Wang Zhiwang

Life

He was the son of Wang Gang and initially entered government through hereditary protection. In the eighth year of Emperor Gaozong's Shaoxing era (1138), he passed the presented-scholar examination, was appointed Professor of Chuzhou, and then served as Registrar and Doctor at the Imperial Academy.

In the eighteenth year of Shaoxing (1152), he became military prefect of Jingmen, then served as Commissioner for the Regularization of Tea and Salt in the Jinghu South Circuit, Transfer Judge of Tongchuan Circuit, and Deputy Transport Commissioner of Chengdu Circuit. In the thirtieth year (1160), he became General Controller of Sichuan's fiscal, military, and provisioning affairs; in the thirty-second year (1162), he served as an envoy proclaiming the court's policy in Sichuan and Shaanxi. During the military mobilization in Sichuan, he was appointed Junior Superintendent of the Court of the Grand Treasury and later became its Superintendent.

After Xiaozong's accession, Wang was made Vice Minister of Revenue and commissioned as the Sichuan-Shaanxi proclamation envoy. On returning to court, he served on the staff of the Jiang-Huai Military Command, acted as Director of the Academy of Academicians, and was appointed Vice Minister of Personnel. In the second year of Longxing (1164), he was promoted from Right Admonisher to Vice Councillor of State and soon concurrently became Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs.

While the court was undecided between war and peace, Wang strongly advocated peace with Jin and aligned himself with Tang Situi, treating territorial cession as the means of securing it; during Qin Hui's ascendancy, he was at odds with Qin. After being impeached and dismissed, he became Controller of Jiangzhou's Taiping Xingguo Palace and lived at Tiantai. In the first year of Qiandao (1165), he was recalled as prefect of Fuzhou, concurrently appointed Pacification Commissioner of Fujian Circuit, and given the grand academician title of the Zizheng Palace; he was transferred to Wenzhou and soon dismissed again. His other recorded titles included Academician of the Duanming Palace, Academician and Grand Academician of the Zizheng Palace, a post in the Secret Library, Supervisor of Military Horses, and the rank titles Right Chengyilang and Left Zhongdafu.

Accounts differ on his death: one places it in the winter of the sixth year of Qiandao (1170), while another places it in the seventh year (1171) and gives his age as sixty-eight. He was posthumously named Minsu.

Family and associations

His father was Wang Gang (王綱, 1073–1127), and his wife was Zhang (張氏). His sons were Wang Duo (王鐸), Wang Yong (王鏞), Wang Ming (王銘), and Wang Xueke (王學可); another son is listed only as Wang (王). His son-in-law was Qian Qingzu (錢慶祖), and his grandsons included Wang Cen (王涔) and Wang Quan (王洤).

Wang Shipeng (王十朋) was his teacher, and Zhiwang asked Wang Shipeng to compose an epitaph for his father, Wang Gang. A related preface was written by Zhou Bida (周必大), while postscripts were written by Wang Yingchen (汪應辰) and Lou Yue (樓鑰); Zhiwang also composed epitaphs for Guo Cheng (郭成), Feng Zi (馮耔), and Shi Yanqing (石延慶).

He wrote sacrificial texts for Tang Pengju (湯鵬舉), Fan Zongyin (范宗尹), and Qi Chongli (綦崇禮), prepared a biography of Guo Cheng, and composed a portrait eulogy for Huang Baoguang (黃葆光). He also wrote letters to Ye Yiwen (葉義問) and Shi Yanqing, and received letters from Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fu (朱紱).

Works

He wrote Hanbin ji (《漢濱集》). The collection originally comprised sixty juan but was lost; Qing editors reconstructed sixteen juan from the Yongle dadian. Editions of his poetry used the facsimile Wen yuan ge Siku quanshu Hanbin ji as their base text, collated it against the Wen jin ge edition, and appended newly collected poems outside the original collection.