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

In the classical tradition: The character 咯 pairs the mouth radical 口 with 各, a phonetic element, and is a relatively late formation not given a separate entry of this sense in the Shuowen. In traditional medicine it named 咯血, the alarming sign of coughing up blood from the chest, often read as consumption or deep grief. Folk speech mimicked the cluck of hens and the cackle of laughter with 咯咯, while 咯噔 captured a sudden thump of the heart.

Common words & phrases

• 咯血 to cough up blood · to spit blood
• 咯咯 clucking · cackling (sound)
• 咯噔 click (sound) · thump

Read the story behind the character

In the modern world: In a busy Beijing hospital a doctor tells a patient with 咯血 — to cough up blood — to get an X-ray at once; it sounds scary but is often just a burst vessel. At the farm the hens go 咯咯, clucking as they scatter feed, and a child imitates them at breakfast. When the elevator jerks, you feel a 咯噔, a tiny thump of alarm in your chest before the doors open.