Wang Zudi

Life

Wang Zudi came from a military-service household. His father, Wang Zhao, was wrongfully stripped of his title and died; Wang Zudi sought redress for him.

His great-grandfather was Wang Duan (王端), his grandfather Wang Yu (王瑀), his father Wang Zhao (王詔), and his mother was a daughter of Yuan Yu (袁瑀). His grandmother was Geng (耿氏), the wife of Wang Yu, and his younger brother was Wang Zuyi (王祖裔).

His wife was Meng (孟氏), his second wife Gao (高氏); his son was Wang Yanshi (王延世), his grandsons were Wang Xingkui (王星奎) and Wang Xingbi (王星璧), and his younger clan relatives included Wang Buzhi (王補之) and Wang Lin (王臨).

He placed eleventh in the Henan provincial examination and became a juren. In 1571, the fifth year of the Longqing reign, he ranked 87th in the Xinwei metropolitan examination and was placed 210th in the third class of the jinshi; he was selected as a Hanlin shujishi.

In the first year of the Wanli reign (1573), he was appointed a Hanlin Academy jiantao; in the fourth year, sixth month, he became a compiler of the Da Ming Huidian, and in the ninth year, fifth month, he was ordered to administer imperial edicts and patents. In winter of the eleventh year he entered mourning for his mother, completing the mourning in the fourteenth year.

In the fifteenth year, tenth month, he was promoted to Guozijian siye. He petitioned for restoration of the Jianwen reign title and correction of the Veritable Records of the Jing Emperor; in the sixteenth year, fourth month, he became xima of the Directorate of the Classics, concurrently serving as a Hanlin Academy xiuzhuan and as a compiler of the imperial genealogy.

In the seventeenth year, ninth month, he served as a military-examination examiner with Lu Kejiao, a Hanlin Academy lecturer. In the eleventh month he was promoted to Right Vice Director of the Right Spring Office, concurrently Reader, and placed in charge of the office; in the twelfth month he requested leave to return home. His date of death is disputed: one account gives 1590, while another gives 21 October 1592, at the age of 62.

Writings and associations

His works include 《家庭庸言》 in two juan, 《書疏叢鈔》 in one juan, and 《師竹堂集》 in thirty-seven juan.

The correspondence associated with 《師竹堂集》 includes letters sent by Wang Zudi to Qi Jiguang, Feng Mengzhen, Feng Shike, Xu Zhenming, Huangfu Fang, Tang Hezheng, Wang Shizhen, Wang Shimao, Shen Li, Tian Yiheng, Wang Zhideng, Zhang Yuanbian, Wang Xijue, Bi Qiang, Wang Chonggu, Li Hualong, Kang Siqian, Shi Guifang, and Zhou Yong.

He also sent letters to Zhong Zhenji, Zhang Jiuyi, Zhang Mi, Zhang Fengyi, Zhao Nanxing, Zhao Yao, Deng Yizan, and Jian Da. Wang Shizhen composed a farewell inscription for him, including a farewell poem and preface; Lu Kejiao wrote his elegy and biography, while Wang Zudi wrote a biography of Liu Rong.

Wang Zudi wrote replies to Wang Shixing, Wang Xijue, Zhang Jiayin, Li Weizhen, and Zhao Yongxian, and received replies from Tu Long and Zhao Yongxian; in 1582 he wrote a ji, or record, for Zhao Zhigao.