Wang Xizhi was from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Because he once served as a general of the Right Army, people also called him "Wang Youjun". He is good at calligraphy and is the most famous calligrapher in the history of our country. Later generations respectfully call him the Saint of Calligraphy.
Now, Wang Xizhi’s authentic handwriting has become a priceless treasure, but even at that time, it was not easy for people to obtain Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy. Because he was so famous, he refused to write for others easily.
But one day when Wang Xishang was strolling on the street, he saw an old woman selling folding fans in the market. The folding fans had shiny bamboo bones and white silk surfaces, and looked very delicate. Wang Xisheng stepped forward and asked:
"Old lady, how much do you sell this folding fan for?"
"Ten cents." The old lady replied.
Wang Xizhi took out ten coins and bought a handful. The old woman said gratefully: "Master, I have been hawking for a long time and I only sold you this folding fan. Thank you very much. Without these ten cents, my little grandson will be hungry today."
After hearing this, Wang Xizhi asked the old woman about her family situation. When he learned that the old woman and her grandson were dependent on each other and that their family was in a very difficult situation, he felt sympathy for her and said, "Old woman, I have a way for you to sell your fans and make you a little fortune so that you can live a better life."
So Wang Xizhi took her to his residence and wrote a poem on each folding fan.
The old woman asked puzzledly: "If you write words on this fan, will someone buy it?"
Wang Xizhi nodded and said: "There must be people buying it, and it's not for sale. It’s ten cents a piece, but it’s ten taels of silver. If the customer doesn’t give you ten taels of silver, don’t sell it!”
After hearing this, the old woman couldn’t help but be suspicious and said:
"Ten taels of silver is enough for my grandson and I to live for a year. These dozen fans can be sold for a hundred or dozens of taels of silver. Are you lying to me?"
Wang Xizhi said with a smile. : "I won't lie to you. You take the fan and go to the street and shout, saying that this is the fan with Wang Xizhi's inscription. For ten taels of silver a handful, someone must buy it!"
The old woman waited for Wang Xizhi to finish writing everything. , took fans to the streets and shouted for sale: "The fans inscribed by Wang Youjun are worth ten taels of silver each..."
Several talented people walked by and listened, saying: "This old woman said It’s a fan inscribed by Wang Youjun. Let’s go and take a look.”
They stepped forward and saw that there was indeed a poem written by Wang Xizhi on the fan. The ink was dripping, the font was powerful, and the signature and seal were all there. They recognized it as an authentic work by Wang Xizhi and rushed to buy it.
After a while, the old lady sold out all the fans.
From then on, the life of the old woman and her husband’s family got better. In order to express her gratitude to Wang Xizhi for his kindness, she made several extremely exquisite folding fans and gave them to Wang Xizhi. From then on, Chinese fan paintings and fan calligraphy became popular.
Later, the allusion of "Youjun Shufan" was used to describe willingness to help the poor; it was also used to describe superb calligraphy, which is of infinite value.