Eastern Jin calligrapher whose 兰亭集序 is called the finest running script ever written. The idiom 入木三分, ink soaking deep into wood, comes from a tale about his brush.
The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection is Wang Xizhi's masterpiece.
Tips
history
唐太宗 loved 《兰亭集序》 so much that the original is said to have been buried with him. Only copies survive, the most faithful being the Tang 'Shenlong' copy in Beijing's Palace Museum.
culture
When the minister 郗鉴 sent a man to pick a son-in-law from the Wang family, the other young men stood on their dignity while Wang Xizhi lay on the east couch with his belly bare. He was chosen, and 东床快婿 still means 'an ideal son-in-law'.
