Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is superb. Why did his son persuade him to change his style?

Wang Xizhi, a native of Linyi (now Linyi, Shandong Province), later moved to Yin Shan (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) and lived in seclusion in Jinting, a single county in his later years. He was a famous calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was known as the "Book Sage". His seventh son, Wang Xianzhi, is also an outstanding calligrapher. Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi are called "Two Kings" together. Others called Wang Xizhi "Great Sage" and Wang Xianzhi "Little Sage". Wang Xizhi's masterpiece is Preface to Lanting.

Wang Xizhi worked as a secretary, general Ningyuan and Jiangzhou secretariat, and later worked as a civil servant in Huiji, leading the right general. His calligraphy is good at official script, cursive script, regular script and running script. He carefully studies the trend of fonts, imitates them in calligraphy, learns from others, and gets rid of the style of writing in Han and Wei Dynasties, which is unique and has a far-reaching impact on later generations. The style is peaceful and natural, and the brushwork is beautiful and healthy. It is such a calligrapher with exquisite calligraphy that his son advised him to change his style, which originated from Wang Xianzhi's study of calligraphy when he was young and became a famous anecdote in history.

Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy thought is far-sighted. When he was only fifteen or sixteen, he advised his father Wang Xizhi to change his lifestyle. Wang Xianzhi thinks that everything is flexible and changeable. His father Wang Xizhi's cursive script has independent characters, so it can't show greater momentum. After in-depth study, Wang Xianzhi thought that a breakthrough could be found between cursive script and running script, so he suggested that his father "reform".

Wang Xianzhi advocated that "we should gather the strengths of many families and the beauty of many families". He was not limited to learning a subject, created his own unique style, especially broke through the "broken book" of ancient law, and finally achieved artistic status and prestige that kept pace with his father Wang Xizhi.