The Calligrapher — Péi Xiū 裴休

Tang chancellor and calligrapher; author of the Guifeng Stele in regular script.

Tang calligrapher (), master of regular script — known for 《圭峰碑》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

厅 grew from 聽, to listen -- the hall where a host received and heard guests. In the Suzhou gardens a 花厅 opened onto the rockery for afternoon talk; the 厅堂 was the main room where a family received visitors and settled affairs. The great 衙门 kept a 大堂 for hearings. The word names the room built for meeting, not for sleep.

Common words & phrases

• 大厅 hall · lobby
• 客厅 living room
• 餐厅 dining room
• 办公厅 office
• 厅长 department head

Read the story behind the character

A family arranges the 客厅 around a sofa and a television; the 餐厅 holds the evening meal. In an office tower a 办公厅 runs the daily schedule. A province's 厅长 answers for his department at the quarterly briefing. The word has spread from the old reception hall to every room and bureau where people sit down together to talk or to decide.

Why this character belongs on skin

厅 is the hall where a household receives the world — the open room, the threshold between private and public, where guests are met and judgments rendered. In the old manor it was the seat of the family's face, the place a man's character was performed before strangers. To carry 厅 is to claim your own inner reception room: the space where you decide who enters and who is turned at the door. We all keep such a hall, though most leave it unguarded. The mark is a reminder to be intentional about your threshold, to receive with dignity and refuse with peace. It is architecture of the self. Ink it where your hand rests and remember that the quality of a life is often the quality of its door — open enough to welcome, strong enough to close. You are the host. Act like it.