The Calligrapher — Mò Shìlóng 莫是龙

Ming literati calligrapher of vigorous running script.

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

Cultural Story

At 大泽乡, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang 起, rose up, against the Qin, their 起义 the first spark of a revolt that toppled an empire. 起 means to rise from the ground, a getting up that becomes a getting going. 起床, the morning, and 起飞, a plane, are the quiet descendants of that uprising. The rising from earth became the rising of a whole people against a throne.

Common words & phrases

• 起来 to get up · to rise · up
• 起床 to get up · to get out of bed
• 起点 starting point · beginning
• 起飞 to take off · to launch
• 引起 to cause · to arouse · to lead to
• 起草 to draft · to draw up

Read the story behind the character

At dawn, a child 起床, gets up, and a flight 起飞, takes off, from the runway while a meeting 引起, causes, a dispute and a writer 起草, drafts, a letter. Every 起点, starting point, on a map owes its name to the same rise. The rebels' shout now begins a day and a sentence. The same getting up starts a plane, a sentence, and a revolution alike.

Why this character belongs on skin

Dust yourself off at the threshold and begin again — this is the rising, the standing up of the body after the long lie, the first step taken when the night has said its worst. It is also the beginning of a thing: a fire rises, a wind rises, a love rises in the chest without permission. The Confucian scholar rose each dawn to meet the day as a debt to be honored. There is resurrection in the character, the syllable of standing, the small daily miracle of the upright spine. To wear it is to refuse the floor. Every morning the body decides whether to lie or to rise; ink this and you have already decided. The standing is the sermon. Let your skin testify: I got up.