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

The Tang military organized frontier garrisons into 团 of conscripted farmers who drilled and farmed in one breath. At the Lantern Festival, 团圆 pulled scattered families back to one table under the same moon. The character's round mouth holds both the regiment and the round dumpling shared at year's end.

Common words & phrases

• 团结 unite · unity
• 团体 group · organization
• 团圆 reunite
• 团长 regiment commander
• 一团 a ball · a mass

Read the story behind the character

The school 团体 boards the bus for the debate trip. A family 团圆 over hotpot on New Year's Eve. The regiment commander's descendant runs a 团长 group chat for the reunion. A child balls rice into a sticky 一团 and giggles at the mess on the table.

Why this character belongs on skin

A circle with something at its heart — 团 is the round, the whole, the group gathered and made one. It means to unite, to reunite, to roll separate things into a single mass. We are fragments, scattered by distance and time, always almost a circle. 团 is the gathering, the family pulled back together, the self made round again after being broken into pieces. To carry it is to claim your belonging, your people, your center. The character is full, enclosing, warm. It suits the place over the heart, or the wrist where a hand might rest. Not a lone mark — a held one. Ink for the one who keeps the circle, who calls the others home, who knows a person is only ever round when the ones they love are inside the line.