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

则 is the rule that follows. The Analects warn "学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆" — study without thought is blind, thought without study is perilous. The character once pictured a tripod and a knife, cutting a standard. It still binds cause to result: do this, and then that, the grammar of consequence in a sentence.

Common words & phrases

• 规则 rule · regulation
• 原则 principle
• 否则 otherwise · if not
• 准则 standard · norm · criterion
• 守则 rules · regulations
• 总则 general rules · general principles

Read the story behind the character

The camp 规则 ban open flames. The student handbook prints the 守则 by the door. A judge weighs the 原则 against the letter of the law. The contract's 总则 sets the terms. The word names the standard a group agrees to live by, from a classroom to a court.