The Calligrapher — Lù Jiǎnzhī 陆柬之

Tang calligrapher and nephew of Yu Shinan; his running-script 'Essay on Literature' survives

Tang calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《文赋》. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

Yan Hui ate from a single basket, drank from a gourd, and lived in a lane the world would pity, yet never lost his joy, the poor disciple Confucius held above princes. The character pin is that want, the pin qiong of the lane and the pin fa of a mind short of books. From the lane the word passed to pin xue, the blood-starved, and to fu pin, the relief a state owes the low.

Common words & phrases

• 贫穷 poor
• 贫困 impoverished
• 贫乏 deficient · scarce
• 贫血 anemia
• 扶贫 poverty relief

Read the story behind the character

A clinic tests a child for pin xue and prescribes iron, and a county runs fu pin to lift the village. The family sits pin qiong after the layoff, and a student feels pin fa of examples. The character pin still names the lack a body or a purse can suffer, and the help owed against it.

Why this character belongs on skin

Split the character and the truth shows: 分 to divide, 贝 the shell-money — 贫 is wealth broken apart, shared until nothing remains, the state of having too little. The Confucian gentleman feared 贫 less than the loss of 德, character; better a poor man with a straight spine than a rich one ashamed. Yet poverty is its own teacher — it strips the excess, leaves the essential, teaches the hand to make much of little. To wear 贫 is to refuse shame at having lacked, to carry the scar of want as proof you endured it. Let this mark sit on your skin as a quiet pride: I knew the empty bowl and did not break. Some of the strongest ink is drawn by those who started with nothing and kept going. 贫 is not the end of the story; it is often the first honest line.