Preface for the Orchid Pavilion Poems: Social, Economic, and Cultural Lives of Wei, Jin, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties
7 min readThe unique Chinese system of writing its script in characters has led to extraordinary achievements in the art of calligraphy. The calligrapher of highest regard, worthy of generations of adulation in China, is a man from Eastern Jin times known as Wang Xizhi. His most famous work is the Preface for the Orchid Pavilion Poems. Wang Xizhi is known as the Saint of calligraphy in China, for his ultimate refinement of the art. One day, on an outing with friends, he stopped at the Lanting or Orchid Pavilion for some refreshment and for a little poetry composition. On this occasion he wrote what became the immortal prose known as Preface for the Orchid Pavilion Poems, to commemorate the happy event. The entire prose is slightly over three hundred characters long. It was composed in 353. It exists only in such forms as rubbings from carved copies and tracings.
Wang Xizhi Playing with Geese by Southern Song artist Ma Yuan. The painting depicts Wang Xizhi sitting by a pine tree and among lotus ponds, two geese are playing in the water. Wang xizhi loved goose. He realized the tao of calligraphy while watching geese dancing. He once wrote sutra for a Shanyin Taoist in exchange of geese.
The lines have become part of the necessary education of a Chinese student, and the calligraphed beauty of the characters have become a model for generations of artists and practitioners of calligraphic arts. Although it is said that the original no longer exists, people to this day wonder if it was not buried in the Tang-dynasty tomb of Empress Wu Zetian. It is more likely that the treasure was long since swept away by the river of time.
In the year 280，as successor to the Cao Wei Kingdom，the Western Jin annihilated the Wu Kingdom.Western Jin（265-316）unified the country but only ruled in stable fashion for some twenty years before internal contradictions led to its downfall.After Western Jin was annihilated in turn，a succession of five different political powers ruled south of the Yangtze River：Eastern Jin（317-420），Song（420-479），Qi（479-502），Liang（502-557），and Chen（557-589）.
In the north，meanwhile，some sixteen political powers contended，including the various northern tribes of Xiongnu，Xianbi，Jie，Di，Qiang，and also Han Chinese.The period is known in history as the”Five Hu and Sixteen states（304-439）.”Hu is a term applied to the five non-Han nationalities living in the northern and western part of contemporary China in ancient times.In 439，the state of Bei-Wei or Northern Wei（386-534）unified the north and continued its rule until 534.South of the river，the fragmented powers of Song，Qi，Liang，and Chen faced off against each other in a generally north-south configuration，leading to the term in history known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties period（420-589）.In the year 581，the Sui（581-618）replaced a group who had already unified the northern side，known as the Northern Zhou（557-581），and in 589 it defeated the Chen and succeeded in unifying the entire coun-try.The period known as Wei，Jin，and the Northern and Southern Dynasties or Six Dynasties came to an end.
The long period of warfare during the Wei, Jin, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties period and the bitter political infighting led many people to grow disenchanted with the prevailing Confucian philosophy of engagement with the world. They turned towards a morereclusive or escapist posture,a seeking after other-worldly enlightenment, and the rapid spread of Buddhism is evidence of this. All kinds of philosophies, arts, and different ways of thinking came into the space opened up by the turning away from previous dogma, forming a golden era of “thought liberation”not seen since the Warring States Period. Social conditions gradually moved from an era of warfare to an era of peace and stability, and the economy developed as productive forces were restored. South of the river, the swift development of agriculture was enhanced by changes in agricultural technology and the region gradually becamethe center of China’s economy. In the north, the melding and coexistence of various kinds of people was helped by similar changes in agricultural technology and also by the refurbishing of canals and irrigation projects.
Arts and culture in general made long strides forward under these political and economicconditions.The literary arts of the Wei，Jin，and the Northern and Southern Dynasties were of a particular quality-the work of certain known artists shines a clear light on the spirit of humanism.These artists and their art include the poetry of Cao Zhi and Tao Yuanming，the philosophy of the so-called Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove，the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi，the painting of Gu Kaizhi，and the proses of the Six Dynasties.Although their artistic creations often contained an underlying sense of pessimism and escapism，the weight of history cannot cover over the brilliance of their works.We see recognize the rays of light from the calligraphic work of Wang Xizhi.
