The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

乎 is the breathy particle that gave classical questions their rise at the end, 不亦说乎, is it not a joy. The 論語 leans on it; it is the spoken punctuation of Confucius's classroom, the lift in the voice before the student answers. Originally it meant at or from; it softened into the sound of inquiry itself, the tongue rounding a thought into a question.

Common words & phrases

• 在乎 care about · mind
• 几乎 almost · nearly
• 似乎 seem · as if
• 关乎 concern · bear on
• 近乎 nearly · close to
• 出乎 beyond · exceed

Read the story behind the character

在乎 is whether you care, 我不在乎, I do not. 几乎 is the missed train by seconds; 似乎 the doubt you couch. 关乎 is what the policy brief says is at stake; 近乎 the line you are crossing. 出乎 is the surprise beyond expectation. The particle sense is gone from speech, but the character lives in these compounds, the register of nearness, doubt, and concern, the breath behind the words.