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

徼 is the border path and the patrol that walks it. 边徼 was the frontier a guard paced where the map went thin, and 徼幸 — later written 侥幸 — the luck of slipping through unseen. The character is the edge and the gamble of the edge, the place rules run out.

Common words & phrases

• 徼幸 lucky chance · by luck
• 边徼 border · frontier
• 巡徼 patrol · inspect

Read the story behind the character

徼幸 has given way to 侥幸 in speech, 边徼 survives in the literary name for a remote line. The patrol is a sensor now; the slip is a loophole. We still chance the edge, but the character that named the border has mostly retreated to the old maps and the rare essay.