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

厕 was the latrine, and by extension a low or mean place. At the Hong Gate banquet Liu Bang slipped away saying he must "如厕", and used the excuse to flee Xiang Yu's tent. The word also meant to lodge oneself among others -- 厕身士林, to take one's place among the literati. A humble word with a famous escape behind it.

Common words & phrases

• 厕所 toilet · restroom
• 公厕 public toilet
• 厕纸 toilet paper
• 如厕 use the toilet

Read the story behind the character

A traveler finds a 公厕 by the station and pays the attendant a few coins. At home the 厕纸 sits on its holder. A shopping mall posts arrows to the 厕所 on every floor. 如厕 is the polite phrase on a restaurant's door. The word has lost its old shame; it names a room everyone uses, marked in every building from the train to the tower.

Why this character belongs on skin

There is a word that means both the latrine and the act of stepping in among others. 厕 is the toilet, the humble corner no one praises — and it is also to mingle, to take your place in the ranks, to be 厕身 among people you did not choose. The ancients used it without shame; cleanliness and company were one root. To carry 厕 is to make peace with the low and the common, the parts of life we hide. We all perform above the floor and pretend the rest is not there. This mark is for the honest body, the one that eats and breaks and belongs in the shared human room. Let it be a quiet joke against pride, a reminder that even the emperor sat. Ink it and you keep your place among us — not above, not apart, just here, in the warm unglamorous middle of being alive.