Present occasion and history
In the manner of
Events that took cultural history as their model were also a literati pastime. Aside from its status as a calligraphic icon, WANG Xizhi's 王羲之 (303–361) Orchid Pavilion Preface (蘭亭集序) (353) provided a description of a kind of outing much imitated in later times. This was the archetypical elite drinking game, where wine cups were floated on a stream with participants challenged to compose poetry or drink.
In re-enacting this in more domestic settings, literati had both the pleasure of the game itself and the resonance that came with recalling Wang's achievement and his cultured context.
The left image is taken from the Huan Cui Tang garden scroll (see the feature on this from the home page), the right from the Forbidden City in Beijing, showing a portion constructed under the Qing emperor, Qianlong. Both show artificial creations of Wang's historic stream, the water flow controlled by concealed systems. The palace version is shaped in the form of a lingzi mushroom, associated with longevity.
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