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

The character pictured tufts of grass, 兹, this here, now. The Documents declare '今兹' for the present year of rule. A stele opens '兹有' — hereby there is — before naming the grant. The word fixed a moment on the page so a later reader would know exactly when the matter stood.

Common words & phrases

• 赫兹 Hertz
• 今兹 now · this year
• 来兹 the future

Read the story behind the character

A label reads 赫兹, Hertz, on the speaker — cycles per second, a unit named for Heinrich Hertz. A letter heads 今兹 the current term. The will says 来兹 for the years ahead. None of it is old-fashioned; the radio tuner still shows kHz, thousands of 赫兹, as the dial turns.