The Calligrapher — Shěn Càn 沈粲

Ming calligrapher of the Two Shen known for elegant, flowing cursive script.

Ming calligrapher (), master of cursive script — known for 沈度之弟. Ming dynasty

Cultural Story

(Du Fu honoured Zhuge Liang: "功盖三分国，名成八阵图" — his merit overshadows the three kingdoms, his name made by the eight-array diagram. The 出师表 carries the 功劳. The character 功 is the work done and the credit earned. It names the deed that outlasts the doer. At the shrine in Chengdu the 武侯祠 keeps his tablet, and visitors still name the 功 that built a kingdom.

Common words & phrases

• 成功 success · succeed · win
• 功夫 kung fu · skill · effort
• 功能 function · feature · capacity
• 功劳 merit · credit · contribution
• 功课 homework · schoolwork · lesson
• 立功 render meritorious service · merit

Read the story behind the character

The boy lags on his 功课. The master shows 功夫 at the demo. The project 成功 on the fourth try. The soldier 立功 and gets the medal. The word names the study, the skill, and the win that follows the work. The boy lags on his 功课, the master shows 功夫 at the demo, the project 成功 on the fourth try, and the soldier 立功.

Why this character belongs on skin

功 is the work that becomes worth — merit, accomplishment, the slow credit earned by doing. Its two halves are labor and strength; together they say nothing is given, everything is built. The Daoist seeks 功 without boasting of it; the strategist counts it as the only real currency. To wear 功 is to honor the unglamorous truth: you are the sum of what you have actually done, not what you meant to. It is a mark for the disciplined, the ones who show up when no one watches. Place it where your effort lives — the shoulder that carries, the hand that makes. Let it remind you that legacy is not inherited but accumulated, stroke by stroke, rep by rep, until the small things add up to a life that meant something. The world forgets intentions. It remembers results. So do you.