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

Zuo is the left hand and, by court ritual, the seat of honor on the east. The Shuo Wen gives it as the left hand, and the Chun Qiu often places the worthy on the zuo. Yet zuo also slid toward wrong or biased, as in zuo dao (heterodox). Zuo you (left and right) meant attendants who controlled access, and thus to influence a ruler.

Common words & phrases

• 左右 left and right · about · control
• 左边 left · left side · on the left
• 左手 left hand · left-hand
• 左派 leftist · the Left · left wing
• 左翼 left wing · left flank
• 向左 leftward · to the left

Read the story behind the character

You signal xiang zuo (leftward, to the left) on the bike and use your zuo shou (left hand) to hold the rail. A poll shows the zuo pai (leftist, the Left) leading, and the zuo yi (left wing) of the party split. Friends say the plan is under your zuo you (control), and it's about zuo you (about) two hours to the lake. You sit on the zuo bian (left side).

Why this character belongs on skin

The left hand has always been the unruly one. In the West we crossed ourselves with it, kept it from the altar; in China the left could be the seat of honor or the side of mourning, never quite simple. To choose 左 is to side with the hand that does not write the official story, the one that reaches before it reasons. There is a tenderness in being left—of being the one who lingers at the edge of the photograph, who hears the joke a beat late and laughs the truest. A tattoo on the left side of the body is a small rebellion, a confession that you trust the part of yourself the manuals forgot. Carry 左 where your heart leans, and let it mean you chose the hand that holds rather than the hand that rules.