The Calligrapher — Xiè Língyùn 谢灵运

Liu Song poet-calligrapher of cursive script whose works were imperial 'two treasures'.

南朝宋 calligrapher (), master of cursive script/running script — known for 诗书兼擅. Liu Song dynasty (Southern Dynasties)

Cultural Story

In 水浒传, the strategist Wu Yong 赚, lured, Lu Junyi up the mountain by a forged poem, turning a wealthy innocent into a fugitive. Then the word meant to win over by trick; only later did it soften to 赚钱, to earn. The 赚 that trapped a man now fills a paycheck.

Common words & phrases

• 赚钱 make money · earn
• 赚取 earn · gain
• 赚头 profit · margin

Read the story behind the character

At a night market, a vendor 赚钱, earns, by the lantern while a gamer 赚取, gains, points in a tournament and a grocer counts the day's 赚头, the slim margin. The character that once snared Lu Junyi in a plot now measures the gap between cost and take. The trick that trapped a man has softened into the honest gain of a day's work.

Why this character belongs on skin

Strip it to its bones and you find 贝 — the cowrie shell, which was money in ancient China before coins existed, wealth you could hold in one hand and string on a cord. Add the component for to turn, to whirl, and 赚 is born: to make money is, in this character's own logic, to set wealth in motion — to turn the shell over, to rotate the resource, to earn. There is no shame in the character; Chinese merchants kept ledgers for three thousand years and the character simply records what honest work produces. 赚钱, to earn a living — but notice the subtlety: 赚 can also mean to gain, to profit in things that are not money at all. 赚得尊重, to earn respect; 赚了一场, to come out ahead on the whole affair. The best translation of this tattoo is surplus: more love than you spent, more wisdom than the tuition cost, more life than the years contained. A character for the builder, the provider, the one who stacks small honest gains into something real. Seventeen strokes of cowrie and motion. Work the wheel. Take your profit.