The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

The Analects tighten the self with four 勿: “非礼勿视，非礼勿聽，非礼勿言，非礼勿動” — see, hear, speak, act not against the rites. The graph was once a token struck through a thing. On excavated Qin slips the clerk wrote 勿 to strike a clause from a contract, the same stroke of refusal. 勿忘 later heads the monuments to a war the nation refuses to forget.

Common words & phrases

• 勿忘 do not forget · never forget
• 切勿 absolutely do not · be sure not to
• 勿论 regardless · no matter
• 格杀勿论 kill on sight · slay without mercy

Read the story behind the character

A sign reads 勿忘 the date as visitors enter a memorial; 切勿 appears on the battery that must not be opened. 勿論 ends a rule that spares the small offense, and 格殺勿論 the old poster's cold license to kill. The word still governs the line between the allowed and the forbidden.