The Calligrapher — Suǒ Jìng 索靖

Jin calligrapher famed for zhangcao (clerical-cursive script); author of the Essay on Cursive Script.

Jin calligrapher (), master of clerical cursive — known for 《月仪帖》. Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

上 and 下 are a pair drawn from a stroke above a line and a stroke below, the 說文's picture of high and low. In ritual the 上宾 sat north, closest to the ancestral tablets. 上书 meant to present a memorial upward to the throne. A stele carved 上谕 carried the emperor's word down to the provinces. Up was authority, direction, and the act of sending words higher.

Common words & phrases

• 上面 above · on top · surface
• 上班 go to work
• 上学 go to school
• 上网 surf the internet
• 上来 come up
• 上午 morning · a.m.

Read the story behind the character

上班 is the daily commute, 上学 the school run, 上网 the phone in bed at midnight. 上面 means the surface of the desk or the page above. 上午 is the meeting you dread; 上来 is someone climbing the stairs. The word is the grammar of vertical life, what is higher, what is next, what you do when you leave the house. It orders the day before you have had coffee.

Why this character belongs on skin

上 is up — a stroke rising above the line, the higher place, the direction of skies and ancestors and ambition. Where 下 settled into the earth, 上 reaches; the two are a single breath of Chinese thought, descent and ascent held together. To carry 上 is to keep one eye on the heights — not out of vanity but devotion. The ancients placed the spirits 上, above, and the best of human effort was simply to rise toward them. It is the mark of someone who still believes in the upward pull, who has not given up on better. We are cynical about aspiration now, as if wanting more were shameful; this ink disagrees, gently. It is for the person who climbs inner staircases, who measures a life by its reach. Ink it where you look when you need to, a small north star on the skin. The down is real and necessary. But 上 is the direction you chose to face, and that choice is the whole of it.