里
lining; interior; inside; internal; surname Li; li, ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m; neighborhood; ancient administrative unit of 25 families; (Tw) borough, administrative unit between the township 鎮|镇[zhen4] and neighborhood 鄰|邻[lin2] levels
Closest English meanings
inside·village·li
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
The Rites of Zhou fixed that five families made a 邻 and five 邻 a 里, the village unit where neighbors watched and aided one another under the same wall. The 里 was also the measure of three hundred paces, the length a traveler counted. From those old counts the character kept both the hamlet and the distance, the place one lives and the road one walks.
Common words & phrases
- 里面 inside
- 这里 here
- 哪里 where
- 心里 heart · mind
- 公里 kilometer
- 邻里 neighbors
Read the story behind the character
A road sign posts the next town at twelve 公里, a 邻里 group plans the block festival, and a message asks what is in your 心里 tonight. The 里面 of the drawer holds the keys. The 这里 is where the bus stops. The character now measures a highway and a feeling, the old village unit and the old pace carried into a sign and a quiet question about the heart.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Yán Zhēnqīng 颜真卿, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.