The Calligrapher — Chǔ Suíliáng 褚遂良

Tang chancellor and regular-script master of elegant, balanced strokes.

Tang calligrapher (596–658), master of regular script — Tang master of graceful, tensile regular script favored by the imperial court. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

並 drew two men standing side by side at a threshold, together, equal, neither above the other. The 論語 ideal of 並立 is friends who stand without bowing. A board 並列 two names when both earned the place. The word is the horizontal of relationship: not one over one, but two abreast, the grammar of companionship and of fair comparison on the same line.

Common words & phrases

• 並且 and also · moreover
• 並非 not at all · by no means
• 並列 juxtapose · stand side by side

Read the story behind the character

並且 strings your reasons together; 並非 shuts down a rumor, 并非如此, not like that at all. 並列 is what the scoreboard does with tied teams. The spoken tongue often swaps in 并, the simplified form, so 並 reads as the formal twin, the character you see in print and legal text. It still means two things set beside each other, equal, unhurried, on the same ground.