It occurred to the Judge, before he even read this document, that he 
could take it to an art dealer on Nanjing Road and sell it for a year's wages. 
Dr. X, assuming it was really he who had brushed these characters, was the 
most impressive living calligrapher whose work Judge Fang had ever seen. His 
hand betrayed a rigorous Confucian grounding—many decades more study 
than Judge Fang could ever aspire to—but upon this foundation the 
Doctor had developed a distinctive style, highly expressive without being 
sloppy. It was the hand of an elder who understood the importance of gravity 
above all else, and who, having first established his dignity, conveyed most of 
his message through nuances. Beyond that, the structure of the inscription was 
exactly right, a perfect balance of large characters and small, hung on the 
page just so, as if inviting analysis by legions of future graduate 
students.