Orchid Pavilion (Lanting)

The Orchid Pavilion, or Lanting, lies in Lanting Town in Keqiao District, about 12.5 km southwest of central Shaoxing in Zhejiang, China. It is one of the most revered sites in Chinese calligraphy. In AD 353 the calligrapher Wang Xizhi gathered scholars here for a spring purification rite, during which cups of wine were floated down a curving stream and each guest had to compose a poem before the cup passed. Wang Xizhi wrote the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion, often called the greatest work of running script. The garden today is a landscaped complex of bamboo groves, ponds, a winding stream for the cup-floating game, pavilions, stone bridges and halls displaying calligraphy and steles. Highlights include the Goose Pond with its stele inscribed by father and son, the Liushang Pavilion beside the winding stream, the Right Army Temple dedicated to Wang Xizhi, and the Imperial Stele Pavilion. Visitors usually walk the loop in 1.5 to 2 hours, pausing to watch calligraphers practise and to read the steles. The park opens at about 7:30 AM and closes about 5:00 PM daily, and the admission fee is reported at 60 to 70 yuan, though sources disagree, so confirm at the gate. Weekday mornings are the quietest, and spring is the most attractive season, especially during the Calligraphy Festival when events and demonstrations take place. Weekends and holidays bring tour groups, which crowd the narrow stream area. The best photographs come from the winding stream with bamboo overhead and from the Goose Pond. Didi or taxi from the old town takes about 25 to 35 minutes, and weekend and holiday sightseeing buses link it with Lu Xun Native Place and the Yu Mausoleum.