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

吾 is a classical first-person pronoun—"I," "my," "we"—used by Confucius and 莊子 with easy grace; 論語 has the master say 吾日三省吾身, "I examine myself thrice daily." It yields 吾辈 (we/us) and 吾国 (our country) in later prose, while 支吾 means to hem and haw, evading with the mouth. The character is the scholar's "I," intimate yet dignified across two millennia of Chinese letters and speech.

Common words & phrases

• 吾辈 we · us
• 吾人 we · our
• 吾国 our country
• 支吾 to hem and haw · to evade

Read the story behind the character

Patriotic essays still invoke 吾国 (our country) with pride, and a writer addresses 吾辈 (we/us) as a generation with a mission. A nervous witness 支吾 (hems and haws/evades) when questioned, unable to give a straight answer. Though 吾 sounds bookish today, it surfaces in speeches, slogans, and period dramas—the elegant "we" and "I" of a China that remembers its own voice across the centuries of change.