Wang Dao and Xie An, two famous imperial families in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Wang Dao and Xie An:
Wang Dao was the prime minister in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his power in the ruling and opposition parties was prominent and his position was lofty. At that time, there was a ballad of "Wang and Ma (referring to Sima family in Jin Dynasty) * * * the world". In the idiom, the new pavilion cries, which means missing the old country, that is to say, the story of Wang Dao. On one occasion, Wang Dao, who crossed the river from the north to establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his colleagues gave a banquet in the new pavilion (also known as Laoting) on the outskirts of Nanjing. Sitting in the middle, Zhou Hou sighed and said, "Different scenery is the difference between mountains and rivers."
I lamented the fall of the mountains and rivers (when the northern territory fell into the hands of Xiongnu Liu Yao), so all the guests present wept at each other. When Wang Dao saw this scene, he suddenly changed color: "When * * * fought for the royal family (fighting for national affairs) and recovered China (recovering the lost land in the Central Plains), how could it be relative to the prisoners of Chu (why didn't he have the ambition to cry as a prisoner of Chu)?" Wang Dao's words were impassioned and criticized the negative pessimism of colleagues present.
Although there are only a few short sentences, it vividly shows the image of Wang Dao who stands out from the crowd and has extraordinary knowledge (see Shi Shuo Xin Yu for details).
The "Xie" mentioned in the poem is Xie An, alias Anshi. He is the prime minister of Emperor Xiao of Jin Dynasty. He was praised as a teacher with outstanding achievements. He resigned and retired to Dongshan, Huiji, Zhejiang. At that time, there was a saying that "if you don't get an history, you will be like a living thing", which shows its high prestige. After coming back to take charge of the overall situation, there is also the idiom "make a comeback", which means to return to power after stepping down. Hou Jian threatened to throw a whip, cut off the Yangtze River, and led an army to the north bank of Feishui, threatening the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which shocked the ruling and opposition parties.
Xie An conquered the viceroy at that time. He calmly dispatched and finally defeated Fu Jian. It was a "Battle of Surging Water" in the military. It is said that his nephew Xie Xuan sent back the good news letter from the front, but the back of Xie An's letter turned pale, and so did the game. When he returned to the back room after playing chess, he finally could not hold back his inner joy. He was too happy to notice when the heel of his shoe crossed the threshold. He is calm and elegant, which has always been a story in history.
Wang Dao, Xie An and calligraphy have a great relationship. Both of them are great calligraphers in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Wang Xizhi's uncle Wang Dao is good at cursive writing. Shu Duan said that his calligraphy is "a warrior like Jia Yong, a fish in the play". This means that his cursive script is full of angles and styles, elegant and charming; It has both the majesty of a warrior and the flexibility of a fish. Wang Xizhi's calligraphy became famous because of the guidance of Wang Dao.
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Dao was not only a political leader and prime minister, but also a leading figure in the book world. He likes writing in his spare time. He spends a lot of time. He studies Zhong You and Wei? Writing style, even in the late Western Jin Dynasty, when there was chaos and the royal family crossed the south, Wang Dao did not forget to put Zhong You's Shangshu Shentie in his belt and walk south. This shows his interest in Zhong You's calligraphy.
As for Xie An, he was a member of the preface to Wang Xizhi's Lanting Collection. On weekdays, he drank poems and had calligraphy exchanges with Wang Xizhi. According to Shu Duan, Xie Jiao wrote cursive correctly. "Shu Zhi Fu" said that Xie An was "good at grass but honest and poor". Xie An's cursive script is very famous in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. A couplet reads: "Xie Cao is a laurel tree in Lan Yan, and Tang poetry is written in gold and Chinese".
Among them, "Xie Cao" seems to refer to Xie An's cursive script. For another example, Jiang Kui, a poet and calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, once said: The Collection of Lanting and the position of the right army came first, followed by Xie Anshi (that is, Xie An) and Da Ling, and Yan, Liu, Su and Mi were also equivalent in later generations. "Visible Xie An calligraphy, especially cursive script, second only to Wang Xizhi.