The Calligrapher — Lǐ Liúfāng 李流芳

Ming literatus and calligrapher; one of the Four Masters of Jiading famed for running script.

Ming calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《西湖诗》. Ming dynasty

Cultural Story

驱 (qū) pairs 馬 with the phonetic 區. 《説文解字》 reads 馬馳也, “horses galloping,” to urge beasts onward. From driving animals it came to mean expelling or dispatching anything unwanted from sight.

Common words & phrases

• 驱动 drive · motivate · power
• 驱赶 drive away · drive off · chase
• 驱逐 expel · deport · oust
• 驱使 impel · drive · compel
• 先驱 pioneer · forerunner · trailblazer

Read the story behind the character

驱 means to drive and expel. An engine 驱动 (drives, powers) a machine, we 驱赶 (drive off) pests, 驱逐 (expel) intruders, a motive 驱使 (impels) us, and pioneers stand as 先驱 (forerunners) of change.

Why this character belongs on skin

Feel the thigh's press, the rein gone slack, the animal beneath you deciding to become speed. To drive a horse is not to dominate it but to ask the question it was born to answer. The old word carries the hunt, the frontier, the messenger galloping through snow with a name on his lips. Warrior ethos is mostly this: knowing when to let the beast move and trusting the road to open. Confucius spoke of the gentleman who is urgent yet composed; the urgency is 驱, the composure is what keeps the rider on. There is a kind of freedom only motion gives, a clarity that arrives at a gallop and vanishes when you stop. Mark yourself with it and you carry the instruction always: do not wait to be moved. Take the reins. The distance was never the point. The going was.