The Calligrapher — Bèi Yìyuān 贝义渊

Liang calligrapher of the regular-script Xiao Dan Stele, a rare Southern Dynasties monument.

南朝梁 calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《始兴忠武王碑》. Liang dynasty (Southern Dynasties)

Cultural Story

The form showed a cap and an eye, 冒, to put on and to risk. The histories praise a general who 冒险 a night crossing. To 冒 a name was to pass fake coin or false rank. The commentator 冒犯 the throne at his peril. The word held both the helmet and the hazard beneath it.

Common words & phrases

• 冒险 risk · adventure
• 冒犯 offend
• 感冒 cold · flu
• 冒充 pretend · fake
• 冒号 colon

Read the story behind the character

A hiker 冒险 the unmarked trail; a clerk 冒犯 a rude customer and is warned. The label reads 冒号, the colon, before a list. A man 冒充 a inspector and is caught. The child has a 感冒, a cold, and stays home; the pharmacy sells the packets by the counter.

Why this character belongs on skin

You step into the smoke before you know it will clear — that is 冒, to risk, to brave, to emit, the character shaped like a head pushing up through a covering, refusing to stay beneath. To court danger is to walk out under the falling sky because the thing on the other side is worth the exposure. The ancients watched smoke rising from the roof, the first sign of a life being lived inside. To wear 冒 is to claim the courage of the uncovered head, the willingness to be seen and singed. Caution has its virtues; so does the man who moves anyway. Let this character rest where your pulse is nearest the surface, a small emblem of the risks that made you. Carry the brave front. Let it mark the line you crossed when no one was watching, forever.