New Chapters from the New Accounts of the World

Chapter One: Summary

In the spring of the second year of Jianyuan, Lin Song, a renowned scholar from Langya, travels south to Jiankang carrying his qin. Guided by Wang Meng, he meets and befriends Wang Dao, Yin Hao, Wang Xizhi, Huan Wen, and other eminent members of the great clans. He demonstrates his musical skill with a fragmentary score of Guangling Melody, articulates his view that “the Way makes no distinctions” in a discussion of metaphysics, and resists Huan Wen’s attempts to recruit him, remaining true to the refined way. He also discusses the qin with Xie Daoyun and receives a Buddhist statue from Dai Kui. Given a copy of Wang Xizhi’s Lantingji Xu to practice copying and invited by Xie Daoyun to her estate at Dongshan, he establishes himself in Jiankang and reveals the bearing of a scion of an eminent family.