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

In the classical tradition: 咱 combines 口 with 自, suggesting speech that includes oneself, and in northern vernacular grew from 自家, 'own self,' into a warm first-person plural. Classical texts favored 我 and 吾, but 咱 belongs to the lively speech of the marketplace and the stage, where a soldier or a lover says 咱 to pull the listener into the same boat. It carries none of the courtly distance of 朕.

Common words & phrases

• 咱们 we · us
• 咱俩 the two of us

Read the story behind the character

In the modern world: On a winter night two roommates share a hotpot and one says 咱们 — we — should split the bill, while the other laughs that 咱俩 — the two of us — already finished the last slice. At work a boss rallies the team: 咱们一起加油, we can do this together. It is the everyday 'us' of friendship, family, and shared struggle across northern China.