The Calligrapher — Shěn Zhōu 沈周

Ming literati patriarch known for gentle, classical running script.

Ming calligrapher (), master of running script — known for 吴门画派之祖. Ming dynasty

Cultural Story

侈 is excess. The 左传 warns that 奢侈 rots a state; a king's 侈靡 buried bronze he never used. To 侈谈 was to speak big and do little. The 豪侈 feast of a prince is told as caution, not praise. To be 侈 is to spend past the need and past the sense.

Common words & phrases

• 奢侈 luxurious · wasteful
• 侈靡 extravagant
• 侈谈 talk big · prate
• 豪侈 luxurious · extravagant

Read the story behind the character

A blogger mocks a 奢侈 bag; a meeting 侈谈 a plan with no budget. The 豪侈 suite sits empty while guests book the standard room. Spending past the point — a price tag, a speech, a wasted room — is what this character faults in the present day.

Why this character belongs on skin

He builds the roof wider than the rain requires and calls it glory — this is 侈, extravagance, the excess that spills past need into sheer display. 奢侈 is luxury, but the character itself leans toward the dangerous edge where abundance forgets restraint. The Dao warns that the swollen thing invites its own breaking; the Confucian distrusts the man whose appetite outruns his gratitude. Yet there is also a boldness in 侈, a refusal to apologize for wanting more than survival — the poet who gilds the cup though the wine is plain. If you have ever been accused of too much, this may be your character after all. Wear 侈 where the eye lingers, a mark of the portion of you that will not be trimmed to fit. Excess can be a kind of honesty. Ink it as the part of you that refuses the small life, even at the cost of the spare.