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 character pictured tufts of grass, 兹, this here, now. The Documents declare '今兹' for the present year of rule. A stele opens '兹有' — hereby there is — before naming the grant. The word fixed a moment on the page so a later reader would know exactly when the matter stood.

Common words & phrases

• 赫兹 Hertz
• 今兹 now · this year
• 来兹 the future

Read the story behind the character

A label reads 赫兹, Hertz, on the speaker — cycles per second, a unit named for Heinrich Hertz. A letter heads 今兹 the current term. The will says 来兹 for the years ahead. None of it is old-fashioned; the radio tuner still shows kHz, thousands of 赫兹, as the dial turns.