In the ninth year of Jin Yonghe (AD 353), on the third day of March, Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher, together with 41 people, including Xie An and Sun Chuo, repaired the memorial in Lanting, Shaoxing, and held a "Qushui Liuxiang" activity, drinking and composing poems, which was a much-told story.
Shangsi refers to the first fourth day of March in the summer calendar. This is a folk festival in our country to eliminate disasters and pray for good fortune. As far back as the Zhou dynasty, there was a custom of waterfront, and the court appointed a full-time witch to take charge of this matter. Pit is to remove pathogenic qi; Oh, it's cleansing and cleansing. Sickness is a kind of ritual instrument to remove fierce diseases by washing the body. Every spring and autumn, people meet to "clean themselves on the flowing water", that is, take a bath.
it was not until the third day of March in the Han dynasty that it was determined as a festival. On this day, not only the people go to the water to wash, but also the imperial concubines and concubines go to the water to remove the scale and remove the ominous. Later, this custom evolved into a waterfront banquet. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Shangsi was officially designated as the third day of March in the summer calendar, that is, Spring Festival. As an important festival, all waterfront activities and waterfront banquets were held on this day.
The activity of "meandering water flowing" is a custom derived from Shangsi Festival. After the ceremony, people sit next to the winding canal, put the glass on the upper stream and let it flow down. Whoever stops in front of the glass will take a drink and enjoy each other, so it is called "winding water flows". Jackal is an ancient cup for holding wine, usually made of wood, with a support at the bottom. It is small and light and can float in water. There are also pottery cups with ears on both sides, also known as "feather". Because the volume is heavier than the wooden cup, it should be placed on the lotus leaf and let it float.
Wang Xizhi's activities in the Lanting were the most famous in history. They sat on the floor beside the Qingxi River, put the wine in the stream, slowly descended from the upstream, and passed through the winding stream. Whoever spun or stopped in front of them would improvise poetry and drink, and those who could not write poetry would be fined. In this game, 11 people wrote two poems, 15 people wrote one poem, and 16 people didn't write a poem, each drinking 3 cups of wine. After the activity, Wang Xizhi collected everyone's poems, prefaced them with silkworm cocoon paper and moustache pen, and wrote the world-famous Preface to Lanting Collection, which was praised by later generations as "the best running book in the world" and respected him as a "book sage". Later generations also called the inscription of Preface to Lanting Collection "Mao Tie".
In Shaoxing, the elegance and vulgarity of singing poems and drinking wine brought by the activity of "Qu Shui Liu Yi" has been widely spread. From the "Longshan Poetry Nest" established by the Yuan Dynasty poet Yang Lianfu in the "West Garden" of Wolong Mountain to the 1 people including Xu Wenchang and Shen Qingxia in the Ming Dynasty. To this day, every year on the third day of March in the summer calendar, Chinese and foreign calligraphers also go to the Lanting in Shaoxing to get together, splash ink, chant poems and papers in memory of Wang Xizhi, and play a game of "winding water".
The activity custom of "meandering water flows" also spread to Japan. As early as 958 AD, Tianman Palace in Dazai Prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, first imitated Lanting's "Qushui Flowing" and held a "Qushui Banquet". The ceremony was very grand, and the participants also put on antique costumes, carried out dust-washing (trimming) etiquette, danced the witch dance, and then held a "Qushui Banquet".