The Calligrapher — Zhào Mèngfǔ 赵孟頫

Yuan master whose elegant regular and running script revived classical tradition.

Yuan calligrapher (1254–1322), master of regular script/running script/cursive script — Yuan reviver of classical elegance who could write any script beautifully and did. Yuan dynasty

Cultural Story

侑 is to coax the guest. In the Zhou rites a host would 侑食, pressing more rice on the visitor; 侑酒 meant filling the cup again and again. To 侑觞 was to toast so the table would not fall quiet. The character holds the warmth — and the pressure — of Chinese hospitality.

Common words & phrases

• 侑食 urge to eat · entertain at table
• 侑酒 urge to drink · drink with
• 侑觞 drink a toast · entertain

Read the story behind the character

A host 侑食 her guest with another bowl; at the banquet a friend 侑酒 until the glasses are full. To 侑觞 is to keep the toast going past comfort. Urging someone to eat and drink more — the push behind a full table — is exactly what this word has always meant.

Why this character belongs on skin

侑 belongs to the hour when the lamps are lit and the cups are poured. Built from the person radical and 有, to have, to hold, it means to urge a guest to drink, to accompany the feast, to keep the wine flowing through song and story. In the ancient rites it named the musician who played beside the sacrifice, the companion who made ceremony warm instead of cold. The Greeks had their symposium; the Chinese had this — the conviction that food and drink are nothing without the person who presses you to take one more helping, one more cup, because the night is short and company is holy. 侑 is hospitality made into a single glyph: the art of giving others permission to enjoy themselves. Whoever carries this ink carries an invitation. Set it at the wrist like a toast, or low on the body where only the late hours see it — a private reminder that pleasure, shared, becomes memory, and memory is the only feast that never ends.