Source: Preface to Lanting Collection, Wang Xizhi in Wei and Jin Dynasties, original text (excerpt as follows):
Every time we look at the reasons for the excitement of the ancients, if we unite, we will not be without sorrow, and we can't compare it to something in our chests. Knowing that a dead life is a false birthday and the destruction of Peng Qi is a mistake. Looking back today is still looking back on the past, sad husband! Therefore, as soon as people go public, they record what they say. Although the world is different, they are happy and they are one. Later visitors will also be impressed by Sven.
Whenever I see the reasons of my predecessors' feelings, I can't help feeling sad and incomprehensible when reading their articles. It turns out that it is wrong to equate life and death, and it is wrong to equate longevity and short life. It is sad that future generations look at people today just as people today look at their predecessors. So write down the people who attended the meeting one by one and record the poems they made. Even though times have changed, things have changed, but the reasons for people's feelings are the same. Future readers will also be deeply touched by the poems of this gathering.
Extended data:
Creation background
In the 9th year of Jin Yonghe (353), on the third day of the third lunar month, Wang Xizhi, who "went to Zhejiang first and was determined to win", once held an elegant gathering with 4/kloc-0 celebrities such as Gao Shi Xie An and Sun Chuo in the Lanting under the shade of Huiji Mountain (now under the Zhu Lan Mountain outside Shaoxing). Participants wrote poems, expressed their arms and copied them into collections. It is recommended that Wang Xizhi, the convener of this gathering, write a preface to record this elegant collection, that is, the preface to Lanting Collection.
Brief introduction of the author
Wang Xizhi (303-36 1), Han nationality, was born in Linyi (now Linyi Mountain) and later moved to Yin Shan (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). Because Wang Xizhi is right-handed, he is called "Wang Youjun" and "Wang Huiji". Wang Jian is good at copying, cursing and writing. He writes in various ways, carefully studies the physical condition, imitates the physical condition with his heart, draws on other people's strengths, prepares all kinds of physical conditions, melts into one furnace, gets rid of the style of writing in Han and Wei Dynasties, becomes his own family, and has far-reaching influence, creating a running script of "Nature is natural, God is abundant and covers generations". He was a calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was honored as a "book saint" by later generations. Together with his son Wang Xianzhi, he is called "Two Kings".