The Calligrapher — Lù Jiǎnzhī 陆柬之

Tang calligrapher and nephew of Yu Shinan; his running-script 'Essay on Literature' survives

Tang calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《文赋》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

In the divided age of the Northern and Southern dynasties, courtiers on each side used 傖 as a sneer for the other's people; 傖楚 mocked the folk of the Chu lands as boorish. The word was a wall of contempt between regions that shared one script and one memory of empire. To call a man 傖 was to deny he was civilized at all.

Common words & phrases

• 傖夫 boor · vulgar fellow
• 傖俗 vulgar custom
• 傖楚 vulgar person (pejorative)

Read the story behind the character

The word survives mostly as a relic, a 傖夫 or 傖俗 in a historical line, yet its habit lingers in every snub of the provincial as 傖. A novelist still reaches for 傖楚 to sketch a rustic. It names the old reflex of calling the outsider coarse — a prejudice now studied more often than spoken, filed under manners and class.