WANG XIZHI: CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY MASTER

Chinese Calligraphy is one of the "Four Arts," meaning that it is a highly valued skill in ancient and, to some extent, modern Chinese culture. There is a saying in China that you can tell what type of person someone is from their handwriting. As such, scholars work hard to improve their handwriting. Perhaps, the most famous calligrapher is Wang Xizhi.

Wang was born into a calligraphy family during the Jin Dynasty. He started learning calligraphy at the age of seven. Taking inspiration from Zhang Zhi, the best cursive calligrapher of the time, Wang practiced relentlessly. In fact, he washed off so much ink that the whole pond turned black!

His practice paid off. Wang is widely regarded as the greatest calligrapher of all time. While he is capable in all forms of script, he is best known for writing what is widely accepted as the best work in running (semi-cursive) script history.

Of course, no one can catch up to the legend Wang Xizhi with just an hour of practice but check our Instagram to see how we did.