Wang Xizhi lived from around 321 to 379.His courtesy name was Yishao，and he hailed from a place that is now called Linyiin Shandong.He came from a line of illustrious and successful aristocrats.His father，grandfather，and father’s elder brother were all high officials in the Eastern Jin government，elevated elite and powerful.Wang Xizhi first served as an execu tive，an official，and later as a military advisor before being transferred to serve in Ningyuan as General.In the end he became what is known as”Right-Army General，”so that he is also referred to as Wang Right-Army.The term”right”was applied to the western flank of an army，since the perspective of the northern rulers of China at the time was that of looking southward.
Painful Losing Note by Wang xizhi，stored secretly in Japanese royal palace after it was brought to Japan in the Tang Dy-Wang Xizhi was known to have a very straightforward disposition，one that did not pay lip service to etiquette and formality.One citation in history refers to the story of his lying on the eastern bed with a bare chest.The story goes as follows:a notable family in the Jin Dynasty wanted to marry into the Wang family，so it sent a person over to discuss marriage with the Wang clan.The father of Wang Xizhi led this person over to gaze into the place where the sons were resting.On returning，he gave his report，saying that all the sons looked fine but one of them was lying on the eastern bed，eating something with his chest bared，as though he cared nothing about the scrutiny of the potential matchmaker.The father of the bride heard this and immediately said，”That is the one I want as my son-in-law.”On later investigation，he found out that this son was Wang Xizhi，and he married his daughter to him.Since Wang Xizhi was not of high rank-the court tried many times to get him to accept various kinds of official positions and he refused.When he could no longer keep the request at bay，he did not as many did at the time，merely hold the position without working.The phrase used in Chi-
nese for this attitude is to sit like a dead corpse in a post，eating vegetarian，i.e.not coming to grips with something and working hard like a good meat-eater.Wang Xizhi is known to have expressed frank and astute views on political situations to the Prime Minister of the time，and he is known to have opened granaries to starving people during times of famine.From a young age，he had a robust and open nature，never allowing himself to be troubled by trifling matters and he maintained this quality of”beneficence and uprightness”as an adult.This may be what makes his calligraphy so flowing and expansive，so endowed with vigor，so carefree and gladsome.
Wang xizhi is known to have loved calligraphy from an early age.He used the calligraphed works of the famous calligrapher Lady Wei as his model，also earlier great masters of calligraphy like Li si，Cao Xi，Zhang Zhi，Zhang Chang，Cai Yong，Zhong You and Liang Hu.He combined the best attributes of their various styles and developed his own.His attainments in the various traditional shape strokes，including cursive，square，and so on，including exaggerated forms of these traditional shapes，allowed him to deepen and develop the artform.
Specific works of Wang Xizhi have been carved into models and made into rubbings，which are used as reference by calligraphers to this day.Certain works in the style of“kaishu，”or square script，are famous and much emulated.One，called Piece Written in a Sunny Day after a Pleasant Snowfall has only 24 characters and was included by the Qing-dynasty Emperor Qianlong in his collection of”Three Delights”for emulating as models of calligraphic script.The Preface for the Orchid Pavilion Poems is his most famous work.It is admired from a literary perspective as much as for its calligraphy，for its expansive and feeling nature.From a calligraphic perspective，it has been crowned with high acclaim by generations of calligraphers as worthy of respectful study.Wang Xizhi’s son succeeded him as a calligrapher（Wang Xianzhi，344-386），and became a fine artist in his own right，contributing to further develop ment of the art.His Mid-Autumn Scroll is written in cursive script，and is only 22 characters long，but is a unique masterpiece.Emperor Qianlong similarly put this work among his”Three Delights，”regarding it as a national treasure.The son and the father are equally famous and therefore known as the Two Wangs.
