Wang Xizhi was a calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Wang Xizhi (321-379 or 303-361), courtesy name Yi Shao, was known as Wang Youjun in the world. A native of Langye (now Linyi City, Shandong Province), he later moved to Shanyin, Kuaiji (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province). A minister, writer and calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The son of Wang Kuang, the governor of Huainan.
Wang Xizhi was born into the famous Langya Wang family. He studied calligraphy at the age of seven, and read commentaries written by his predecessors at the age of twelve. When he was young, he studied under Wei Shuo. Later he crossed the Yangtze River and traveled to famous mountains. He saw the calligraphy of Li Si, Cao Xi and other famous writers. In Luoyang, he also saw Cai Yong's three-body script of the Stone Classic and Zhang Chang's "Huayue Stele". He began to realize that insufficient.
In the fifth year of Emperor Mu's reign (361), Wang Xizhi died of illness at the age of fifty-eight. His son Wang Xianzhi has the greatest calligraphy achievement among his descendants. He is as famous as his father Wang Xizhi and is known as the "Two Kings".
Wang Xizhi’s achievements
Wang Xizhi’s “Preface to the Lanting Collection” is admired by calligraphers of all ages. This post is a draft, 28 lines, 324 words. The author used the right time, place, and people to achieve the best possible effect, and it is said that he could no longer write it later. There are more than twenty characters "Zhi" written in different ways. Mi Fu in the Song Dynasty called it "the best running script in the world".
Wang Xizhi was good at Li, Cao, Kai and Xing. He studied the styles carefully, imitated them with his heart and followed them with his hands. He picked up the strengths of many people, prepared various styles and refined them in one furnace. He got rid of the pen style of Han and Wei dynasties. The wind is a style of its own and has far-reaching influence.
His calligraphy is gentle and natural, his writing style is euphemistic and subtle, and he is beautiful and vigorous. People often refer to Cao Zhi's "Luo Shen Fu": "As graceful as a startling giant, as graceful as a wandering dragon, with brilliant autumn chrysanthemums and magnificent spring pine trees." It seems as if the moon is covered by light clouds, and the snow flutters like the flowing wind." One sentence to praise the beauty of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Wang Xizhi