Hongyue: Interpretation of "The Orchid Pavilion Preface"

Author: Wu Daxin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-03-01
Features: It is widely said that the Lanting Preface is the greatest running script in the world, yet few know its text reflects the eternal sorrow of ages. It is widely said that Wang Xizheng is the "sage of calligraphy" and the "emperor of ink," yet few know he was a fierce warrior in the army and a steadfast critic in the court. It is widely said that the Lanting River's flowing water was a gathering place for literary elites, yet few know it was a time of great changes for the Eastern Jin dynasty's northern expedition. · The Lanting, a refined herb; the pavilion, an ethereal guest hall. Lanting was a pavilion of Lan. A wisp of fragrance was spread by a king of a fallen state 2,500 years ago. In the ninth year of the Yonghe era, Lanting stood against towering mountains and faced the vast Jian Lake. During the Wei and Jin periods, people pursued a poetic way of life (the "free journey"). Wang Xizheng fell in love with Lanting, culturally speaking, because of the exchange poems between Ji Kang and his brothers during the Wei and Jin era—Ji Kang: "Morning flow on the high plains, evening rest at Lanzhu"; Ji Xi: "Strolling through Lanzhu, moved by things and remembering the ancients." · "Generally, the Southern Dynasties were broad-minded, but pity the Eastern Jin's fashionable elegance!" For 1,650 years, people have interpreted the Lanting Collection as a pleasure of appreciation and the Lanting Gathering as an elegant literary event. Scratching away the layers of poetic and artistic charm behind the Lanting Gathering, the "great elegance and fashion" hide a little-known, thrilling story! The Lanting Gathering was not, as traditionally said, an "elegant literary event," but an important policy and military meeting convened by Wang Xizheng that concerned the fate of the Eastern Jin dynasty. · The Lanting Preface is praised as the "greatest running script in the world," drifting like clouds in the sky and soaring like a startled dragon. Yet modern people only copy its characters without reading its text, a great mistake. The Lanting Preface has profound and distant thoughts, yet it is also low and repetitive. Its reflections on events and emotions subtly reflect the common social psychology of the Eastern Jin era—sorrow, deeply proving a painful experience in Chinese cultural history: awakening citizens in chaos once desperately sought a path to liberation from life and death. · Xue Daozu, who discovered the Dingwu edition of the Lanting Preface in the Song dynasty, wrote a poem: "The Eastern Jin's fashionable elegance had many great events, but all the figures of the time are now gone. Without the drunken Lanting Preface, would the world know the Yonghe era?" This period of the Yonghe era in East Asia is little known to the general public, and the Sayings of the World seems to suggest that the Eastern Jin people were all fashionable, their calligraphy was all elegant, and their events were all great. In reality, the Eastern Jin was a chaotic era, and the "red moon" (a lunar eclipse, a beautiful yet ominous symbol, a sign of chaos, and an illusion of life and death) hung in the sky when the Lanting Preface was born. The author has meticulously studied anded the political background of the Lanting Preface's birth, the list of participants in the Lanting Gathering, and the content of the poems and preface. He believes that in the ninth year of the Yonghe era, Qin, Yan, and the Eastern Jin were in confrontation, war was imminent, and the court was in a state of fervor. The Qingtan master Yin Hao, who led the northern expedition, was in irreconcilable conflict with the military leader Huan Wen. Wang Xizheng, an important military commander, as a representative of the Wang-Xie clan, was deeply concerned about the situation and strongly advocated harmony between ministers and generals. Of the 42 participants in the Lanting Gathering, most belonged to the military, some even directly from the northern expedition front. The 37 poems composed at the gathering subtly revealed the hidden truths of the meeting, while the later part of the Lanting Preface was Wang Xizheng's appeal for the nation's well-being. Several letters from Wang Xizheng to the imperial family, Yin Hao, and Huan Wen, as well as the mysterious Zeng Yun Tie, provide direct evidence that the Lanting Gathering was a political and military meeting. Hou Hui, the editor-in-chief of Xiling Seal Society Publishing House, believes that the author, with his research on ancient Chinese culture and history, offers a unique interpretation of the Lanting Gathering and the Lanting Preface, as well as Wang Xizheng and the Wei-Jin era. The Lanting Preface is hailed as the "greatest running script in the world," but modern people only copy its characters without reading its text. The Lanting Preface has profound thoughts that subtly reflect the common social psychology of the Eastern Jin era—sorrow. Xiling Seal Society, adhering to the principle of "freedom of thought," values the novelty and uniqueness of this work.