Try Talking about The Success Story of Wang Xizhi

【Abstract】：With the history entering the Easter Jin Dynasty， Chinese character writing，as the essential of the literati and a kind of artistic behavior， had already included different styles and presented obvious steering and temperament of social education.The culture of calligraphic circles，in Wang Xizhi’s epoch， was with large numbers of outstanding calligraphers. It’s just like various kinds of flowers bloom together in the garden. Wang Xizhi was only one of all classes of calligraphers and even ranked behind Yu Yi and Xi Jin. He rose to fame and became the saint of calligraphy until he had been dead for hundreds of years.

【Keywords】：Chinese Calligraphy Works；Calligrapher；Calligraphic Saint；Wang Xizhi

1、There is a question

First of all，there is a question that how Wang Xizhi has become an immortal calligraphic saint？

The people of Jin Dynasty upheld lingering charm and Wang brought new changes.

Wang liked practising calligraphy since childhood and got formative education from his father Wang Kuang and his uncle Wang Yi. Benefit from the dense generational calligraphic atmosphere， Wang’s calligraphy had a high starting point. Wang also learned calligraphy from Madam Wei . She taught Wang with the skills of Zhong You，the Wei’s Family and herself. In a manner of speaking，standing aloof from this prevalent custom and keeping transcending others and himself are the keys which bring Wang high and unique cultural horizon.

The large scale and span overall relocation of the elite compressed the broad area which had been infiltrated by the Han Nationality culture into the area of the Huaihe River and the South of the Yangtze River （which territory didn’t account for one third of Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties ）. Therefore，the calligraphy art encountered a process of contration and purification unprecedentedly，which made it became a cultural miracle.

2、There is a man

Wang was a man with high aspiration and great creativity. He learned from Zhong You and applied Zhong’s skills into practice very well. Wang struck a new path for himself to learn from Zhang Zhi. Wang analysed Zhang’s cursive hand and got golden mean from it.Meanwhile ， he also applied Zhong’s official script correctly，gaining the essence of it and discarding the dregs. He made an intensive study of Zhong and Zhang. So he didn’t wedded to the ancients，but made the ancients serve him and made the traditional art in accordance with his era properly. He applied different kinds of calligraphic skills which he learned from seal character，official script of Qin and Han Dynasties into his modern regular script ， running hand and cursive hand altogether. So， Wang got rid of the stale and brought forth the fresh， thus forming the best calligraphic pattern and style which fits his time best. What’s more，he broke new ground for Chinese calligraphy.He learned widely from other calligraphers’ strong points and had a unique style of his own. That’s the reason Wang was rewarded and respected by the ancients and moderns.

He researched widely and got the essence of various styles.

3、There is a progress

The great progress that Wang made let contemporaries look at him with new sight.At that time， some famous calligraphers such as Yu Liang and Xi Yin enjoyed a wide spread reputation. Therefore， when Yu Yi saw people practising calligraphy after Wang’s models in Jin Zhou， he said dismissively that，”the second generation like low-down domestic chicken， they all learned calligraphy from Wang （Xizhi）， and I’ll contest with him the day I came back”. Yu Liang begged Wang for his handwriting ， Wang replied modestly that”（Yu） Yi is there，you needn’t to come here to ask for this from me”. But he still wrote ZhangCao（a specific kind of cursive script of Chinese）for him. One day，Yu Yi saw the ZhangCao which was Wang wrote for Yu Liang at Yu’s place . He was sincerely convinced by the great progress that Wang had ever made. So， he wrote a letter to Wang， saying that”I ever had ten pieces of ZhangCao of （Zhang） Boying， but I lost them when I displaced from the North to the South of the Yangtze River. At that moment， I regreted that the wonderful handwriting vanished forever. Thankfully ， when I saw the fabulous handwriting you wrote for my brother occasionally， I think to myself this handwriting is just the reinstatement of Zhang Zhi’s calligraphy.”

4、There ia a fame.

Wang’s calligraphy permeated fully with the beauty of moderation which was upheld by Wei and Jin Dynasties. This kind of moderation fits the spirit of Chinese culture properly. That’s the reason the Wangs dominated the Chinese calligraphy for more than one thousand and six hundreds of years. Wang drew nutrition from various calligraphers while his main achievements are focused on regular script.His calligraphy possessed the aesthetic characteristics of mildness，transcendence，high spirit and elegance. The amount of Wang’s calligraphy works is four hundred and sixty five according to the record in Zhang Yanyuan’s . There’s not any original work of Wang left now owing to the change of dynasties and frequent wars. What we can see now mostly are rubbings or block-printed editions of the authentic works . His representative works are as follows：regular script including ，，；running hand including，，，，，，etc；cursive hand including ，，，etc.

References：

[1]Manfield Zhu，A Versatile and Sophisticated Calligrapher，Chinaweek[J]，200301

[2]Hu Xiang，A Calligrapher Integrating Miscellaneous Styles，China’s ForeignTrade[J]，201506

作者簡介：王玉川（1990—），男，聊城大學美術學院16級研究生，專業：美術，研究方向：書法。