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

底 is the floor a thing settles on. 心底, the bottom of the heart, is where the 詩經 hides what is not said aloud, and 到底 keeps the sense of a journey run to its end. The character is the sediment of feeling, what stays after the surface water has drained away.

Common words & phrases

• 到底 in the end · after all · to the end
• 海底 seabed · sea floor · ocean floor
• 彻底 thorough · complete · outright
• 底下 under · beneath · below
• 底部 bottom · base · foot
• 心底 heart · bottom of one's heart

Read the story behind the character

海底 is the wreck a submersible films, 彻底 the clean sweep a manager promises after a scandal, 底下 the dog asleep under the table, and 到底 the word you land on after an argument — after all, you were right. The floor is where things finally come to rest.

Why this character belongs on skin

The river runs clear only where it meets the stone it cannot move. 底 is the bottom—the base, the floor beneath, the end of the descent where things finally rest. The character sets a shelter over the low place; it meant the foundation everything else is built upon, the root the tall tower forgets it needs. The Daoist loves 底 because the low is where water gathers and the humble is where wisdom pools. To wear 底 is to honor your own foundation—the origin you came from, the ground that held when the heights fell. It is the bedrock under the performance, the truth beneath the story. Let it mark the sole of your foot, or the small of your back, the place closest to earth. Some reach for the peak; this mark keeps the ground. Wear the bottom and you carry the quiet knowledge that everything enduring starts low.