This article summarizes Wang Xizhi's calligraphy achievements, calling his calligraphy skills "the highest in ancient and modern times" and his brushwork "flowing like clouds and flowing like dragons and tigers". Wang Xizhi was born in a calligrapher's family. He studied under the calligraphers of past dynasties since Qin and Han Dynasties, and became a family of his own. Zhang Zhi, a cursive teacher, and Zhong You, a calligrapher, worshipped Mrs. Wei as a teacher, and was brilliant. Wang Xizhi himself thinks: "My book is better than Zhong You's, and I want to fight it;" Compared with Zhang, he is still a wild goose. "His calligraphy is characterized by exquisite brushwork and changeable structure. There are more than twenty "zhi" characters in Preface to Lanting, which are written in different ways. They were called "the best running script in the world" by Mi Fei in Song Dynasty. Wang Xizhi changed the simple calligraphy style since the Han and Wei Dynasties, and promoted calligraphy from the practical field to the realm of paying attention to techniques and interests. Therefore, he was honored as a "book saint" by later generations and became the insurmountable peak of China's calligraphy.
Wang Xizhi's calligraphy achievement is the result of diligent study and practice. According to Wang Xizhi's Biography, he, like Zhang Zhi, "learned books in the pool, and the water in the pool was all black". Legend has it that Wang Xizhi is good friends with Sun Chuo, who is in charge of Zhang 'an County (including Wenzhou and Taizhou), and Tan You, a monk in Tiantai Mountain. He studied books from Mr. Baiyun on the rooftop for six years and did not know Baiyun's "eternal calligraphy formula". Three years ago, I visited the remains of Wang Xizhi on Huading Mountain in Tiantai, Mo Chi. There is also a famous relic of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy on the rooftop, which is a goose tablet hidden in the National Assembly Temple.
This short biography is interesting to read. The author outlines the characteristics of Wang Xizhi's frankness and willfulness, and shows that his calligraphy was "more important than the world" at that time through several interesting things, such as naked belly bed, lonely old goose cooking, book classics cage goose, book table and so on. At the end of this biography, the relationship between Wang Xizhi and his predecessor Wang Shu is not harmonious. He said that Wang Shu is "as famous as Xi, and Xi is very light because of his good relationship." He also said that after Wang Shu's mother died, Wang Xizhi only went to pay his respects once. Recently, I read an article saying that Wang Xizhi was jealous of Wang Shu's talent and official position and died of depression. He only lived in his fifties (AD 303-36 1). I'm skeptical about this. Wang Xizhi is brilliant, famous and famous at the same time, happy and carefree, and deeply loves mountains and rivers. He doesn't look like a person who likes the power stack. I'm afraid his disagreement with Uncle Wang is caused by his arrogant personality. Why didn't Wang Xizhi live long? I guess it was caused by taking Dan poisoning. Because his family has a deep Taoist complex, monasticism and calligraphy art fit each other and complement each other. There is a saying in the Biography of Wang Jinshu's Xi that "Xi's elegance and good food supplement" means that she likes taking medicine. If it is Dan medicine or something, it is more likely to be poisoned. This needs to be confirmed by Fang Jia.