The Calligrapher — Liǔ Gōngquán 柳公权
Tang regular-script master famed for 'bones' of strength; rival to Yan Zhenqing.
Tang calligrapher (778–865), master of regular script — Tang master of bone-strength regular script, paired forever with Yan Zhenqing as 'Yan sinew, Liu bone'. Tang dynasty
Cultural Story
耪 is the northern farmer's hoe-work: not weeding only but breaking the crust after rain so that moisture stays beneath — hoeing the field as breathing room for roots. The verb is dialect earth, a sound of the dry loess plains, where one well-timed pass with the flat blade could decide the season's harvest.
Common words & phrases
- 耪地 hoe the field
Read the story behind the character
In north China's smallholdings the word still circulates: a father phones his son that the millet needs 耪地 (hoe the field) before the week's heat arrives; agricultural students film a village elder using the flat hoe, adding subtitles for southern viewers who have never met the verb. The practice — crusting soil, saving rain — is universal even where the word is not.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Liǔ Gōngquán 柳公权, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.