The Calligrapher — Yán Zhēnqīng 颜真卿

Tang master of robust regular script; co-creator of the enduring 'Yan style'.

Tang calligrapher (709–784), master of regular script/running script — the Tang moral paragon whose upright, muscular regular script became the model of Chinese integrity in writing. Tang dynasty

Cultural Story

The "Records of the Three Kingdoms" tells how Zhao Yun, outnumbered at the Han River, had his men 偃旗息鼓 — drop the banners and silence the drums — so the enemy, peering into the empty camp, faltered and fled. Guan Yu's blade was the 偃月 crescent-moon halberd. To 偃 was to lay things down, whether a weapon or a waving flag.

Common words & phrases

• 偃旗息鼓 cease all activities
• 偃卧 lie down
• 偃月 crescent

Read the story behind the character

After the merger the old brand 偃旗息鼓, its logo gone from the wall. A child 偃卧 on the sofa, and the moon shows a thin 偃月 over the roof. The word now means standing down: a campaign ended, a fight stopped, a body stretched out flat when the day is finally done.

Why this character belongs on skin

偃 is the flag lowered, the blade sheathed, the body stretched at full length on the summer grass. 偃武修文 — lay down the weapons, cultivate the arts — was the grand and rarely kept dream of every war-weary dynasty, and the dream was correct every time. Grass 偃 in the wind: it bends flat, survives, and rises again when the gale forgets it, which is why the field is still there and the storm is not. The Taoists built an entire art on this yielding; water lies down on absolutely everything and ends up owning the valley. You have been standing at attention for years now — through the reviews, the crises, the inboxes — and to what audience, exactly, and for what medal? Lie down in the grass this afternoon, boots off, arms open. Nothing that is true about you requires you to keep saluting.