Lanting is the residence of Wang Xizhi, the famous calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is located at the foot of Lanzhu Mountain in the southwest of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. The area around Orchid Pavilion is a beautiful place with high mountains, lush forests and bamboos, as well as clear and turbulent streams, reflecting the scenery on the Shanyin Road.
According to legend, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, planted orchids here during the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Han Dynasty, he set up a post pavilion, hence the name "Orchid Pavilion". In the Eastern Jin Dynasty in 353, the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi invited 42 literati and scholars to hold a grand gathering of water drinking wine in Lanting, and wrote the "Preface to the Lanting Collection", which is known as "the best running script in the world". Wang Xizhi was revered as "Calligraphy Saint", Lanting has therefore become a holy place for calligraphy.
Orchid Pavilion was named after it is said that King Goujian of Yue planted orchids in this area. Lanting is famous because of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi. In the middle of the fourth century AD, Wang Xizhi served as the internal historian of Kuaiji County as the right general. On March 3rd of the ninth year of Yonghe (AD 353), he invited 41 celebrities, including Xie An, Xie Wan, Sun Chuo, Sun Tong and Zhi Dun, who were traveling in officialdom or living in Shaoxing, to drink and compose poems at Lanting, and became a famous Lanting meeting. During the dinner, 26 people composed thirty-seven poems, and Wang Xizhi wrote the preface. It is said that he took advantage of it and wrote the 325-word article in one go with a rat-whisker pen. This famous "Preface to the Collection of Orchid Pavilion" became the pinnacle of Chinese calligraphy art. From then on, Orchid Pavilion became famous.
The original site of Lanting was renovated and destroyed several times. The current Lanting was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty and repaired after the founding of the Republic of China. Today's Orchid Pavilion is still "the bamboo breeze flows freely everywhere, and the orchid atmosphere is clear to people." It is quiet and elegant, without losing the ancient style. There are eight major landscapes in the park, including "Goose Pond", "Qu Shui Liu Shang", "Imperial Stele Pavilion" and "Youjun Temple".