Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, had the courtesy name Yishao and the name Danzhai. He was of Han nationality and his ancestral home was Langya Linyi (now Shandong). He later moved to Kuaiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and lived in seclusion in Jinting, Shan County in his later years. Chinese calligraphy in the Eastern Jin Dynasty The family is known as the sage of calligraphy. He successively served as secretary Ying, general Ningyuan, and governor of Jiangzhou. Later, he became the internal historian of Kuaiji, leading the general on the right, and was known as "Wang Youjun" and "Wang Kuaiji". His son Wang Xianzhi was also good at calligraphy and was collectively known as the "Two Kings". . Since then, there have been numerous calligraphy talents in the Wang family. Dongsheng died in the fifth year of Ping Dynasty and was buried in Jinting Waterfall Mountain (also known as Ziteng Mountain). His fifth generation Sun Heng's residence was Jintingguan, and the ruins still exist. Wang Xizhi was good at Li, Cao, Kai, Xing and other styles. He studied the style carefully, imitated the style with his heart, picked up the strengths of others, prepared various styles, and cultivated them in one furnace. He got rid of the writing style of Han and Wei Dynasties and established his own style, which had far-reaching influence. His calligraphy is gentle and natural, his writing style is euphemistic and subtle, and he is graceful and graceful. People often refer to Cao Zhi's "Ode to the Goddess of Luo": "As graceful as a startling giant, as graceful as a wandering dragon, with glorious autumn chrysanthemums, and luxuriant spring pine trees. As if they are covered by light clouds." "The moon is fluttering like snow in the flowing wind." is a sentence to praise the beauty of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Legend has it that Wang Xizhi practiced calligraphy so hard when he was young that over time, the water in the pond used to clean his brushes turned into ink color. Later generations commented: "Floating like clouds, powerful like a frightening dragon", "Dragon leaping over the sky gate, tiger lying in the Phoenix Pavilion", "Natural nature, abundant gods for generations", and was praised as the "Sage of Calligraphy" by later generations. Idioms about him include: Three points into wood? Representative works? Regular script "Le Yi Lun" and "Huang Ting Jing"? Cursive script "Seventeen Tie"? Running script "Auntie Tie", "Kuai Xue Shi Qing Tie", "Sang Luan Tie"? Running script "Tie" "Lanting Preface"? Regarding the Huangting Sutra, there is a legend: There was a Taoist priest in Shanyin who wanted to obtain Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Knowing that Wang Xizhi loved geese, he specially prepared a cage of fat and big white geese as a reward for writing the sutra.
Wang Xizhi saw that the goose happily wrote scriptures for the Taoist priest for a long time, and happily "caged the goose and returned". ? "Seventeen Posts" is one of Wang Xizhi's masterpieces in cursive script. In the history of ancient Chinese calligraphy, Wang Xizhi's position is very unique. Because of the strong promotion by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy was recognized as a model of ancient calligraphy art. For more than a thousand years since then, Wang Xizhi's status as a calligraphy art has been very strong, and people respect him as the "Sage of Calligraphy" and the representative of Chinese calligraphy culture. "Quick Snow and Clear Tie" is a calligraphy work by Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty. It is written in running script. It is suspected that the existing calligraphy is a copy of it in the Tang Dynasty, but it has not yet been determined. The length of the sticker is 23cm; the width is 14.8cm, with four lines of running script and twenty-eight characters. "Quick Snow and Clear Tie" is a letter in which the author writes about his happy mood and greetings to his relatives when the snow clears at the beginning. (Now collected in the Taipei Museum)? Wang Xizhi's running script is like flowing clouds and flowing water, among which Lantingxu is the best. On March 3, the ninth year of Yonghe, Emperor Mu of the Jin Dynasty, the Youjun official traveled to Shanyin, and forty-one people including Sun Tongcheng and Xie An We gathered at Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, to practice the ceremony. While drinking and composing poems, he took advantage of the excitement and wrote an introduction to Wang Xizhi with a specially selected rat-whisker pen and silkworm cocoon paper, describing the preface to the grand event, with a total of 324 words, including 20 names of "zhi" There are different body shapes and aesthetics. The writing of this post is like divine help, and it has the reputation of "beautiful, vigorous and unrivaled". Influence on future generations? Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy influenced his future generations. His son Xuanzhi was good at cursive calligraphy; Ningzhi was good at cursive calligraphy; Huizhi was good at Zhengcaoli calligraphy; Caozhi was good at Zhengcao calligraphy; Huanzhi was good at Xingxing cursive calligraphy; and Xianzhi was called "Little Sage".
Huang Bosi's "Dongguan Xu Lun" says: "Wang's four books of Ning, Cao, Hui and Huan were passed down together with Zijing's books. They all have family traditions, but their styles are different. Ning's Get its rhyme, use it to get its style, use it to get its power, use it to get its appearance, use it to get its origin." Afterwards, there were many descendants, and Wang's calligraphy was passed on endlessly. Wu Zetian tried to ask for Wang Xizhi's book, and Wang Xizhi's ninth great-grandson Wang Fangqing submitted ten volumes of the writings of twenty-eight people from the eleventh generation to his great-grandfather, and compiled them into "Long Live Tongtian Tie". In the Southern Dynasties, the Qi kings Sengqian, Wang Ci and Wang Zhi were all descendants of the royal family and had Dharma books recorded. Shi Zhiyong was a brief introduction to Wang Xizhi, the seventh grandson of Xizhi. He passed down family methods wonderfully and was a famous calligrapher in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Influence on calligraphy gardens Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy has influenced calligraphy circles from generation to generation. The establishment of Wang Xizhi's status as a calligrapher has its own evolution process. Yu He, a calligrapher during the Taishi period of the Southern Song Dynasty, said in "On Book Lists": "Between Han and Wei, Zhong (Yao) and Zhang (Zhi) were good at beauty, and the two kings in the late Jin Dynasty were called heroes." The title of Youjun's book Unparalleled at that time, the person with the highest status in calligraphy between the Song and Qi Dynasties was Wang Xianzhi.
Xianzhi learned calligraphy from his father. He was extremely talented and quick to innovate. He turned to Zhang Zhi and created the cursive script that connects up and down. Meiyan even surpassed his father. "Discussing Calligraphy with Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty" written by Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasties said: "Everyone in the world respects the calligraphy of Zi Jing." What changed this situation was that Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, admired Wang Xizhi. He changed the order of calligraphy at that time from "Wang Xianzhi - Wang Xizhi - Zhong Yao" to "Zhong Yao - Wang Xizhi - Wang Xianzhi". In "Guan Zhong Yao's Twelve Meanings of Calligraphy", Xiao Yanyun said: "Zijing is not proud of Zhong Yao." "Yi Shao" means "Yi Shao Zhi Bu Yuan Chang". Xiao Yan's status gave his comments a special appeal, and thus public opinion was determined. ? Although Wang Xizhi is praised as the "Sage of Calligraphy" in the history of Chinese calligraphy, he is not regarded as a solidified icon, but only as a symbol of the "perfection" of calligraphy creation in Chinese culture. Things are always developing and moving forward. Wang Xizhi reached the pinnacle of "perfection" in his era. This "holy image" will surely call upon those who come after him to reach new pinnacles of calligraphy in their respective eras.