晉紙帖 About the paper made in Chiangnan in Jing Dynasty

【About the author】

米芾（1051年－1107年），北宋書畫家。初名黻，字元章，時人號襄陽漫士、海岳外史，自號鹿門居士。米芾原籍襄陽（今屬湖北），後定居潤州（今江蘇鎮江）。因其衣著行為以及迷戀書畫珍石的態度皆被當世視為癲狂，故又有「米顛」之稱。米芾於硯，素有研究，是北宋著名書法家、鑒定家、畫家、收藏家。米芾為著名書畫家和文物鑒賞家，與蘇軾、黃庭堅、蔡襄並稱宋代四大家，他擅長楷、行、草、篆、隸等多種字體，尤以行草最為著名。

Inside Story

The Jing paper Mi Fu mentioned here was the paper made in Chiangnan in Jing Dynasty. During that period bamboos from Kuaichi were used for making paper and the quality of paper was excellent. The techniques of making paper in Sung Dynasty was very advanced, They constantly beat the bamboo paper to make it smooth thus the quality was almost as good as the ancient Jing paper. On the second part of the letter, Mi Fu talked about his family. He encountered huge change in life after he was over 50 years old. First his youngest daughter passed away, next his young son passed away which was unbearable tor him.