The Calligrapher — Yáng Yīsūn 杨沂孙

Qing seal-script master famed for blending bronze and small seal scripts.

Qing calligrapher (), master of seal script — known for 《文字蒙求》. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

The 'Book of Songs' sings of low ground where the chickweed grows: 'In the 隰 there is the sheepgrass,' a line from the 'Odes of Kuai' that names exactly this wet, patient earth. Farmers of the Zhou knew the 隰地 held water long after the slopes dried, and they planted millet higher up. The 阪隰 of the early manuals map a whole farm as slope and marsh, one field feeding the other.

Common words & phrases

• 隰地 low wet land
• 阪隰 slopes and marshes
• 隰草 marsh plants

Read the story behind the character

An agronomist walks a restored wetland noting the 隰草 that thrives where the drainage was blocked on purpose. The plot of 隰地 now holds frogs and herons through the dry month, and the 阪隰 pattern of raised bed and shallow pool lets the field survive both flood and drought. A nearby grower bundles the marsh plants for a nursery that sells them as pond margin.