Poem on the Shuzi Spring stone carving in running script

The original text "Poem on the Shuzi Spring Stone Carving", written by Ouyang Xiu (1007 - 1072), a celebrated Northern Song writer, describes the Shuzi Spring in Mount Langye in Xuzhou, Anhui province. Believed to be from Zhao's mature period, this piece of calligraphy shows borrowings from various masters including Zhao Jie (1082 - 1135), Huang Tingjian (1045 - 1105), Zhong You (151 - 230), the "Two Wangs" and Monk Zhiyong (act. early 6th century). At once rounded in strokes and swift in tempo, broad and slender, the merits of various schools and masters that had come under the influence of the "Two Wangs" have been perfectly blended into an organic whole through his unfettered and fluid execution. It therefore comes as no surprise that this piece had been praised by Wang Wenzhi (1730 - 1802), a preeminent calligrapher of the Qing, to be a masterpiece by Zhao, who had achieved robustness and elegance through familiarising himself with the tradition of "Two Wangs".