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

斤 is the axe and the weight. The bronze 斤 felled the tree and carved the rite; later it became the catty, half a kilogram on the scale. 斤斤 is to haggle over the trifle — 'particular to the ounce.' The word is the tool that built and the unit that taxed, the chop that clears and the count that clings.

Common words & phrases

• 公斤 kilogram
• 斤两 weight
• 斤斤 particular · petty
• 市斤 catty
• 斤斗 somersault

Read the story behind the character

公斤 is the gym's measure; 市斤 the market's. 斤两 the 'weight' of your argument; 斤斤 the relative who 计较 the bill. 斤斗 the somersault of the acrobat. From the dumpling stand to the scale, 斤 still weighs the food and the pride, the commodity and the petty score kept over it. The axe and the unit, same old word.