Compared with the cultures before the Qin Dynasty (221 B. C. 每 206 B. C.), the culture of Western Han Dynasty (206 B. C. 每 A. D. 25) had highly developed and entered a glittering new era.
   
From the founding of Western Han Dynasty to the end of Northern & Southern Dynasties (Northern Dynasties: 386每581, Southern Dynasties: 420每589), the culture of Zhejiang had experienced a colorful period of 800 years. 
   
Wang Chong, a Shangyu philosopher of Eastern Han Dynasty deeply influenced generations of ancient Chinese ideologists with his native materialistic explanations of the relationship of spirit and matter in his book The Discourses Weighted in the Balance. In the Wei (220-265), Jin (265-420), and Northern & Southern dynasties, there were lots of famous Zhejiang scholars who made their efforts to put forth the observations of mathematics, historiography and philosophy. The most outstanding achievement of this period was the observation fruits of historiography: historians like Yu Yu, Shen Yue, Xie Shen, Xie Linyun, and the noted monk Hui Jiao produced historical works like History of Jin, Late History of Han, Liang Wu Epoch, History of Song and annals in different forms such as records, chronicles, biographies, eulogies, and prose-poetry.. As for philosophy, Ji Kang of Shangyu, Zhejiang was the most famous metaphysical ideologist of the time.   
  Wang Xizhi

There were also a lot of scholars on literature and arts like Xie Lingyun, Xie Huilian, Shen Yue and Wu Jun whose poems and prose contributed a lot to the development of Zhejiang culture. Xie Lingyun was considered the founder of landscape poems which mainly delineated the natural sceneries. A poet from Wukang, Shen Yue is the creator of the four-rhythms and the representative of Yongming Style poems. Together with Xie Tiao, he made the first try of the new type poems, which were the origin of classical poems with settled rules and forms. The famous calligrapher of Eastern Jin Dynasty (317每420), Wang Xizhi was famous for his vigorous strokes and various styles. The calligraphers of all generations consider him Calligrapher-sage and liken his works to the floating clouds and flying dragons.
   
After the Six Dynasties (a collective name for the six dynasties all taking Nanjing as their capital, 220每589), the economy and technology of Zhejiang benefited from the comparatively stable social conditions and grew quickly. The increasing demands of artworks accelerated the porcelain processing industry after the Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu Han and Wu, which divided China from 220 to 280) Period. The appearance of celadon is the evidence of the prosperous economy and culture then.
   
During this period, the Zhejiang celadon could be divided into four systems according to the location, namely, Yue kiln, Wu Kiln, Wuzhou Kiln and Deqing Kiln among which the Yue Kiln located in Shangyu County was the most famous for its large quantity and high quality and ranked among the world-famous kilns. The appearance of Zhejiang celadon and the development of the so-called ※celadon culture§, become the landmark of Zhejiang economic and cultural history of the period.   
  Preface To The Orchid Pavilion