Wang Zao

Life and career

In 1103, the second year of Chongning, he passed the jinshi examination. He was first appointed guancha tuiguan in Wuzhou and then professor at the Xuanzhou prefectural school; he later served in the Jiangxi educational administration, joined the editorial office for the *Jiuyu tuzhi*, and was promoted to zhuzuo zuolang. At the Imperial University he shared quarters with Wang Fu, with whom he was on poor terms. Once Wang Fu entered the central government, Wang Zao was sent out as assistant prefect of Xuanzhou, dismissed, and transferred to the supervisory post at Jiangzhou Taiping Abbey; he did not advance for the rest of Wang Fu’s tenure.

On Qinzong’s accession, he was recalled as tuntian yuanwailang and promoted to Taichang shaoqing and qiju sheren. After Gaozong came to the throne, he was appointed zhongshu sheren, then promoted to jishizhong and vice minister of war; he concurrently served as lecturer and zhixue shiyuan, became a Hanlin Academician, and rose to chaoyi dafu. In 1131 he concurrently served as lecturer and became a Hanlin Academician. He then governed Huzhou, was suspended over an incident, was recalled to govern Fuzhou, dismissed after little more than a year, and allowed to join the work of revising the daily calendar.

In the eighth year of Shaoxing, he submitted the 665-volume calendar he had compiled and was appointed Xianmo ge xueshi while governing Huizhou; in the twelfth year he governed Quanzhou and was transferred to Xuanzhou. His prefectural appointments also included Huzhou, Fuzhou, Huizhou, Xuanzhou, Shezhou, and Zhenjiang Prefecture; dated terms place him in Huizhou (1131–34), Fuzhou (1134–35), Shezhou (1139–41), Quanzhou (1141–43), and Zhenjiang (1143).

An accusation that he had been a client of Cai Jing and Wang Fu led to his dismissal and residence in Yongzhou. He died in 1154, the twenty-fourth year of Shaoxing, at age 76; his accumulated rank was zuo dazhong dafu, and he held the title of Xin’an Commandery Kaiguo Hou.

His father was Wang Gu (1026–1105); his father-in-law was Zhao Lin, and Xu Ji (1054–1115) was an affinal relation. Two wives are named, Zhao and Lady Zhuang; his three sons—汪恬, 汪恪, and 汪憺—were listed as the eldest, second, and third.

Scholarship and literary work

He was learned in a wide range of books, skilled in poetry and prose, and especially accomplished in parallel prose (四六). His drafted edicts were widely recited, and four ci lyrics survive. He also discussed how generals holding large armies might create an “external-weight” power structure.

Jiang Wei, a specialist in the Classics, was his teacher; with Cheng Ju, Li Chuquan, and Zhao Shaozhou, Wang Zao was included among the “Seven Tigers of Wenzhong.” His disciple included Chen Mao. He wrote a preface for a work by Sun Di and composed Sun Di’s epitaph.

Works and transmission

His writings include 《靖康要錄》 (16 juan), 《裔夷謀夏錄》 (listed as either 2 or 3 juan), 《青唐錄》 (3 juan), 《古今雅俗字》 (44 sections), and 《哲宗玉牒》.

His literary collections included 《浮溪集》 (60 juan), 《龍溪集》—also written 《龍溪文集》—and 《猥稿外集》; the corpus is listed as totaling 121 juan. 《龍溪集》 was also said possibly to be the same work as 《浮溪集》, and much of the corpus was lost.

During Hongwu, Zhao Zichang compiled 《浮溪文粹》 in 15 juan; the Siku editors of the Qing, using the 《永樂大典》, reconstructed a 32-juan 《浮溪集》. The collected poems use the facsimile Wenyuange 《四庫全書·浮溪集》 as their base text and were collated against the Wuying dian Juzhen edition and 《浮溪遺集》.