Who is Wang Xizhi? When was he called a book saint?

Wang Xizhi (303-36 1) was born in Linyi (now Linyi, Shandong). He was once a general in the right-wing army, so he was called Wang Youjun. The Wangs were a noble family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, with many good calligraphers. His father Wang Kuang is good at official script, his uncle Wang Dao is good at cursive script, and his uncle Wang Weigong is good at cursive script. Besides, cousins Wang Tian, Wang Qia and Wang Zhu are also famous for their good books. In such a scholarly family with a strong artistic atmosphere, Wang Xizhi's talent has been well cultivated. He began to learn calligraphy at the age of seven, and was Mrs. Wei's teacher at the age of 12. He learns from others and asks many teachers for help. He once "crossed the river to visit famous mountains to read Lisi, Cao and other books, and made a promise to read them, and then read Cai Pai's three-body book Shijing" (Wang Xiaozhi's "The Postscript of Mrs. Wei"). With the help of Jiangshan, he witnessed the calligraphy of his predecessors extensively, and his mind was open and his artistic spirituality was well enlightened. He carried out drastic reforms on regular script and cursive script, and made the calligraphy style of the Han and Wei Dynasties beautiful and enjoyable, full of the flavor of the times. There are many works handed down from ancient times by Wang Xizhi, and Tang Taizong collected his works extensively. According to Zhang Yanyuan's handwriting, there are thousands of them. As far as the calligraphy museum is concerned, it is a calligraphy learning base. Although most of the rubbings we can see today are calligraphy masters, we can still see their fresh and elegant styles. Yang Xin said that his calligraphy is "the more expensive it is in ancient and modern times, the better" ("Picking the Ancient Names"). Liang Wudi praised his works as "masterpieces". Words are powerful and easy to escape, like dragons leaping into the sky and tigers lying in the phoenix, so they are treasured through the ages' (comment on the advantages and disadvantages of ancient and modern scholars). No one has ever worshipped Wang Xizhi more than Emperor Taizong. He took Wang Xizhi's calligraphy to the extreme, searched extensively, and finally brought the Preface to Lanting to Zhaoling. Emperor Taizong also wrote Biography specially for Biography of the Book of Jin and Wang Xizhi. Its Biography says: "A detailed study of ancient and modern times and the development of seal elements are all based on the best, and it is actually a king with few!" Look at the dragged work, beautifully cut, the smoke is exposed, and it will be connected if it is broken; Phoenix and Long Ping are inclined and straight. You don't feel tired when you play, and you don't know its ending when you watch it. I'm chasing him with my heart, but this man is like that, and the rest are like that. What's the point? "Wang Xizhi's reputation is almost immeasurable. Because of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy attainments and far-reaching influence on later generations, and the emperor's great love, later people called him "the sage of books".