After appreciating the king of all the Chinese Cursive Script Calligraphies —“The Orchid Pavilion”, you should know another person. He is Fang Wenshan, English name Vincent, who is a famous song writer fromTaiwanand a golden partner of Jay Chou. He is skilled at changing the usage of language then reshaping the meaning of words to take on new meanings on them, which can give you a sense of postmodern song writing style. Now enjoy it. That is the moment that renews and refreshes both oneself and the thing one loves.

Chinese Calligraphy Painting

The Orchid Pavilion

Practicing calligraphy at the Orchid Pavilion, the semi-cursive script resembling sailing clouds and flowing water

Under the moon the door yielded to a gentle push, your thoughtfulness reflected in your fragile footsteps

In haste, the one-thousand-year tablet is easy to copy, yet your beauty is not

If the original script were gone, to whom would I give my heart?
I was playing the flute over the rice wine and several dishes
The sun’s setting rays were like your blushes as if drunk
A copy is easy to make, and the fragrance of the ink did not fade away, like the remnants of your scent
A stripe of cinnabar, whose name after all did it circle?
CHORUS:
No matter when, I write the preface while awaiting your return
Holding the brush with my arm in mid-air, I completed the character, the waves piled up against the shore
But how could I understand the character “love”？ Whatever stroke I started with always seemed wrong

because the one thing I lack, is the understanding of your life
CHORUS
Years passed in a snap of fingers, beauty vanished in an instant
On the bluestone alley, you glanced back and smiled with grace and restraint
Have you regretted or not? You shook your head and sighed. Who put a frown on your face?
And deep in the lady’s chamber, the smell of the rouge lingered in vain

As geese flew south in a v-pattern, I turned around and caught a glimpse of your tears
Holding a handful of moonlight in my hands, how could I sleep with those memories?

And how could the matters of your heart be so tightly sewn into the embroidered shoes, with every pair of stitches so filled with resentment?

If the flower resented the butterfly, whom would you resent?
CHORUS
No matter when, I write the preface while awaiting your return
These handwritten words have no qualms, not afraid of the rights and wrongs of the human world
The rain has been striking the banana leaves, the whistling and pattering having lasted for several nights
I await the spring thunder to remind you who you really love

兰亭序

兰亭临帖 行书如行云流水。

月下门推 心细如你脚步碎。

忙不迭 千年碑易拓却难拓你的美。

真迹绝 真心能给谁。

牧笛横吹 黄酒小菜又几碟。

夕阳余晖 如你的羞怯似醉。

摹本易写 而墨香不退与你共留余味。

一行朱砂 到底圈了谁。

无关风月 我题序等你回。

悬笔一绝 那岸边浪千叠。

情字何解 怎落笔都不对。

而我独缺 你一生的了解。

RAP

无关风月 我题序等你回。

悬笔一绝 那岸边浪千叠。

情字何解 怎落笔都不对。

而我独缺 你一生的了解。

无关风月 我题序等你回。

悬笔一绝 那岸边浪千叠。

情字何解 怎落笔都不对。

而我独缺 你一生的了解）

弹指岁月 倾城顷刻间烟灭。

青石板街 回眸一笑你婉约。

恨了没 你摇头轻叹谁让你蹙秀眉。

而深闺 徒留胭脂味。

人雁南飞 转身一瞥你噙泪。

掬一把月 手揽回忆怎么睡。

又怎么会 心事密缝绣花鞋针针怨怼。

若花怨蝶 你会怨着谁。

无关风月 我题序等你回。

悬笔一绝 那岸边浪千叠。

情字何解 怎落笔都不对。

而我独缺 你一生的了解。

无关风月 我题序等你回。

手书无愧 无惧人间是非。

雨打蕉叶 又潇潇了几夜。

我等春雷 来提醒你爱谁。

—The Orchid Pavilion

Wang Xizhi, traditionally referred to as the "Sage of Calligraphy," was both one of the participants as well as the author and calligrapher of the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion. It is said that none of his original works remain today. Some of his best writings were preserved on carved stone tablets, stone rubbings taken from them have been reproduced and reprinted widely; they have been studied by generations of students and used as examples to learn and practice the art of calligraphy. In terms of the origin of “the Orchid Pavilion,” an interesting and exquisite activity should be mentioned. This activity was known as "floating goblets". The gentlemen had engaged in a drinking contest: wine cups were floated down a small winding creek as the men sat along its banks; whenever a cup stopped, the man closest to the cup was required to empty it and write a poem, which was very romantic and poetic scenery. Now appreciate the graceful preface.

Chinese Calligraphy Painting

The Orchid Pavilion

Translated by Lin Yutang

　　In the ninth year of the reign Yungho[A.D. 353] in the beginning of late spring we met at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin of Kweich'i for the Water Festival, to wash away the evil spirits.

Here are gathered all the illustrious persons and assembled both the old and the young. Here are tall mountains and majestic peaks, trees with thick foliage and tall bamboos. Here are also clear streams and gurgling rapids, catching one's eye from the right and left. We group ourselves in order, sitting by the waterside, and drinking in succession from a cup floating down the curving stream; and although there is no music from string and wood-wind instruments, yet with alternate singing and drinking, we are well disposed to thoroughly enjoy a quiet intimate conversation.

Today the sky is clear, the air is fresh and the kind breeze is mild. Truly enjoyable it is sit to watch the immense universe above and the myriad things below, traveling over the entire landscape with our eyes and allowing our sentiments to roam about at will, thus exhausting the pleasures of the eye and the ear.

Now when people gather together to surmise life itself, some sit and talk and unburden their thoughts in the intimacy of a room, and some, overcome by a sentiment, soar forth into a world beyond bodily realities. Although we select our pleasures according to our inclinations—some noisy and rowdy, and others quiet and sedate—yet when we have found that which pleases us, we are all happy and contented, to the extent of forgetting that we are growing old. And then, when satiety follows satisfaction, and with the change of circumstances, changes also our whims and desires, there then arises a feeling of poignant regret. In the twinkling of an eye, the objects of our former pleasures have become things of the past, still compelling in us moods of regretful memory. Furthermore, although our lives may be long or short, eventually we all end in nothingness. "Great indeed are life and death", said the ancients. Ah! What sadness!

I often study the joys and regrets of the ancient people, and as I lean over their writings and see that they were moved exactly as ourselves; I am often overcome by a feeling of sadness and compassion, and would like to make those things clear to me. Well I know it is a lie to say that life and death are the same thing, and that longevity and early death make no difference! Alas! As we of the present look upon those of the past, so will posterity look upon our present selves. Therefore, have I put down a sketch of these contemporaries and their sayings at this feast, and although time and circumstances may change, the way they will evoke our moods of happiness and regret will remain the same. What will future readers feel when they cast their eyes upon this writing.