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

The 'Book of Songs' (诗经), in 'Wild Grass by the Path' (野有蔓草), sings 邂逅相遇，适我愿兮 — meeting by chance, just as I wished. The character 邂, joined to 逅, names that unplanned encounter on a dewy morning. It is the oldest Chinese word for two strangers falling into step, no arrangement, no intention, only the luck of the road.

Common words & phrases

• 邂逅 encounter by chance · meet unexpectedly

Read the story behind the character

At the station café a traveller 邂逅 an old schoolmate she had not seen in a decade, both waiting for the same delayed train. The word fits precisely: not a planned meeting but a collision of schedules. Later she tells the story as a small wonder, the kind of 邂逅 that turns a dull delay into a memory worth keeping through the year.