Evaluation of calligrapher Wang Xizhi's works

The world's first running script "Preface to Lanting" was called "Preface to the River" in the Jin Dynasty, and later generations also called "Preface to Xiuzheng", "Post" and "Preface to Lanting", with 28 lines and 324 words. It is said that on March 3rd, the 9th year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 353), the weather was fine and calm. Facing the beautiful scenery and friends, Wang Xizhi wrote this preface with silk paper and moustache on a whim. After returning home, Wang Xizhi rewrote it dozens of times, which was not as good as the original, so he liked it very much himself. He gave it to his descendants and passed it on to Wang Xizhi's seventh generation Sun Zhiyong, who had no children and gave it to his disciples for preservation. In the tenth year of Zhenguan (AD 636), calligraphers such as Feng Chengsu, Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang were asked to copy ten copies and give them to the recent ministers. After his death, the original works were brought to Zhaoling as funerary objects. So now we can't see the original work of Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, but only the first-class edition of the Tang Dynasty. The most authentic copy of the Tang Dynasty is Feng Chengsu's copy, which is also called "Dragon Book" because the title of Tang Zhongzong Li Xian is printed before and after the post. Guo Tianci called it "Dragon Book", "elegant brushwork, gorgeous ink color, beautiful, fascinating." The Preface to the Lanting Pavilion is colorful, patchwork and ever-changing, and the 20 words "ambition" in the post have their own merits. With a pen, the center is bone, and the edge pen is beautiful. Sometimes it contains storage, and sometimes it is sharp. Especially the composition, from beginning to end, looks at the pen, looks at the back, is sparse, disconnected, vivid and natural. Therefore, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang said in "Essays on Painting Zen Rooms": "The preface to the composition of Lanting in the right army is the first in ancient and modern times, and its words, big or small, are reflected in the Dharma, so it is God. The most commendable thing is that the style of Preface to Lanting contains the author's skillful pen and ink skills, profound traditional skills, extensive cultural accomplishment and noble artistic sentiment.