The Calligrapher — Zhào Zhīqiān 赵之谦

Qing pioneer who fused seal-script vigor into every style.

Qing calligrapher (), master of 篆隶/running script — Qing eclectic who fused seal, clerical and painting sensibilities into one bold hand. Qing dynasty

Cultural Story

参 joined and it meant ginseng. Du Fu wrote that friends drift apart "like the stars Shen and Shang" -- 参商 -- which never share the sky. A staff officer was a 参谋, one who joined counsel to command. The root 人参 steeped in the physician's pot. The word binds company, the heavens, and the curative root in one graph.

Common words & phrases

• 参加 participate · join
• 参观 visit · tour
• 参考 reference
• 参谋 staff officer · advise
• 人参 ginseng

Read the story behind the character

An employee 参加 the training; a class 参观 the museum on Thursday. A writer 参考 three books before the first line. In the clinic a nurse prepares 人参 tea for the weak patient. The word runs from the meeting room to the kitchen -- joining in, looking up, advising, and the bitter root boiled for strength. It is among the most used graphs in the working day.

Why this character belongs on skin

Three stars lean toward each other in the winter sky, and the ancients called them 参 — the hunter's belt, the constellation that joins heaven to the hunt. But 参 is also to take part, to step into the ritual, to become a thread in the larger cloth. There is a Buddhism of presence here: to participate fully is to disappear into the moment and be enlarged by it. The Christian kneels to partake; the warrior joins the shield-wall. To ink 参 is to say you are done watching from the edge. You enter. You are entered. Let this character rest where your breath begins, at the throat, the place where you speak yourself into the world. Some lives are spectators; this one is a participant, sworn to the company of stars and men. Join the constellation. Wear the belonging where it cannot be unspoken.