Wang Heng

Life

From youth, Wang Heng was talented and fond of learning; he was said to read five lines at a time and had an early literary reputation. He was the son of Wang Xijue and the father of the painter Wang Shimin; Wang Dingjue was his paternal uncle. He was also a student of Feng Yingqi.

In 1588, the sixteenth year of the Wanli reign, he placed first in the Shuntian provincial examination. He also held the designations xianggong juren and jiansheng. In 1601, the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign, he passed the metropolitan examination. He came second in the palace examination, taking second place in the first rank, the bangyan. He was appointed a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He later served as an envoy to Jiangnan and returned after requesting leave to support his parents; another account says that he resigned because he felt unqualified for frontier affairs and did not return to office.

He was a fellow student and fellow disciple of Chen Jiru. He wrote letters to Qu Ruzhi, Feng Shike, Gu Xiancheng, Tu Long, Li Tingji, and others. He wrote a biography of Wang Linheng, a funerary inscription for Geng Dingxiang, and sacrificial texts for Huang Hongxian, Wang Shizhen, and Pan Jixun.

Literary work

His poetry and prose were regarded as those of a leading writer. His works include 《緱山集》, also titled 《緱山先生集》, catalogued in twenty-seven juan. He also wrote 《春秋纂注》, 《秦漢人文選玉》, and 《歸田詞》. Four zaju plays are listed: 《鬱輪袍》, 《沒奈何》, 《真傀儡》, and 《再生緣》; 《鬱輪袍》 is also written 《郁輪袍》.

His poetry was praised as “fresh and vigorous, ultimately returning to elegance,” and as possessing “unmatched talent.” Near the end of his life, he wrote of his poetry: “I had glimpsed only its outer precincts and had not reached its domain; one knows one’s gains and losses in one’s own heart. Alas, I had not exhausted its substance.”