The Calligrapher — Liǔ Gōngquán 柳公权

Tang regular-script master famed for 'bones' of strength; rival to Yan Zhenqing.

Tang calligrapher (778–865), master of regular script — Tang master of bone-strength regular script, paired forever with Yan Zhenqing as 'Yan sinew, Liu bone'. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

伸 is 人 with 申, a man straightening, the limb extended, the unjust case laid out. The 說文 reads 申 as to stretch. 伸手 is the beggar's and the grabber's; 伸冤 the wrong righted, the grievance extended into the open. The character is the body unfolding, the arm that reaches and the grievance that finally gets stated.

Common words & phrases

• 伸手 stretch out hand · ask for
• 伸展 stretch · spread · extend
• 延伸 extend · stretch · reach
• 伸缩 stretch and shrink · flexible

Read the story behind the character

伸手 is the ask and the theft, 伸手要钱, 伸手党. 伸展 is the morning stretch and the road widening; 延伸 the subway line and the deadline. 伸缩 is the flexible budget and the telescoping pole. The character names the extension, the reach, the stretch, the flexible. It still means the limb straightened and the case opened, the arm that takes and the wrong that finally gets said aloud.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a relief in the limb finally straightened. This character is the person extended — the arm reaching, the truth stretched out to its full length after being folded too long. It means to stretch, to extend, to unbend; and by a natural turn, to state plainly what was coiled inside. A cramped life uncramps; a withheld word gets spoken; the prisoner's back finds the wall and pushes. To carry this mark on your skin is to honor every time you refused to stay folded — the argument you finally made, the distance you finally closed, the self you finally let stand at full height. Wear it along a muscle that knows how to extend — the forearm, the thigh — a quiet record of uncurling. The mark says: I reached. I did not stay small in the corner of the room. Let it pull your eye outward, toward the horizon, where everything you have not yet become is still waiting to be extended into.