Wang Xizhi was regarded as a book saint and a model of learning by all previous dynasties. All the cursive writers in the past dynasties came from Wang Xizhi and learned from the preface to the holy teachings.
Expand:
Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, has few words. Originally from Langya (now Linyi, Shandong), he was a general of the right army. Known as "Wang Youjun", he was honored as a great calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty by later generations.
Wang Xizhi was born in a calligraphy family. His uncle Wang Yi and his cousin were both famous calligraphers at that time. At the age of seven, Wang Xizhi studied calligraphy with the female calligrapher Wei Shuo. Wang Xizhi had been copying Shu Wei until he was twelve years old. Although he is very good, he always feels dissatisfied. Because he often listened to the teacher's stories about calligraphers' diligent study and hard practice, he admired Zhang Zhi's calligraphy in the Eastern Han Dynasty and decided to use Zhang Zhi's stories to inspire himself.
In order to practice calligraphy well, wherever he went, he always waded through mountains and rivers, explored ancient inscriptions and accumulated a lot of calligraphy materials. In his study, in the yard, at the gate and even outside the toilet, he has stools and pens, ink, paper and inkstones. Whenever he thinks of a well-structured word, he immediately writes it on paper. When he practiced calligraphy, he thought hard and even forgot to eat and sleep.