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

After his humiliation, King Goujian of 越 slept on brushwood and tasted gall daily to remember his shame, 卧薪尝胆, until he overthrew the rival state of Wu. 越 was his kingdom, and 超越, to cross beyond, still carries that overcoming. The 越过, crossing, of a border began as a king's long revenge. The king's long patience turned a defeated state into a byword for overcoming.

Common words & phrases

• 超越 surpass · exceed · transcend
• 越过 cross · go over · pass
• 越南 Vietnam
• 优越 superior · advantageous
• 跨越 stride across · span · leap
• 卓越 outstanding · brilliant · eminent

Read the story behind the character

At a border, a traveler 越过, crosses, into 越南, Vietnam, while a firm boasts 优越, superior, tech and a student 卓越, excels, in math. A bridge 跨越, spans, a river and a runner 超越, surpasses, the field. The conquered king's name now labels a nation and every act of going past. The nation and the runner both carry the name of crossing past a limit.

Why this character belongs on skin

To cross over, to leap the boundary, to go beyond — that is 越. The character joins a foot with a sense of exceeding, and the Chinese used it for the tribe that crossed south, for the more-and-more of a feeling that will not stop growing. 越 is the line stepped across, the river waded, the limit refused. To carry 越 is to honor the transgressor in you, the part that will not stay inside the drawn circle. We are fenced by ought and cannot; this mark is the vow to 越, to exceed, to become more than the sum of the rules. The Tao grows 越 as you follow it; the lover's wanting grows 越 with distance. This is the ink for the person who has crossed something — a border, a fear, a self — and kept going. Wear it where the foot moves, a small vow to keep exceeding, to treat every wall as a threshold. You were not made to stay. You were made to 越, and the far side is waiting, as it always was.