The Calligrapher — Shěn Chuánshī 沈传师

Tang running-script master prized by Mi Fu for his lean, lofty style.

Tang calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 《柳州石》，米芾推重. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

绕 is thread curling round and round a spindle, and classical ears borrowed it for sound: after the singer Han E sang in Yong's gate, the Liezi says, the lingering notes 绕梁, coiled round the rafters, for three days, giving Chinese its favorite compliment for an unforgettable voice. Anything that clings gracefully, sound or smoke or sentiment, was said to 绕.

Common words & phrases

• 围绕 surround · center on
• 环绕 encircle · surround
• 绕道 detour · make a detour
• 缠绕 twine · wind around
• 绕圈 circle · go around

Read the story behind the character

Rào directs the detour. A yellow sign on the ring road announces 绕道, detour, this way; runners 绕圈, circle, the track while waiting for their relay leg. Village lanes 环绕, encircle, an old well; earphone cables 缠绕, tangle, hopelessly in a jacket pocket; and language class ends in laughter over a brutal 绕口令, tongue twister.

Why this character belongs on skin

The river does not argue with the mountain; it simply goes around. Rào is to wind, to coil, to circle the obstacle instead of breaking against it — the path of water, of smoke, of a thought that will not leave the mind. The Daoist sage moves like this, never forcing the straight line, trusting that the long way is the way that arrives. A lover's arms rào the sleeping waist; a general's flanking column rào the enemy's strength. To carry this character is to refuse the violence of the direct, to choose the patient arc. We spend our lives charging walls that were meant to be circled. Ink rào where the body curves — the shoulder, the hip — a quiet manifesto that you will not be broken by what you can simply move around, that your strength is the bend, the return, the slow encircling of everything you mean to keep.