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Chapter 338: Calligraphy Master Wang Xizhi

If we ask who has achieved the highest achievement in calligraphy in Chinese history, it would naturally be the calligrapher Wang Xizhi.

When talking about Wang Xizhi, the first thing that comes to mind is his "Preface to the Lanting Poems", the best running script in the world.

Wang Xizhi is the greatest calligrapher in the history of Chinese calligraphy, and his calligraphy art has reached a level unmatched in ancient and modern times.

In fact, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy not only has an impact on calligraphy, but is also a key step in the entire history of Chinese characters and culture.

Before Wang Xizhi, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese character writing had always been in a groping state, always looking for the best way to write Chinese characters.

Seal script, clerical script, cursive script and regular script all have their own shortcomings in writing.

At this time, Wang Xizhi came on stage.

His calligraphy is simple, approachable, beautiful both inside and out, and is exactly the kind of universal writing style that Chinese people are looking for.

From then on, the writing of Chinese characters found a universally recognized aesthetic concept.

To this day, Wang Xizhi's style of writing is still the most in line with the aesthetic tastes of most people and the most recognized by the cultural and artistic circles.

It can be said that since Wang Xizhi, the aesthetic inherited from this school has become the mainstream aesthetic of Chinese calligraphy.

"Wang Xizhi was born into the famous Wang family of Langya, which was one of the top aristocratic families at the time."

"He is the tenth-generation grandson of Wang Ji, a famous official of the Western Han Dynasty, and his great-grandfather Wang Lan was a Guanglu doctor of the Western Jin Dynasty."

"My grandfather, Wang Zheng, was a minister in the Western Jin Dynasty, and my grandmother was the aunt of Emperor Yuan of Jin."

"His father Wang Kuang was a governor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his uncle Wang Dao was a founding minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

"My uncle Wang Dun was the prime minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and my father-in-law Xi Jian was the Grand Commandant of the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

"So, Wang Xizhi's family was not just an ordinary famous family, but a top famous family that shared the world with the Sima family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

"Wang Xizhi's calligraphy was taught by his father and uncle during his early years."

"I also received the original calligraphy of the famous calligrapher's "Declaration" from my uncle, and the original calligraphy of the famous calligrapher's "July 26th Letter" from my uncle. In addition, I received personal instruction from famous calligraphers when I was a child."

"Wang Xizhi's calligraphy really won at the starting line. The reason why he became the Saint of Calligraphy was that he had unprecedented and unrivaled advantages."

"Wang Xizhi was naturally lively in his childhood, but due to various misfortunes that followed, he became a man of few words."

"The first change came from the migration to the south."

"The Wang family of Langye migrated southwards, and moved their entire family to a country that was later infested with bandits."

"On the way to the south, Wang Xizhi suffered his first epileptic seizure due to the banditry."

"Since epilepsy was not hereditary in the family, historical books and materials generally believed that Wang Xizhi was frightened."

"The second change came from the death of my father Wang Kuang."

"In 310 AD, Wang Kuang led an army of to fight Liu Cong in Shangdang, and his entire army was annihilated."

"Strangely, Wang Kuang's whereabouts have been unknown since then."

"The loss of his father was the main reason why Wang Xizhi was slow to speak."

"Because he was only seven years old that year, and he suffered the great misfortune of losing his father at a young age."

"The third incident came from going to the court to await punishment."

"In 322 AD, Wang Xizhi's uncle started a rebellion in Wuchang in the name of clearing the imperial court, and there was a discussion in the court to kill all the Wang family members."

"My uncle Wang Dao, who is in the imperial court, did this to show his loyalty to the emperor and to prove the innocence of the more than 1,000 members of the Wang family in Beijing."

"Every day, I lead all the unmarried adult men in the royal family to kneel before the royal gate and plead guilty, waiting for their punishment."

"Wang Xizhi had already reached adulthood that year and was among those who were apologizing."

"Kneeling for a long time in the cold wind, awaiting his sentence with no certainty of life or death, the contempt and cold eyes of the world dealt another blow to Wang Xizhi's life."

"This near-death experience had the most severe impact on Wang Xizhi's character."

"Later, Wang Xizhi declined several invitations to take up posts in Beijing, probably because of the psychological trauma caused by this incident."

Su Shi: Wang Xizhi was a quiet boy when he was young, but he was able to open up later thanks to the encouragement and attention of others.

