The Calligrapher — Sū Shì 苏轼

Song literatus whose spontaneous running script shaped the literati ideal.

Song calligrapher (1037–1101), master of running script/regular script — Song poet-statesman and polymath whose expressive running script made personality, not rules, the point. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

烹 is to boil and cook, the craft at the center of Chinese hospitality since the 左传 feasts. The 易经 mentions 烹 as the founder's kitchen wisdom, and 庖丁解牛 made butchery an art. A good 烹 host honored guests with elaborate tables; the word carries civilization itself, the fire that turned raw nature into shared, refined, and generous human meals.

Common words & phrases

• 烹饪 cook · cooking · cuisine · prepare food
• 烹调 cook · prepare · culinary · cookery
• 烹煮 boil · cook · stew · simmer
• 烹茶 brew tea · make tea · steep tea · infuse
• 煎烹 fry · saute · cook · pan-fry

Read the story behind the character

You 烹饪 dinner after work, 烹调 a new recipe from a video, and 烹茶 for a visitor. A 烹煮 pot simmers on the stove while 煎烹 sizzles at the restaurant. From a home cooking app to a holiday banquet, 烹 is the daily act of turning ingredients into care, the small fire at the heart of family life.

Why this character belongs on skin

Fire under the pot is the first technology of love. 烹 puts flame beneath the vessel, and suddenly raw becomes nourishment, alone becomes a table, hunger becomes a reason to stay. The character shares its root with 亨, smooth passage—because a good meal is exactly that, a moment that flows. The Daoist cooks the self in the furnace of practice; the mother cooks for the son who will leave; the warrior eats his last hot meal before the wall. To ink 烹 is to honor the alchemy of turning the plain into the sustaining. Let this character settle near your hip or your chest as a vow to keep feeding what you love, even when the ingredients are poor. Warmth is a thing you make. You have the fire. Use it.