The Calligrapher — Mǐ Fú 米芾

Song eccentric genius of dynamic, 'flying' running script.

Song calligrapher (1051–1107), master of running script — Song eccentric genius ('crazy Zhang, idiot Mi') whose running script alternates discipline with glee. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

To 排 is to set in a row and to push aside, the oars 排ing the water and the minister who 排s the foolish policy from the court. The character is the line and the clearance, order made by placing things one against the next, and the minister who排ed the bad policy placed it, briefly, in the river of his own forgotten memos.

Common words & phrases

• 排队 queue · line up · stand in line
• 排列 arrange · put in order · array
• 排除 eliminate · remove · rule out
• 安排 arrange · plan · schedule
• 一排 a row · a line

Read the story behind the character

You 排隊 for the bus; a plan is 安排d; a doubt is 排除d; a row is 排列. The oars are a queue now. The placing one against the next is the same, whether it rows a boat, fills a corridor, or merely clears a bad idea from the afternoon, and the queue is only the oars, lifted in unison and set down on pavement.

Why this character belongs on skin

Someone has to set the stones in a garden so the eye knows where to rest, has to lay the oars in the longboat so the crew pulls as one. To arrange is a kind of love, the patient hand that turns chaos into a row the heart can follow. The character carries both the making of order and the quiet force of pushing a thing aside that blocks the way. Confucius ranked the gentleman by how he orders his days. There is freedom in a well-set line, the liberty of knowing what comes next. To wear this mark is to say you are a person who places things deliberately, who clears his own path rather than waiting for one to appear. It is the dignity of one who arranges his life and then stands inside it, unhurried.