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was an era when handsome men emerged in large numbers. Pan An, the most handsome man in history, was from that era.

The talented men at that time were not only handsome, but also talented in many fields such as literature. Wang Xizhi was one of them.

Wang Xizhi's father saw the signs of war in the Central Plains as early as the Western Jin Dynasty, and led the Wang family south to avoid the future Rebellion of the Five Barbarians.

The king's father not only cared about his family, but also about the entire Jin Dynasty.

As early as when the Western Jin Dynasty could no longer hold on in the north, the king's father proposed that the Sima royal family move south of the Yangtze River and Huai River and establish the Jin regime in the south.

However, the legacy of such outstanding people seemed to be interrupted when it came to Wang Xizhi.

This is because Wang Xizhi was not good at speaking when he was a child, and people did not think highly of him.

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty where elegant conversation was the fashion, it would probably be impossible to enter the upper aristocratic circle.

For such children who are speechless, the best way to educate them is positive psychological suggestion.

When Wang Xizhi was thirteen years old, he once went to visit a famous scholar in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The famous scholar felt that Wang Xizhi still had talent, but it had not been discovered, so he decided to give it a try.

At that time in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a very precious dish called roasted beef heart, which was made from beef heart and was not available to ordinary people.

At the banquet, the celebrity asked someone to cut a piece of roasted ox heart and serve it to Wang Xizhi in front of all the guests.

Everyone present was stunned, and Wang Xizhi was even more flattered.

This story spread at the time, and everyone believed that being able to eat roasted beef heart from a famous scholar meant that Wang Xizhi had a promising future.

As a result, Wang Xizhi became famous and known throughout the world.

As an adult, Wang Xizhi spoke clearly and with sufficient reasons, and was known for his upright character.

In addition, Wang Xizhi was highly regarded by his uncle and uncle who held power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so he soon became famous all over the world.

Whether a person succeeds or not has a lot to do with the attitude of people around him towards him.

The celebrities encouraged the people around them to pay attention to Wang Xizhi, which was equivalent to providing Wang Xizhi with a positive and open environment for growth.

Therefore, it is extremely important to give children respect and honor in public.

For Wang Xizhi, this portion of roasted beef heart cleared away the haze in his heart and made him respect himself from then on.

Wang Xizhi's later calmness in lying on the bed with his belly exposed might have been influenced by this roasted ox heart.

"When he was about 23 years old, Wang Xizhi entered the government as a secretary."

"When he was about 27 years old, his uncle Wang Dao needed to make friends with Xi Jian to fight against his political enemy Yu Liang for political reasons."

"And Xi Jian was of course happy to see it happen. The best way was to form an alliance through marriage, so he chose a son-in-law."

"After much deliberation, Xi Jian chose Wang Xizhi, who responded to the Xi family's serious selection of a son-in-law with a casual attitude of lying on the bed with bare belly."

"Other disciples were reserved, but Wang Xizhi took it lightly."

"In fact, this is exactly where Wang Xizhi's elegance and noble character come from. Although he came from a famous family, he was not obsessed with fame and fortune."

"This process of selecting a son-in-law has been passed down as a good story in later generations, so much so that the phrase 'Dongchuang Kuaixu' later became an idiom."

"In 334 AD, Yu Liang's status rose and he moved to Wuchang."

"Wang Xizhi responded to Yu Liang's call and served as a military officer in the General's Office of the Western Expedition."

"In 338 AD, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was formed with Wang Dao, Xi Jian and Yu Liang jointly ruling."

"Wang Dao is the Grand Tutor, in charge of the central government."

"Xi Jian guarded Jingkou and held the lower reaches hostage."

"Yu Liang guarded Wuchang and controlled the upper reaches."

"This way, the three powers will counterattack and check each other, which is beneficial to the weak Sima royal family."

"The tragedy is that under such circumstances, Wang Xizhi was caught in the political vortex of the three powers."

"He is Wang Dao's nephew, Xi Jian's son-in-law, and Yu Liang's subordinate."

"The situation was not alleviated until the three giants died one after another in 340."

"Before this, Wang Xizhi had been in the extreme tug of war between the three powers."

"This also had a profound impact on the formation of Wang Xizhi's personality. Repression and suffering had a profound impact on his artistic thinking."

"Because the rhythm of calligraphy art is like life, without heavy ink and color, it can't bring out the lightness of life."

"Only in this way can people have emotions to express, and only in this way can calligraphy express them in thickness and depth."

