During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Yu Yi's sister was Empress to Emperor Ming. After Emperor Ming's death, Yu Yi's brother Yu Liang served as regent for the young Emperor Cheng, controlling the court. When Su Jun and Huan Yue rebelled, Yu Liang joined forces with Tao Kan, the governor of Jingzhou, to crush the uprising. After Tao Kan's death, Yu Liang took sole command of the military and governed from Wuchang.
After Yu Liang's death, his younger brother Yu Yi took command in Wuchang, and Emperor Cheng appointed him as military governor of six provinces and governor of Jingzhou.
Yu Yi was not only handsome and imposing but also excelled in both civil and military affairs, with a particular mastery of calligraphy. In his youth, his calligraphy was on par with Wang Xizhi's, and Wang could not surpass him. However, as Yu Yi soon turned to politics and military campaigns, he had little time to refine his art, and his calligraphy stagnated.
After losing favor in officialdom, Wang Xizhi retreated to the mountains, dedicating himself to calligraphy. His art advanced by leaps and bounds, earning widespread acclaim. From noble sons to commoners' children, all who studied calligraphy emulated Wang Xizhi's style.
Yu Yi's sons and nephews had originally studied his calligraphy, but when they saw everyone else flocking to learn Wang Xizhi's style, they abandoned their family tradition and switched to Wang's.
By then, Yu Yi had risen to a high official rank. While stationed in Jingzhou, he wrote a letter to a friend in the capital, expressing his discontent with Wang Xizhi: "Now even my own sons and nephews have grown tired of the domestic chicken and taken a liking to the wild pheasant. They no longer study calligraphy with me but instead learn from Wang Xizhi. If I ever return to the capital, I will challenge him to a contest to see whose calligraphy is truly superior."
Soon after, Yu Yi saw a piece of cursive calligraphy by Wang Xizhi—its ink tones perfectly balanced, the strokes soaring like dragons and dancing phoenixes—and realized it was truly superior to his own. Deeply impressed, he no longer fretted over his son and nephew studying Wang's style; instead, he urged them, "Learn from his work diligently and copy it well."
Later, the idiom "Home Chicken, Wild Pheasant" came to refer to different artistic styles in calligraphy.
Source: *Jin Zhongxing Shu*, "Yingchuan Yu Lu"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "家鸡野雉" came to describe different artistic styles in calligraphy.