Preface to Lanting is also called Preface to Lanting, Preface to Lanting, Preface to He Lin, Preface to Zan and Zan Tie. On March 3rd, the 9th year of Yonghe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 353), 4/kloc-0 people, including Wang Xizhi, Xie An and Sun Chuo, wrote poems in Lanting (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). At the meeting, Wang Xizhi wrote a preface for their poems. The preface narrates the beauty of the landscape around Lanting and the joy of gathering, and expresses the author's feelings of impermanence of life and death. The book of law posts handed down from generation to generation, with 28 lines and 324 words, is perfect in composition, structure and brushwork, and is his masterpiece at the age of 33. Later generations commented that "the font of the right army has changed. Its heroic spirit is natural, so it is considered to be a model from ancient times to the present. " Therefore, calligraphers of all ages regarded Lanting as "the first running script". In the Tang Dynasty, he was collected by Emperor Taizong and promoted to be the representative of Wang Shu. He had ordered Zhao Mo and others to make several copies and give them to relatives and trusted ministers. Unfortunately, it was buried in Zhaoling as a sacrificial object by Emperor Taizong, and the original work will never be seen in the world. "Dragon Book" is the most famous ink in the Tang Dynasty. It was named "Lanting Dragon Book" because it was printed with the name of Feng Chengsu during the reign of Emperor Taizong. This book is well written, and its brushwork, ink style, style and charm are all reflected. It is recognized as the best copy. Stone carving is the first to promote the "fixed object book" According to Guo Moruo's textual research, the second half of the Preface to Lanting handed down from ancient times has nothing in common with Wang Xizhi's thoughts, and the calligraphy style is also different from the epitaph of the Eastern Jin Dynasty unearthed in recent years, which is suspected to be wrongly entrusted by Sui and Tang Dynasties. But some people disagree. Preface to Lanting shows the highest realm of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy art, and the author's tolerance, phoenix spirit, mind and feelings are fully displayed in this work. The ancients said that Wang Xizhi's cursive script is like "the breeze comes out of the sleeve and the next month comes into my arms", which is a wonderful metaphor.
There are all kinds of anecdotes about Preface to Lanting. It is said that after Wang Xizhi finished writing, he was very satisfied with his work. He has rewritten several articles, but he failed to reach this level, so he left it as a family heirloom for future generations. Later, it fell into the hands of Emperor Taizong. Among them is the legend of "Xiao Yi made Lanting" sent by Emperor Taizong ... Emperor Taizong appreciated Wang Xizhi's calligraphy and ordered courtiers Zhao Mo, Feng Chengsu and others to carefully copy several paintings. He likes to give copies or rubbings of these stone carvings to some royal families and minions, so at that time, this "inferior original" copy was also "expensive in Luoyang". In addition, there are Ou Yangxun, Chu Suiliang, Yu Shinan and other famous hands handed down from ancient times, and the original works are said to have been handed down to the world as sacrificial objects.
Today's so-called "Preface to the Lanting Pavilion", in addition to several copies of the Tang Dynasty, stone rubbings are also extremely precious. The most legendary is Song Tuoding's Preface to Wu Lanting. Both manuscripts and rubbings are quite convincing for the study of Wang Xizhi, and they are also extremely valuable materials for the study of calligraphy in past dynasties. In China's calligraphy classics, there are countless materials about Preface to Lanting.
Whether the Preface to the Lanting Pavilion was written by Wang Xizhi has always been controversial, and there was a fierce public opinion in the late Qing Dynasty and 1960s.