According to legend, Wang Xizhi began to practice calligraphy at the age of seven and has been obsessed with it ever since. In order to practice Chinese characters well, he often forgets to eat and sleep. Of course, he used a lot of pens and inkstones, especially he often went to the pond behind his house to clean it, which often caused dissatisfaction among his neighbors. The water in the clear and transparent pond turns black day by day, and neighbors are gradually afraid to go to the pond to wash vegetables and clothes. The fish and shrimp in the pond also died one after another, and the water gave off an unpleasant smell. Over time, the pond was called to wash pens and inkstones, making it full of sewage and becoming a useless stagnant water. At the cost of this pollution, Wang Xizhi has made great progress in calligraphy, and this young man has won people's respect and sit up and take notice. It is also recorded in the history books.
If Wang Xizhi only pollutes this pool of water, then his calligraphy can only stay at the level of ordinary calligraphy lovers. At the age of twenty-three, Wang served as the prefect of Linchuan, Jiangxi. He came here less than half a year ago and dyed the pond in front of his house black. Ceng Gong, one of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, wrote in his famous literary work "Washing Mo Chi": "To the east of Linchuan, there is a hidden place, but it is high, so it is close to the stream and is called a new city. Above the new city, there are pools and depressions, but the sides are long, such as Mo Chi by Wang Xizhi and Linchuan Ji by Xun Bozi. The taste of Xihe River longed for Cecilia Cheung, learning books in Linchi, and the water in the pool was dark, which was an old thing ... "
"Linchi Snow Tree, the pool is black." It can be seen that Wang Xizhi never put his pen and inkstone anywhere, so wherever he went, he brought different degrees of environmental pollution to the local area. Of course, his calligraphy level has also jumped to a new level. It is not difficult to see that his calligraphy achievements are at the expense of pond water, and there will be pollution wherever he goes; For thousands of years, people only remember his well-known Preface to Lanting, but rarely mention his pollution to the environment at that time. If we judge him with modern thinking, he will be considered as the earliest historical figure who polluted the environment.
The reason why I think so is that many places, especially ponds, were still in a relatively primitive state more than 1000 years ago, when there was no industry. At that time, people and animals could drink together, and washing clothes and vegetables brought a lot of convenience to people. Because of Wang Xizhi's hobby, he turned a clear pond into dirty black water, which caused everyone to suffer environmental pollution with him. Of course, Wang Xizhi's persistent pursuit of calligraphy and the spirit of never giving up eventually made him reach the peak and become an outstanding calligrapher, and also left a rare spiritual food and precious calligraphy legacy for future generations, which is worthy of our pride.
However, if we analyze today with modern environmental protection concept and ideology and look back at the pond that Wang Xizhi once polluted, does it mean that he has not polluted the local environment? It is no exaggeration to say that he sacrificed Mo Chi or other ponds and achieved the reputation of a generation of calligraphy masters.