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

To straighten the spine, 挺, is the body's refusal to cave; the old tales praise the man who 挺身而出, stepped forward with his chest out, into the arrow's path. The character is the spine made argument, the posture that decides before the mouth does, and the arrow was aimed at the chest that chose, deliberately, to be the widest target.

Common words & phrases

• 挺立 stand erect · stand upright
• 挺拔 tall and straight · upright
• 挺胸 chest out · throw out chest
• 挺好 quite good · pretty good
• 挺直 straighten · erect

Read the story behind the character

A pine 挺立s on the cliff; a soldier 挺胸; a thing is 挺好, quite good; a rod is 挺直. The stepped-forward chest is a compliment and a straightened coat now. The spine's refusal to cave is the same, whether facing an arrow or merely a cold morning, and the pine on the cliff is only the soldier, planted and forgotten by the wind.

Why this character belongs on skin

Straightness is a kind of courage. Not the brittle kind that snaps, but the spine that chooses to remain vertical when everything asks it to bow. The character shows a man standing his full height — to thrust forward, to endure, to be erect against the wind. Confucius praised the gentleman who stands like a mountain and does not sway for favors. In war, to step forward with chest bared is the oldest defiance. There is sensuality in bearing: the shoulders back, the throat exposed, the quiet arrogance of one who will not shrink. Let 挺 sit along your own line of standing — the small of the back, the column of the neck — a vow written where you bend but do not break. The body forgets; the ink remembers. Hold.