Wang Xizhi writing for geese

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when "Wang Ma shared the world", the Wang family was a high-ranking scholarly family. Most of them were mediocre bureaucrats, but among them, there was also a famous calligrapher in our history. He was Wang Xizhi

Wang Xizhi loved to write since he was a child. It is said that when he was walking, he used his fingers to practice his calligraphy at all times. After learning and practicing, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy reached a very high level.

Because he came from a scholarly family, and because of his outstanding talent, he was recommended to be an official by all the officials and ministers in the court. He worked as an assassin and a general of the Right Army (also known as Wang Youjun). Later, he became an official in Huiji County. He didn't like to live in the prosperous capital city, but he loved the beautiful scenery of Huiji, and whenever he had time, he visited the mountains with his friends. Once, Wang Xizhi and his friends held a banquet at Lanting in the shangyin of Huiji County. Everyone drank and wrote poems. In the end, Wang Xizhi wrote an essay to commemorate the banquet, which is known as the "Preface to the Lanting Collection". That "Preface to the Lanting Collection", written by Wang Xizhi himself, has always been considered a treasure of our calligraphy art, but unfortunately, its authentic copy has been lost.

Wang Xizhi's calligraphy became more and more famous. People at that time treated the characters he wrote as treasures. It is said that once he went to the house of his disciple, who received him very warmly. When he sat down at a new desk, he saw that the surface of the desk was smooth and clean, which aroused his interest in writing, and asked the disciple to bring ink and a brush.

The disciple was so happy that he immediately brought the ink and brush to Wang Xizhi. Wang Xizhi wrote a few lines on the case, kept it as a souvenir, and went back.

After a few days, the disciple had to go out. His father went into the study to clean up, and when he saw that the new case was soiled with ink, he used a knife to scrape off the words. When the disciple returned, the handwriting on the case had disappeared. The student was upset about this for several days.

Another time, Wang Xizhi went to a village. An old woman carried a basket of hexagonal bamboo fans to sell in the market. The bamboo fan was very simple, without any decoration, it did not attract the interest of passers-by, and it looked like it would not sell.

Seeing this situation, Wang Xizhi sympathized with the old woman and went up to her and said, "You have no paintings or words on this fan, so of course, it won't sell. I will inscribe it for you, how about it?"

The old woman did not know Wang Xizhi, but when she saw how enthusiastic he was, she gave him the bamboo fan to write.Wang Youjun's calligraphy, they all rushed to buy it. A bucket of bamboo fans was sold out immediately.

Many artists have their hobbies, some love to plant flowers, and some love to raise birds. But Wang Xizhi had his special fetish. Wherever there was a good goose, he was interested in seeing it or buying it back to play with it.

There was a Taoist priest in Shan Yin who wanted Wang Xizhi to write a volume of Tao Te Ching for him. But he knew Wang Xizhi wouldn't copy the sutra for others easily. Later, he found out that Wang Xizhi liked white geese, so he specially raised a batch of good breed of geese.

When Wang Xizhi heard that the Daoist priest had good geese, he ran to see them. When he approached the Taoist priest's house, he saw a flock of geese floating leisurely in the water, snow-white feathers, reflecting the high red roof, really amusing.

Wang Xizhi looked at the river, and simply could not leave, so he sent someone to find the Taoist priest, and asked him to sell this flock of geese to him.

That Taoist priest smiled and said: "Since Wang Gong is so fond of it, it does not need to spend, I will give you all this flock of geese good. But I have one request, that you write a scroll of sutra for me."

Wang Xizhi did not hesitate to give the Taoist priest a volume of the sutra, and the flock of geese was taken back by Wang Xizhi.