when you are ready, let the needle write the decree in ink — your rule, made permanent.