Wang Qi

Life

His father was Wang Shu, and his elder brother was Wang Bo. His sons were Wang Gui, Wang Liao, Wang Shi, and Wang Zhu; Wang Gui died in 874, Wang Shi in 865, and Wang Zhu in 856.

Official career

In the fourteenth year of the Zhenyuan era (798), under Emperor Dezong, he passed the jinshi examination; in the nineteenth year he passed the Boxue Hongci examination and was appointed a proofreader at the Jixian Palace. In the third year of Yuanhe (808), under Emperor Xianzong, he passed the examination for worthy and upright men able to speak frankly and remonstrate to the utmost. He was appointed a county magistrate; the place is variously given as Weinan and Lantian.

In the fourteenth year of Yuanhe (819), he served as Bibu langzhong and zhizhigao, and in the following year became a Zhongshu sheren; his other posts included Dianzhong shiyushi, Jiancha yushi, secretary to the military governor of Huainan, supplementary academician at the Jixian Palace, Qiju lang, and Sixun yuanwailang. In the first year of Changqing (821), he was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites and presided over the examination system for two consecutive years; he later served as Vice Minister of Personnel and Academician of Jixian. In 824 he was Prefect of Henan and was also listed as governor of Henan, while in 826 he served as Academician of Jixian and director of the court academy.

From 828 to 835, he successively served as governor of Shanzhou, Hedong, and Xiangyang, and as observation commissioner over the Shan-Guo military command. Under Wenzong he successively served as Vice Minister of War, Minister of Revenue, and director of fiscal administration; he was sent out as military governor of Hezhong. During a famine there, he prohibited grain hoarding; recalled as Minister of War, he was later sent out as military governor of Shannan East and paid close attention to waterworks.

In 838, as Minister of War, he served as attendant lecturer in the Hanlin Academy. Emperor Wenzong wrote a poem on the heir apparent's tablet and presented it to him, ordered his portrait painted in a palace hall, and styled him “the Confucius of his age”; he was transferred to Junior Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. In 840 he became custodian of the Eastern Capital; during the Huichang era he served as Minister of Personnel, director of court ritual, Grand Court Chamberlain, and governor of Luoyang, becoming Left Vice Director in 844.

In 843 and 844 he again presided over the metropolitan examinations, and the candidates he selected were all men of established reputation. He was made Duke of Wei Commandery and appointed concurrently as Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi and military governor of Shannan West; he also served as governor of Liangzhou from 844 to 847. In the first year of the Dazhong era (847), he received the honorary title of Sikong; he died at the age of eighty-eight, was posthumously granted Grand Commandant, and given the posthumous name Wanyi.

Literary activity and works

Qi was a voracious and retentive student who read every kind of book, and he was skilled in literary composition. Twenty-two of his disciples jointly responded to his poem “Replying to Vice Minister Zhou's Poem,” an event celebrated at the time; he also composed linked verse with Liu Yuxi and Bai Juyi extending to dozens of couplets, and was called their “formidable equal.” Six of his poems survive. An otherwise lost poem, “Answer to Guangxuan,” was once given the title “Guangxuan the Eminent Monk Congratulates the Release of the Examination Results and a Reply,” and was mistakenly attributed to Wang Ya.

He had a collected work; titles associated with him include *Diagram of the Five Luminaries*, *Newly Circulated Poetic Rules of the Dazhong Era*, *Writing a Proclamation*, *Fine Sentences from the Literary Arena*, *Collected Works of Wang Qi*, *Biography of Duke Li Zhao*, *Diagram of the Five Wang Positions*, and *Wang Qi's Collection*. The role of each title in relation to his authorship is unspecified.

His literary correspondence included a poem and prose piece presented by Mao Yu, and poems or prose received from Zhang Ji, Li Deyu, Du Mu, Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, and Liu Yuxi. He also received poems or prose from the monk Guangxuan, Lu Zhao, Zhou Chi, and Zhao Gu.