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

The old form 姦 set three women (女) together to mean wickedness and slander, while 奸, with the scholar radical 干, came to mean private, treacherous dealing. The Histories are full of 奸臣, treacherous officials who poisoned the court for gain, and the word 奸詐 marks a crafty, faithless heart. Most infamous is the 漢奸, the traitor who sells his own people — a charge heavier than any other in the moral vocabulary. 奸 named the betrayal closest to home: the trusted man who proves false.

Common words & phrases

• 汉奸 traitor
• 奸诈 treacherous · crafty
• 奸臣 treacherous official
• 强奸 rape
• 奸笑 sinister smile

Read the story behind the character

A war-film villain is a 漢奸 (traitor) who betrays his country; a businessman's 奸詐 (treacherous, crafty) scheme is exposed online. A costume drama shows a 奸臣 (treacherous official) whispering against the loyal general, and police report a 強姦 (rape) case to be solved. A cartoon villain reveals a 姦笑 (sinister smile), and readers boo him. 奸 is the modern word for betrayal and vice — the traitor, the cheat, and the cruel deed everyone condemns.

Why this character belongs on skin

Beware the smooth one — that is 奸, the treacherous, the crafty, the betrayal dressed as friendship. The old form gathered three women in suspicion; the common use is sharper: the adulterer, the spy, the false servant who sells the house from within. We know 奸 intimately, though we hate the word. The colleague who smiled and stabbed. The lover who lied in the same breath as the kiss. To tattoo it is not to confess but to name the enemy, to wear the scar of having been deceived and the vow never to be the deceiver. The sages warned that 奸 thrives in unguarded trust. Carry this mark and you carry hard-won discernment, the wolf you survived. Let it sit where you'd shield a wound. The ink is a knowing eye. It says: I have seen the false face. I am not fooled twice.