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 word 匯 began with water: rivers 匯合 where tributaries meet and run as one, the map's quiet arithmetic of flow. 匯编 later gathered writings the way a confluence gathers streams. 外匯 is the modern turn, money crossing a border the way a current crosses a plain, and 匯報 the account a subordinate pours upward.

Common words & phrases

• 汇款 remit money
• 汇合 converge · join
• 汇编 compilation
• 外汇 foreign exchange
• 汇报 report

Read the story behind the character

A phone app 匯款 to a parent in the countryside; 外匯 rates flicker on a trader's screen. 匯合 is the dot where two bike paths meet, 匯编 the binder a coder stacks on the shelf, and 匯報 the Monday stand-up a team endures. The word moves from the river's mouth to the wire transfer.