Speaking of "floating like a cloud, if you are agile, you will always think of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, because in the Book of Jin, volume 80, Wang Xizhi said:" You are good at official calligraphy, the highest in ancient and modern times. Critics call it a gesture, thinking that if you are agile, you will be agile. "This has become a mindset, which seems natural and beyond reproach. But is this really the case? In fact, the phrase "Gone with the Wind" was originally used to describe what Wang wrote, that is, his appearance and manner. It originated from Shi Shuo Xin Yu Rong Zhi, and the original sentence is: "People look at Wang Youjun like a floating cloud, agile as a dragon. "
Then, how can this conclusion, which originally described Wang's calligraphy, appear, which makes the author deeply feel the necessity of writing.
Zhang Wanqi and Liu Shangci's Annotations to this article are as follows: "The Book of Jin originally said:' You are a good official book, the highest in ancient and modern times. Critics call it a gesture, thinking it is like a floating cloud and agile. It's different from Rong Zhi. Liu Shizhen and Liu's "Complete Translation of Shi Shuo Xin Yu" note this article: "The sentence of' Gone with the Wind': According to the biography of Wang Xizhi in the Book of Jin, this is a compliment to Wang Xizhi's calligraphy style." Yu Jiaxi annotated Shi Shuo Xin Yu: Cheng Yan Zhen Yun: Biography of Jin Shu Xi, and the commentators also listed it in Rong Zhi. "
Xu Zhen's Notes on New Stories on the World notes this way: "People are in the time"-The Book of Jin says: "Commentators call their strokes like clouds, and if they are agile, they will shake the dragon". This is called his brushwork, which is different from Rong Zhi's brushwork. Personally, the annotation of this article in the annotation of Shi Shuo is limited to the description in Biography of Jin Shu, but I can't explain why the language describing Wang Xizhi's calligraphy appears in Shi Shuo Rong Zhi.
There are two keys to understanding this problem:
First of all, we need to find out whether the sentence "Piaoru" was originally used in Rong Zhi or calligraphy. Secondly, if it was really a correct description at the beginning, why did it finally become the final conclusion to judge Wang's calligraphy? When these two problems are solved, all problems are naturally solved.
Rong Zhi said that it began with Shi Shuo Xin Yu; Calligraphy originated from Biography of the Book of Jin. Let's look at the ages of these two books first, so as to make clear the order of their birth. You Guoen compiled the History of China Literature, saying: "Liu Yiqing (403-444), editor of Shi Shuo, the imperial clan of Liu Song, attacked Linchuan King." Although the date of the book "The Book of Jin" is unknown, it was edited by Fang (578-648) and others in the early Tang Dynasty, with a difference of about 200 years. Besides, the Book of Jin is based on Shi Shuo. According to Li Xiusheng and Zhao Yishan, China's separated literary history and novel volumes, such as Shi Shuo and Yu Lin, are all based on anecdotes of real-name figures, that is, "celebrities", since the Han and Wei Dynasties, especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This feature makes strange novels and historical works have an inseparable relationship. The former is often used as material by later literary historians and brought into the overall framework of dynastic history or general history. In this sense, stories about the world and other strange novels belong to the category of historical narrative, or "quasi-history". The Realistic Literature of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties written by Mr. Liu in the book Lectures on China's Medieval Literature History is even more straightforward. He said: "The Book of Jin and the History of North and South are mostly taken from Shi Shuo, which is not the intention of later historians."
Therefore, we think that the statement in the Book of Jin that Wang's calligraphy is "swift as a dragon" comes from the statement in Shi Shuo that "swift as a dragon", and there is no doubt that the sentence "swift as a dragon" originally describes Wang's appearance and manner. In fact, similar sentences describing people's appearance and manner appeared as early as Cao Zhi's Ode to Luoshen. When describing the graceful charm of Luo Shen, Cao Zhi wrote: "Its shape is beautiful and graceful as Youlong." . It means that the posture of Luo Shen is as light and agile as Jing Hong and as tactful as Youlong. This wonderful description makes it a famous sentence handed down from generation to generation. The author thinks that the sentence "gone with the wind" is probably derived from this.
