Wang Xizhi, the Saint of Calligraphy

Wang Xizhi (c.303-c.361 AD) was born in today’s Shandong Province. He was a great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and was called by later generations the Saint of Calligraphy.

Wang Xizhi studied calligraphy from the calligraphy master Madame Wei in his youth. Then he traveled widely to study tablet inscriptions executed by famous calligraphers of older generations. It is said that he used to practice calligraphy by the pond beside Lan (Orchid) Pavilion in Shaoxing, in today’s Zhejiang Province, day and night, until the clear pond water turned black for he dipped his inky brush into it so many times. When he took a rest, he still thought of the structure of characters, and practiced with his fingers on his garments. As a result, his clothes soon became worn out. Wang Xizhi’s unique style in both running hand and cursive script had a great influence on later generations of calligraphers. His famous rubbings of stone inscriptions include the Preface to Orchid Pavilion and the Kuaixueshiqing Rubbing. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty admired Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy, and chose 1,000 characters written by him to compose a book titled Ancient 1,000-Character Text as a guide for students of calligraphy.