The Calligrapher — Cài Xiāng 蔡襄

One of the Four Song masters, known for graceful regular and running script.

Song calligrapher (1012–1067), master of regular script/running script — Song master of warm, disciplined regular script, the most 'proper' of the Song Four. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

幅 is the width of a bolt of cloth, and the Shuowen defines it as 'the breadth of silk and hemp.' Weavers measured cloth by its 幅, and a proper bolt had a fixed width, so 幅 came to mean any bounded extent. A painting had its 幅, a territory its 幅员. The word thus carries the weaver's rule: a thing has its due measure, and to exceed it is to rend the cloth.

Common words & phrases

• 篇幅 length of writing
• 幅度 range · extent
• 幅员 territory · area
• 振幅 amplitude

Read the story behind the character

An editor watches the 篇幅, the length of an article, and an economist studies the 幅度, the range, of a price swing. A map shows China's vast 幅员, its territory, while a physicist plots the 振幅, the amplitude, of a wave. Though few buy cloth by the 幅 now, the word still measures how wide, how far, how much - the quiet ruler across text, land, and signal.