魏晋南北朝时期，以竹林七贤为代表的文人便常聚于绍兴兰亭，曲水流觞，行酒赋诗。永和九年，王羲之乘着酒兴写就《兰亭集序》成为中国书法史上的绝响之作。明清时期，绍兴更是文脉昌盛，前后百十年间，先后出现了以王阳明、王畿、季本、徐渭等为代表的大儒巨哲。
Wèijìn nánběicháo shíqī ，yǐ zhúlínqīxián wèi dàibiǎo de wénrén biàn cháng jù yú Shàoxīng Lántíng ，qǔsuǐliúshāng ，xíngjiǔ fùshī 。Yǒnghé jiǔ nián ，Wáng Xīzhī chéng zhe jiǔxìng xiě jiù 《Lántíngjí xù 》chéngwéi Zhōngguó shūfǎ shǐ shàng de juéxiǎng zhī zuò 。míng qīng shíqī ，Shàoxīng gèng shì wénmài chāngchéng ，qiánhòu bǎi shí nián jiān ，xiānhòu chūxiàn le yǐ Wáng Yángmíng 、Wáng Jī 、Jì Běn 、Xú Wèi děng wèi dàibiǎo de dàrú jùzhé 。
During the Wei, Jin and North-South dynasties era, the seven sages of the bamboo grove, who were representative literary figures of that time, often congregated at Lanting, or Orchid Pavilion, in Shaoxing. They would set their cups of wine in the upper reaches of a channel of water as a game, and whoever it floated down beside would have to drink the wine or compose a poem. In the year 353, the ninth year of Emperor Mu of Jin's Yonghe era, Wang Xizhi wrote the 'Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion' while in the throes of drunkenness, creating an unparalleled piece of Chinese calligraphy. During the Ming and Qing dynasties Shaoxing became even richer in culture. In around one hundred years, renowned scholars and philosophers such as Wang Yangming, Wang Ji, Ji Ben, and Xu Wei came on to the scene one after another.