"It is for this reason that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy reached its peak during this period and the period that followed." "It can be seen that a calligrapher's artistic achievement requires the polishing of life."

"During the Jianyuan period of Emperor Kang of the Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy became very famous."

"Finally, it reached the point where the government and the public vied to emulate it, and even the children of the Yu family abandoned their family rules and followed it."

"Yu Yi, who was then the governor of Jingzhou, was originally better known as a calligrapher than Wang Xizhi."

"When he heard the news, he was very unhappy."

"He rebuked his disciples for imitating Wang Xizhi, and even threatened to compete with him."

"However, Yu Yi died not long after, and this wish was never realized."

"After that, Wang Xizhi finally got an assignment outside the capital, and he has been working hard to be assigned outside the capital."

"The psychological impact of going to Taiwan to await punishment will last a lifetime. Only by staying away from the center of the political situation can he gain a sense of psychological security."

Du Fu: From the story of the Dongchuang Kuaixu, one can directly feel Wang Xizhi's straightforward personality at that time, which had a profound influence on his subsequent achievements in calligraphy.

When Xi Jian was in Jiankang, he heard that the sons of the Wang family of Langya were all very handsome, so he sent his disciples to deliver a letter to Wang Dao, hoping to choose a son-in-law from the Wang family of Langya.

So, Wang Dao asked the disciple who delivered the letter to go to the east wing of his house and choose whoever he liked.

After the disciple returned, he reported to Xi Jian the scene of selecting a son-in-law in the east wing.

The young men of the Wang family were all worthy of praise. When they heard that they were coming to choose a son-in-law, they dressed up carefully and tried their best to remain dignified.

There was only one young man lying on the bed on the east side, reading a book with his belly exposed. He looked calm and indifferent.

After listening to this, Xi Jian immediately decided that this man was a good son-in-law.

Xi Jian asked who the young man was and found out it was Wang Xizhi, so he married his daughter to him.

After Wang Xizhi married Mrs. Xi, his artistic talent improved significantly. The main reason was that Wang Xizhi was liberated from a relatively depressing environment.

In addition, Mrs. Xi was also good at calligraphy and helped Wang Xizhi in his calligraphy creation.

The life of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi was not as beautiful as imagined.

Although he was born into a prominent family, it was precisely because of this that Wang Xizhi saw more darkness.

Wang Xizhi's childhood and youth were both depressing. When his father disappeared inexplicably, calligraphy became a way for him to relieve stress.

However, after becoming the son-in-law of the emperor.

Wang Xizhi's pressure was released, and calligraphy at this time became a tool for him to express his emotions.

Perhaps, because of this, Wang Xizhi gradually incorporated more of his own emotions into calligraphy. The joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of daily life can all be expressed through calligraphy.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy matured after he was forty years old, and reached its peak after he was fifty years old.

Some people say that the technical style of calligraphy is just its appearance, and the spirit of calligraphy is its soul.

As for Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, the expression of personality and free expression are the soul of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.

"In the spring of 353 AD, Wang Xizhi summoned the famous scholars from the East to build a house."

"Such as Xie An, Xi Tan, Chen Chuo, Sun Tong, Xu Xun, Zhi Dun, Xie Sheng, Xu Fengzhi, and 41 other family members."

"An elegant gathering was held at the Lanting Pavilion in Shanyin, which was the famous Lanting Gathering in the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

"This is a grand gathering of relatives and friends, taking advantage of the ancient custom of washing away filth by the water on the third day of the third lunar month."

"This is certainly a time when Wang Xizhi was at ease, which contrasts with the struggles in his previous life."

"Of course, it was during this event that the most famous calligraphy work in the history of Chinese calligraphy, the Preface to the Lanting Poems, was born."

"According to historical records, Lanting has high mountains and steep cliffs, lush forests and bamboos, and clear and turbulent streams. "

"The sky was clear and the air was fresh, and the wind was gentle and pleasant."

"Everyone sat beside the winding stream and played the game of flowing wine cups and winding water."

"That day, twenty-six people wrote poems, and ten people could not write poems. They were fined three buckets of wine each."

"Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface" records the grand occasion of this day."

"The calligraphy of the Lanting Preface is also known as the best running script in the world by later generations."

"Of course, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy achievements are far more than the Lanting Preface. He has many other classic works."

"In his later years, an important part of Wang Xizhi's life was taking medicine, which means taking medicine to maintain health."

