The Calligrapher — Zhào Gòu 赵构

Southern Song emperor and prolific patron of running-script calligraphy.

Song calligrapher (1107–1187), master of regular script/running script — known for 《草书洛神赋》. Song dynasty

Cultural Story

帼 is a headscarf worn by women, and 巾帼 became the metonym for heroic women. The Records of the Three Kingdoms tell of Zhuge Liang mocking Sima Yi's wife's 巾帼 to goad him - a rare insult aimed through a woman's cloth. Later 巾帼英雄 honoured female warriors and rulers, and 巾帼须眉 praised women who matched men in talent. The 帼 is thus a small cloth that grew into a banner of female honour.

Common words & phrases

• 巾帼 women · heroine
• 巾帼英雄 heroine · female hero
• 巾帼须眉 women and men

Read the story behind the character

History specials celebrate 巾帼英雄, women heroes, from Hua Mulan to modern scientists, and essays contrast 巾帼须眉, women who rival men in ability. The word 帼 itself appears mostly in these proud phrases, on plaques and in speeches on International Women's Day. Though few wear the ancient scarf now, the 帼 still crowns any Chinese telling of a woman who refused to be lesser.

Why this character belongs on skin

帼 was once only a headdress — the tall linen crown women wore — and then it became a title. 巾帼英雄: heroine of the headcloth. Mulan took her father's place in the army and made the word mean courage wearing a woman's hair; general after general, poet after poet, the term grew until it outshone every male equivalent. There is a quiet revolution inside the character: a radical for cloth, the humblest material, married to the sound of a nation — 帼 and 国, headdress and country, rhyming across the page as if to say the two were always entangled. You know what it is to be underestimated in your own field, whatever it is; to have the crown mistaken for a costume. This ink belongs to that long sisterhood of proof. Wear it where only the bold would look — the inner arm, the hip, the nape. It asks nothing and announces everything: the headcloth worn as a crown, the wearer as the standard.