Wangxizhi Legend
01 · Historical Records
In the seventh year of Yonghe of the Jin, 351, he went out as general of the right and interior minister of Kuaiji, and lived in Kuaiji, present-day Shaoxing, for eleven years in all until his death in the fifth year of Shengping, 362. The earliest record of the Wang Xizhi legend is found in the Six Dynasties New Anecdotes of Social Talk. Since the twentieth century, and especially in the sixty years since the founding of New China, more than two hundred Wang Xizhi legends have been collected and published.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wang Xizhi is the world-famous sage of calligraphy. Attentive to the people's condition, he several times memorialised to reduce the corvée and taxes of Kuaiji and resolutely opened the granaries to relieve famine, deeply supported by the people of Kuaiji. He was in close contact with such famous scholars living in retirement there as Xie An, Xu Xun, Zhi Xun and Ruan Yu, leaving many anecdotes. After the eleventh year of Yonghe he bade farewell at the tomb and resigned, wandering among the hills and waters of Kuaiji and travelling the whole of eastern Zhejiang, seeking the Way and immortality, and died and was buried at Jinting in Shan county; the people thought Wang the Right Army had ridden off on a goose and become an immortal. His life and deeds, anecdotes and the many relics preserved to this day, such as the Orchid Pavilion, the Goose Pool, the Ink Pool, the Jiezhu temple, the Fan-Inscribing Bridge, the Jinting temple and the tomb of the Right Army, were all made into stories and legends by the people, widely current and unbroken. Thereafter the oral transmission continued without cease. Many of the legends, such as Wang Xizhi and the Goose, A Fan Inscribed Brings a High Price and the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, are much-loved and full of wit, and so are handed down from generation to generation.
Wang Xizhi and the Goose
One of the much-loved representative works of the Wang Xizhi legend.
A Fan Inscribed Brings a High Price
One of the much-loved representative works of the Wang Xizhi legend.
The Legend of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion
A Wang Xizhi legend formed around the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion.
The Relics of the Orchid Pavilion, Goose Pool and Ink Pool
Shaoxing relics connected with the Wang Xizhi legend.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
A vast body of legends formed in the Shaoxing area. Its main content divides into the four great categories of learning and writing calligraphy, love of hills and waters, love of country and closeness to the people and contempt for the powerful. The Wang Xizhi legend has a long history, a wide area of circulation and varied modes of transmission and is very rich in content with distinctive features, displaying in an all-round way Wang Xizhi's cleverness and talent, love of country and closeness to the people and contempt for the powerful; rooted in and current among the people, it has a rich Shaoxing regional character and local flavour.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Wang Xizhi legend has important humanistic, historical, educational, artistic and folkloric value and provides useful material for the study of folk literature and history. With the quickening pace of modern social life and the change in forms of entertainment the transmission of the Wang Xizhi legend has suffered a great impact and urgently needs stronger protection and excavation.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Naijun 05-2013
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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