The Calligrapher — Ōuyáng Xún 欧阳询

Tang regular-script master whose 'Ouyang style' is a basic learning model.

Tang calligrapher (557–641), master of regular script/running script — Tang codifier of regular script; crisp, architectural strokes you could measure with a ruler. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

Set the foot radical against a sound of pressure and you get 踹, the sudden straight-legged kick of a boot driven into a door or a stubborn animal. Unlike a gentle step, it carries the whole body's weight behind the sole. In the old martial handbooks a 踹 is a strike delivered with the heel, a move meant to break a lock, a stance, or a fall of wood.

Common words & phrases

• 踹门 kick the door
• 踹踏 tread · stamp

Read the story behind the character

A landlord 踹门 when the tenant will not answer, the cheap hollow panel giving way at the latch with a single driven heel. In the workshop a worker 踹踏 the starter pedal of a stubborn mower until the engine catches. The kick is the body's shortest argument — force applied where a hand would only knock and wait for an answer that never comes.