Lan Ting - Revised

'Wetter' but is it better?

I visited Orchid Hill Park on a November morning on my last day in Shaoxing. I entered the park following a winding path that cuts through a bamboo grove, the sound of raindrops lightly tapping my umbrella. The path was paved with stone slats and the slick surface was a wet wash of branches and shadows. The path led me to a small pavilion perched before a lily pond raised on a platform three steps high, the sweeping gable roof raised by four stone columns. At the center was a stone tablet inscribed with the words “Lan Ting.” During the Spring Autumn Period, a pavilion was built at the foot of a hill where once there were orchids planted. It was named Lan Ting, the Orchid Pavilion. In the spring of 353 Wang Xizhi and forty-one of his friends and family gathered here. For the literati, spring was a time of renewal when one returns to nature and washes away the grime of winter. Wang and company played a game floating cups of wine down a stream, drinking and writing poetry. Wang wrote a preface introducing these poems titled “Lan Ting Xu,” considered the masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy. Looking at the fabled pavilion I thought: this is it? Where was the trickling stream? The lofty hills behind? Had it not been for the inscription, the building was simply ordinary, the place’s significance verified by two words. Was that enough? I came here chasing the beautiful place I sensed in Wang’s writing. I came searching for clues connecting the present to that spring day in 353. I wanted inspiration. No one noticed. I guess calligraphy gods don’t like rain either.