Visit the China Bridge Museum —— National Cultural Heritage, Shaoxing, the hometown of the Sage of Calligraphy, Ti Shan Bridge

Ti Shan Bridge is located on Cheng Jiashan Street in Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. It is named after Wang Xizhi wrote on a fan for an old lady selling fans. The current bridge was rebuilt on the original site in the eighth year of the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty (1828). Ti Shan Bridge already existed during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. According to the 'Kaiji Annals' from the Jiatai period, the bridge was originally built before the Jiatai era of the Song Dynasty. In May 2013, Ti Shan Bridge was listed as one of the seventh batch of key national cultural relics protection units. Ti Shan Bridge is said to be related to Wang Xizhi, the Right General and the Interior Minister of Kuaiji during the Jin Dynasty. One evening, Wang Xizhi was walking on a stone bridge in Shaoxing city. When he reached the end of the bridge, he saw an old lady with a worried expression carrying a basket of bamboo fans, leaning on a cane, standing at the end of the bridge selling them. Wang Xizhi, seeing that no one was buying the old lady's fans, felt sympathy and approached to ask what was wrong. The old lady said: 'It's getting cold, and the fans are not selling. I've spent all my capital on these banana-leaf fans, and now even eating is a problem.' Wang Xizhi thought for a moment and then said: 'Old lady, I will write a few words on your fans, and then you can try to sell them again, okay?' The old lady did not recognize Wang Xizhi, but felt that he was very kind-hearted, so she handed over the fans to him. Wang Xizhi asked his attendant to bring ink and brush and wrote a few bold characters on the old lady's fans. The old lady saw that her clean and beautiful banana-leaf fans were scribbled all over by Wang Xizhi and feared that they might not sell, so she started crying and asked Wang Xizhi to compensate her with new fans. Wang Xizhi comforted her, saying: 'Old lady, you need not worry or be angry. Let me ask you, how much do you sell these fans for?' The old lady replied: 'Three coins each.' Wang Xizhi laughed and said: 'That's good, you sell them for three hundred coins each. You hurry and take the fans to the city and tell people: 'These fans were written on by Wang Yishao,' and surely someone will be willing to pay for them.' The old lady was incredulous and kept pestering Wang Xizhi. There were many people coming and going on the road, and seeing the old lady pulling on Wang Xizhi and arguing, they all gathered around to watch the excitement. Some who recognized Wang Xizhi and saw that the fans were personally inscribed by him immediately took out three hundred coins to buy the fans from the old lady. Word spread quickly, and everyone rushed to buy fans from the old lady. In no time, the hundred or so fans were all sold out, and the old lady suddenly made more than forty strings of coins, so happy that she couldn't close her mouth. The old lady was very grateful to Wang Xizhi. After tasting this sweetness, she often waited by the roadside with a hundred or so fans, hoping for Wang Xizhi to inscribe them. Wang Xizhi realized this was not a solution, and every time he went out and saw the old lady, he would hide behind a rock. There is also a 'Hiding from the Old Lady Alley' in the hometown of the Sage of Calligraphy, which is said to be the place where Wang Xizhi hid from the old lady.