What is known as "the best running script in the world" is

Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection

is known as "the best running script in the world". Judging from many book records, it should be Mi Fu who first said it in the Song Dynasty (but I have not verified it) In fact, some people followed up on this. For example, in the Yuan Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing’s "Manuscript of Sacrifice to Nephew" by Xian Yushu Guan Yan Zhenqing was regarded as "the second running script in the world", and Su Shi's "Huangzhou Han Poems" was known as the third in the world. Running script, etc., it can be seen that ancient literati were also boring and tight.

As for why there is a saying of "the best running script in the world", first of all, let's look at the calligraphy itself. During the Jin Dynasty, due to the influence of the gentry's admiration for Huang Lao and the culture of pure conversation, The style of calligraphy has also gradually changed to pay more attention to the strokes and charm. From the perspective of the characteristics of running script, free play is more in line with the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Therefore, the calligraphy of the two Jin Dynasties was dominated by running script. It was also the era with the highest achievement of running script in the history of Chinese calligraphy< Preface to Lanting Collection>. . . .

What is extant now is only a copy, but the whole text is light and ethereal, natural and unrestrained, without any trace of carving. It is natural and natural. What is most praised by later generations is that the same words are written in different ways throughout the text, such as "zhi", "yi", "wei" Each has its own changes, especially the character "Zhi" that has been transformed into more than twenty different strokes. This is indeed the highest state of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy art, and his article is also a beautiful prose. It is said that Wang Xizhi was drunk and his work was written by Wang Xizhi after he woke up. He wrote many more paintings but none of them had the charm of the first one

Secondly, from a historical perspective, starting from the Southern Dynasties, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy was praised by more and more people, and this "Preface to the Lanting Collection" also followed. As the tide rose, all boats were lifted. In the Tang Dynasty, Taizong Li Shimin liked this calligraphy so much that even the ministers at the time wanted to learn it, which made the book very popular. Unfortunately, the original copy was later buried with him

In summary, running script is between regular script and regular script. A kind of font among cursive scripts, and Wang Xizhi’s Zhencao was also called Yu Shuangjue (Zhenshi refers to the transitional regular script from the Han and Wei dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties. The characteristic is that there are scribes in the regular script). Emperor Taizong also helped him promote calligraphy to later generations of calligraphers. Everyone also recommends "Lanting" as "the best running script". Moreover, Wang Xizhi himself has been rated as the Saint of Cao, the Saint of Calligraphy, etc. It is not surprising that his pinnacle work is called the best running script in the world