So, what kind of eyes is this sentence "Gone with the Wind" telling Wang Xizhi! What does it have to do with calligraphy?
Literally speaking, it is elegant as a cloud and vigorous as a dragon. "Floating like a cloud" should be an external form, free and easy, broad-minded, extraordinary and free from vulgarity, a pair of sage like style; The clothes are fluttering and the spirits are flying, and there is a state of drifting with the wind. Lingyun's posture is enriched month by month. In my subconscious, the image of Wang is the same as that of Li Bai, except that Li Bai has a pair of frankness and Taoist taste of "raising a glass, raising a glass". Li Bai's bright moon complex of "drinking 300 cups a day" and "holding the bright moon in the sky" is beyond Wang's reach. "Agility scares the dragon" should be an internalized deity. Just like qi, rhyme, momentum and strength in calligraphy. We infer that Wang's "ambition without a temple" is supercilious, does not go with the flow, has firm beliefs, is full of ideas, is confident and self-reliant, and is inviolable in his bones. In connection with the stranger we met today, we can infer his character and temperament from the first impression of his clothes, manners and conversation.
As for why it was later cited as a comment on Wang's calligraphy, it is also logical. On the surface, the two seem to have nothing to do with each other, but after careful study, they are internally consistent. The so-called "words are like people" and "flowing and agile as a dragon" makes sense to write the words "flowing and agile as a dragon". It is not uncommon in China's cultural tradition to judge books, paintings and articles with people's words, or to judge people from books, paintings and articles. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "words are like people" and "words are like people". Such as "style" in literary theory and painting theory. Mr. Wang Yunxi said in "On China's Ancient Literary Theory" that "style of character" is often mentioned in literary terms. Rich language is like human bones, so it is called "bone", and beautiful language is like human flesh and blood, so it is called "wind". The concept of "strength of character" was originally used to evaluate the manner, manner and appearance of a character.
At this point, by the way, "floating like a cloud, agile as a dragon" is also a theory of "wind" in a broad sense. The former is "wind" and the latter is "bone". One of the reasons is that Wang Xizhi's body is cold and refined. Shi Shuo Xin Yu quoted Wen Zhi as saying: "Wang Xizhi has an atmosphere in Gao Shuang." He also quoted the Collection of Jin Andy as saying: "Wang Xizhi's character is distinct." How clear this is, people naturally want to contact "drifting like a cloud, agile like a dragon." Second, Wang Xizhi's "backbone" at that time was the best in the world. "Shi Shuo pin Zao" contains: "At that time, human nature was broad-minded, backbone was not as good as that of the right army, simplicity was not as long as it really was, phonology was not as smooth as that of the middle ancestors, thoughts were not as good as the origin, and there were all kinds of beauty." In addition, "Appreciation of the World": The general (referring to Wang Dun, who is his father and brother) said to the right army, "You are my good son, and you cannot reduce your master book." Ruan Zhuben, Ruan Sikuang, that is, the word Sikuang, brother of Ruan nationality. "Book of Jin Volume 49" says ... it is famous for its virtue ... which is hard to say. "He used to be Wang Dun's main book. It was famous for a long time in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, which paid attention to character algae. Its comprehensive strength is very good, that is, the overall feeling of appearance and the beauty of everyone. Therefore, Ruan Yu is often used as a reference to judge people. But when it comes to individual events, Wang Xizhi's backbone is the best in the world. From this point of view, Wang's backbone was very prominent at that time, or he could be described as "agile".
To sum up, we naturally know why the criticism of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy by later generations appeared in Shi Shuo Xin Yu Rong Zhi. How did the critic change his calligraphy? Therefore, the author thinks that this article in Shi Shuo Rong Zhi should be annotated as "Piaoru", which was originally Wang Xizhi's lexical language, and it has the same effect as Cao Zhi's "If you are partial to Jing Hong, if you are like Youlong" in Luo Shen Fu. Later, it was quoted by the Book of Jin, which became popular all over the world and became the evaluation of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy by later generations.