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

及 meant to reach. The saying 风马牛不相及 -- oxen and horses that never mingle -- came from the Zuo Zhuan to mark things with no connection. A scholar who passed was said to "reach the rank" -- 及第, named on the board. The word measured arrival: at a place, at a standard, at the moment before it was too late.

Common words & phrases

• 及时 timely · in time · promptly
• 以及 as well as · and · along with
• 及格 pass · be up to standard
• 普及 popularize · spread · universal
• 涉及 involve · concern · touch upon
• 来得及 in time · before it's too late

Read the story behind the character

A student checks whether he 及格 on the test; the rain came 及时 for the rice. News of the policy 普及 every phone in the township. The case 涉及 three offices and a former aide. Did the ambulance 来得及? The word reaches across the daily reckoning -- what arrives in time, what touches whom, what passes and what spreads from one hand to many.