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

帕 is a piece of cloth, a head-wrapper or handkerchief, and the Shuowen traces it to a square of silk. In the Tang court a 帕 bound the hair; on the road a 手帕 wiped the traveller's brow. Because cloth could be folded small and carried, 帕 became the intimate accessory of parting - a lady dropping her 帕 as a token, or a friend pressing one into your hand at farewell. The word holds the warmth of small, given things.

Common words & phrases

• 手帕 handkerchief
• 帕子 cloth · towel
• 头帕 headcloth

Read the story behind the character

People still carry a 手帕, a handkerchief, to dry tears or wipe a child's face, and in dialects a 帕子 is any little cloth for cleaning. In the countryside a farmer ties a 头帕, a headcloth, against the sun, while a chef's 帕 mops the steam. Though tissues have taken over, the 帕 remains the tidy square tucked in a pocket or a sleeve - the quiet cloth of everyday care.

Why this character belongs on skin

She folded the cloth and pressed it into his hand, and the cloth outlived the girl, the war, the century. 帕 is the kerchief, the small square of cloth that catches a tear, ties back the hair, or carries a secret from one body to another. In the old romances it was the token exchanged at the gate, proof that someone had touched you and meant to again. There is an intimacy in cloth that paper cannot hold; it keeps the warmth of the hand that held it. To wear 帕 is to carry that tenderness against your skin, a vow folded small and kept. It is the private flag of the heart, raised only for the one who knows. Let it lie close where no one sees, a soft square of ink that says you were given something worth keeping, and that you kept it, against all the reasons not to.