A calligraphy appreciation of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface": The charming, vigorous and beautiful brushwork of "Lanting Preface" flows through every detail of the work. The most outstanding works of art often contain extremely rich and "charming" artistic beauty in a very small space.

"Lanting Preface" is not only the beauty of "rhyme" in a very small space, but also the whole thing. Overview of the whole text, it is well-proportioned, free and varied, with a restrained air, showing calmness and unhurriedness from beginning to end. The magnanimity gives people an elegant and fresh artistic feeling. Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is restrained yet subtle, vigorous yet beautiful, and "Lanting Preface" is free and natural throughout, with varying sizes and shapes, without any trace of deliberate carving, and is "natural". Every word is endowed with vitality by Wang Xizhi, whether it is still or moving, lying or lying down, and the frown, smile, laughter and anger in the characters appear on the paper in a transcendent and free way. The static characters and the dynamic soul show how good Wang Xizhi's calligraphy skills were and what his emotions were when he wrote. Within a certain area, "all the talented people are here".

"Lanting Preface" is known as "the best running script in the world", which is not only reflected in the heterogeneity of different characters, but also in the heterogeneity of the same characters. All repeated characters are written in different ways. For example, according to the data, the five characters "huai" and the seven characters "bu" have different shapes and are ever-changing. Among them, especially the character "Zhi", some are free and easy, some are neat and orderly, with various sizes and positions, and are in various shapes.

Characteristics of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy:

He is good at calligraphy, and is good at Li, Cao, Kai and Xing styles. He studies the style carefully, imitates it with his heart and pursues it with his hands. The style was cultivated in one furnace, breaking away from the writing styles of the Han and Wei dynasties, and became its own style with far-reaching influence. The style is peaceful and natural, the writing style is euphemistic and subtle, and it is beautiful and healthy.

In the history of calligraphy, he and Zhong Yao are collectively known as the "Zhong Wang", and his son Wang Xianzhi is collectively known as the "Two Kings". Li Zhimin commented: "Wang Xizhi's calligraphy not only expresses the simplicity and profoundness based on the philosophy of Lao and Zhuang, but also expresses the harmony based on the Confucian doctrine of the mean."