The Calligrapher — Shì Huáirén 释怀仁

Tang monk who compiled Wang Xizhi's script into the Sacred Teachings stele.

Tang calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 集王羲之行书《圣教序》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

号 was a name and a cry. The men of letters took a 号, a "studio name" beyond the given and the courtesy name -- Su Shi was 东坡居士. The army raised a 号令; the crowd took up a 口号. The word named both the label a man chose and the sound a throng made, the mark and the voice.

Common words & phrases

• 号码 number
• 号召 call · appeal
• 信号 signal
• 口号 slogan
• 符号 symbol · sign
• 称号 title

Read the story behind the character

A 号码 reaches the caller; a 信号 drops in the tunnel. A rally raises a 口号; a badge carries a 称号. The 符号 on the map marks the station. The word runs the tags and the sounds of the day -- the phone number, the lost signal, the slogan, the sign. It names what identifies and what calls, from the contact list to the square.

Why this character belongs on skin

Every man wants to be called something that is his alone. 号 is that word — a name you choose when the one your parents gave you no longer fits the life you've lived. The scholar takes a 号 at middle age, a second self, a banner. It is also the number etched on a soldier, the cry a captain gives before the charge, the long wail a mourner lifts at a grave. To mark yourself with 号 is to refuse anonymity. It is to say: I am not a digit, not a face in the ledger. I have named myself, and the name is a summons that follows me past every door. Somewhere it is still being called across a field. You turn your head. You answer, because you always have.