The Calligrapher — Liáng Tóngshū 梁同书

Qing elegant running-script master of the imperial academy.

Qing calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 清四家. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

A spoken character, 摟 is the arm drawn round another from the side, the farmer 摟住 the child against the wind. The books said 抱; 摟 is the looser, broader hold, the one that gathers rather than clasps, warmth before ceremony, and the child inside the arm learned the wind's direction by the side it was shielded from, which is how a farmer teaches weather without a word.

Common words & phrases

• 搂抱 hug · embrace
• 搂住 hug tight
• 搂着 holding
• 搂钱 rake in money

Read the story behind the character

Lovers 摟抱; a man 摟住s the dog; a cheat 摟錢, rakes in the cash. The child is a windfall now. The arm drawn round is the same, whether it shields a small body, holds a pet, or merely gathers a fortune the law was meant to keep at arm's length, and the windfall is only the child, grown rich and undeservedly warm.

Why this character belongs on skin

The soldier home from the war lifts his daughter and the war, for one held breath, has no address. To hug is to fold another into the architecture of your own ribs, to make of two bodies a single weather. The wanderers on the long road found in the embrace the only country that could not be taken from them. Love speaks few languages, but this one needs no translation—the arm around the waist, the head against the shoulder, the silent admission that alone we are only half a shape. We hug the dying, the newborn, the one leaving; the gesture covers every distance the heart cannot. Wear this for the arms that have held your breaking and the ones you hope will hold it still. The hug outlasts the reason for it. Hold, and be held.