"Taoist scriptures believe that certain worldly and otherworldly medicines can prolong one's life if consumed."

"Driven by this belief, Taoists gradually accumulated a set of techniques for taking elixirs of longevity in practice, which is called the art of taking elixirs."

"During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, some celebrities not only took Wu Shi San themselves, but also strongly advocated taking Wu Shi San."

"Although the formulas of the so-called Wu Shi San vary, their medicinal properties are basically dryness and heat."

"After taking it, the whole body becomes hot and a short-term psychedelic effect is produced, which is actually a chronic poisoning."

"It is for this reason that many of the Wei and Jin Dynasty scholars were described as exposing their chests and abdomens, which was actually to release the medicinal properties."

"What Wang Xizhi called taking medicine was actually taking medicine like Wu Shi San."

"Wang Xizhi took the medicine in the hope of longevity and physical pleasure, but the pleasure of radiating heat after taking the medicine did not last long."

"On the contrary, the pain caused by various negative effects constantly plagued him, making him more dependent on taking drugs for relief."

"Over time, it became a vicious cycle, and eventually it reached a point where there was no escape."

"In 361 AD, Wang Xizhi died of illness at the age of ."

Li Shimin: The reason why Wang Xizhi is revered as the Saint of Calligraphy, in addition to his excellent calligraphy, the most important thing is that he opened a new door for Chinese calligraphy.

As graceful as a startled swan and as elegant as a swimming dragon, this is how people evaluate Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.

Wang Xizhi created a kind of calligraphy beauty that best conforms to the aesthetic standards of the Chinese people - elegant and refined, perfect.

Wang Xizhi inherited the experience of previous calligraphy masters, integrated it, innovated and created a new style of calligraphy.

At the same time, calligraphy can not only express the elegant taste of literati and scholars, but also present the joys and sorrows in daily life.

For example, in Wang Xizhi's masterpiece "Lanting Preface", he can not only appreciate the majestic and natural calligraphy, but also feel Wang Xizhi's inner feelings that life and death are also great.

People often say that handwriting reflects the person.

Wang Xizhi has a straightforward personality and an independent and free personality.

More importantly, he has a benevolent heart and loves his country and his people.

In the dark officialdom, he was diligent in his administration and took care of everything himself.

He also has a detached state of mind, but he always cares about the people.

Precisely because of his benevolent sentiments, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy has become a model of the beauty of moderation.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy expresses both the indifference based on the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the moderation based on the Confucian doctrine of the mean.

In general, Wang Xizhi's character and true nature were a breath of fresh air at that time.

It is precisely because of his handsome personality and highly benevolent feelings that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy has such an elegant and freehand style.

Hardness and softness, ancient and modern, these two seemingly contradictory qualities are opposite and unified in Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.

It is precisely because of the combination of rigidity and flexibility and the harmony of the past and the present that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy stands out among many calligraphers, leads the trend of calligraphy, and becomes a milestone in the history of calligraphy.

In the history of calligraphy, people in the Jin Dynasty valued rhythm, while people in the Tang Dynasty valued rules.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is the perfect representative of the style of the Jin Dynasty. His calligraphy conforms to the rules in every aspect, and is inspiring and full of charm.

Because Wang Xizhi was calm at that time, his calligraphy was not fierce and ostentatious, but it could make the viewer feel an intriguing meaning.

This kind of charm is exactly the reflection of the gentle and jade-like character of Confucian gentleman advocated by Confucianism in calligraphy.

Confucianism emphasizes the unity of knowledge and action. A gentleman who follows the doctrine of the mean will naturally be gentle and refined in style if we observe his words and examine his actions.

Calligraphy is often an artistic reflection of a person's ideological realm. If one does not have the demeanor of a gentleman in dealing with people and does not understand the essence of the doctrine of the mean, it would be difficult for Wang Xizhi to practice such principles in calligraphy.

The Confucian aesthetic standards of personality represent the highest standards of Chinese traditional culture.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy embodies this kind of moderate yet elegant Confucian gentleman style.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy can not only reconcile elegance and simplicity, but also create a spring breeze-like artistic conception in this balance.

It has become the highest quality in Chinese calligraphy aesthetics and a model for literati art of all generations.

This is exactly the spiritual connotation and artistic charm of Confucian gentlemanly demeanor and the doctrine of the mean. It is no wonder that Wang Xizhi is revered as the Saint of Calligraphy.

(End of this chapter)