蘭亭序｜Chinese Calligraphy: The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion

#calligraphy #art #Chinese #characters #strokes #brush #中國書法 #漢字 #中國藝術 #蘭亭序 #王羲之

The Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion is a piece of Chinese calligraphy work generally considered to be written by the well-known calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303 – 361) from the East Jin Dynasty (317 – 420).

In the year 353 AD, a Spring Purification Ceremony was held at Lanting, Guiji Prefecture (today's Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) where Wang was appointed as the governor at the time. During the event, forty-two literati gathered along the banks of a coursing stream and engaged in a drinking contest - cups of wine were drifting down from the upstream, and whenever a cup stopped in front of a guest, he had to compose a poem or otherwise drink the wine. At the end of the day, twenty-six literati composed thirty-seven poems in total and the Lantingji Xu, as a preface to the collection was produced by Wang on the spot. The original preface was long lost, but multiple copies with ink on papers or stone inscriptions remain until today.

《蘭亭集序》，書法家王羲之所作，有「天下第一行書」之稱，是晉代書法成就的代表。

晉穆帝永和九年（353年）三月初，王羲之和當時一批名士和家族子弟共42人，聚集在會稽山。他們在蜿蜒曲折的溪水旁席地而坐。書僮將酒杯放入溪水中，順流而下，酒停在誰面前，誰就要將酒一飲而盡，並且賦詩一首。而王羲之乘興寫下了這篇書法，也就是蘭亭集的序言。

王羲之首先寫聚會盛況，描述環境--「茂林修竹、清流激湍」，「天朗氣清，惠風和暢」。之後筆鋒突變，格調轉為悲傷，寫歡樂時光不長久及人生短暫，然而他並不宣揚「及時行樂」，而是斥了莊子的「一死生、齊彭殤」的論調。通篇語言流暢，不勉強藻飾、通俗自然，結合駢句、駢散，靈活自如，堪稱歷代名篇。

Music:
Lamentation by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3965-lamentation
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license