Wang Jian (his birth is variously placed around 766 or 767, and his death around 830–832, with one account extending it beyond about 831) was a Tang poet and writer.
His courtesy name was Zhongchu; he was sixth in birth order and was known as Wang Sima. His native place is usually given as Yingchuan (present-day Xuchang, Henan); Yingshang is also given as his ancestral home, and Guanfu as his native place.
Life
Born into a poor family from a declining lineage, Wang Jian lived in Wei commandery in his early years. In the early Zhenyuan era, he went to Shandong to study and spent several years as a fellow student of Zhang Ji.
During the latter part of Zhenyuan, he served as a congshi in Youzhou and Lingnan and is also listed as a panguan under the military governors of Ziqing, Youzhou, Lingnan, and Jingnan. Early in Yuanhe, he resided in Jingzhou and later served on the staff of Tian Hongzheng, military governor of Weibo.
His Yuanhe appointments included assistant magistrate of Zhaoying, county lieutenant of Weinan, Taifu assistant, Secretary Lang, Secretary Cheng, and Taichang assistant; he is also described as transferring from Taichang Cheng to Secretary Cheng at the beginning of Changqing.
In the second year of Taihe (828), he left the post of Taichang Cheng to become Sima of Shanzhou, hence the name Wang Sima. He later retired to Xianyang Plain in poverty and is also said to have served as governor of Guang Prefecture. Whether the Wang Jian named in Jia Dao’s poem “Written at the Water Pavilion of the Governor Wang Jian of Guang Prefecture” was this same person remains disputed.
Jian was close to Zhang Ji and exchanged many poems with him; he was also a friend of Jia Dao.
Poetry and achievement
Wang Jian excelled in yuefu song-poetry. He was ranked with Zhang Ji and the two were known as the Zhang-Wang Yuefu.
His poems frequently drew on rural households, silkwomen, weaving women, and boatmen to criticize contemporary abuses and expose social reality. Their language is terse, their feeling lucid, their descriptions detailed yet restrained, and their poetic line is said to continue Du Fu while opening toward Yuan and Bai.
Bai Juyi praised Wang Jian’s writing as both beautiful and principled and said that its lines were often on people’s lips. Later critics praised the ingenuity and wit of the Zhang-Wang Yuefu, while others criticized the Palace Lyrics as diffuse and his regulated verse as shallow and colloquial.
His one hundred Palace Lyrics form a large-scale cycle about the imperial palace and court, and circulated widely with lasting influence. Later imitators included the Lady Huarui of Shu and Wang Gui of Song, as well as a Song palace official who presented one hundred poems modeled on Wang Jian’s.
Works
The collection Wang Jian ji circulated in versions of eight or ten juan, with a substantial admixture of works by other authors. The Complete Tang Poems preserves six juan of his poetry, while the Supplement to the Complete Tang Poems adds two poems; Wang Jian shi is among the editions in circulation.
The Wang Sima ji contains ten ci lyrics, of which “Tiaoxiao ling” became the most widely circulated. Cui Shaoxuan zhuan is also listed among his authored works.
References
- 搜韵 王建 (18501)
- CBDB Wang Jian (92047)
- Wikidata Wang Jian (Q4133151)