Anonymous
Wang Ji (585-644), styled Wugong, gave himself the nickname Donggaozi, and was from Longmen, Jiangzhou (today's Jizhou County, Shanxi Province). He was the younger brother of the Sui Dynasty scholar Wang Tong (also known as Wenzhongzi), and served in official capacities during both the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In his early years, he had some career ambitions, but after being disappointed in his official career, he became disheartened. During the tumultuous period between the Sui and Tang Dynasties, he did not have any significant accomplishments. After retiring to the countryside, he often compared himself to Ruan Ji and Tao Qian, and his poetry also imitated them in many ways. However, his works lacked the inner ideals and passion found in Tao's poetry. As a result, they only reflected the leisurely and lazy lifestyle of feudal scholars, as seen in lines such as "Ruan Ji's life was lazy, Ji Kang's pursuits were sparse" (from "Three Poems on Rural Life") and "Some guests talk about names and principles, no one asks for rent. My three sons married into good families, my five daughters married virtuous husbands" (from "Sitting Alone"). Besides, he also adopted a set of both critical and indifferent philosophy of life from Zhuangzi. For example, in "Passing by a Wine Shop":
"On this day I drink long and deep, not related to nurturing nature. Seeing everyone drunk, how could I alone remain sober?"
This, along with his "Etiquette and music imprisoned Ji Dan, poetry and books bound Confucius" (from "Presented to Cheng Chushi"), all express dissatisfaction with reality. However, this dissatisfaction does not carry much positive significance.
Nevertheless, compared to Yu Shining's court poems from the same era, Wang Ji's poems, which have certain content in their lives, with fresh and simple styles, are rare and precious. The following two poems can even more clearly show his achievements in poetic art:
"At dusk looking out over Donggao, leaning uncertainly on what to rely? Every tree is autumnal colors, every mountain only fading glow. Herdsmen drive calves back, hunters return with game. Looking at each other without recognition, singing long songs thinking of Cai Wei."
—"Wild Gaze"
"After hoeing beans in the northern field, returning home from cutting millet in Donggao. Meeting under a full autumn moon, also encountering fireflies flying at night."
—"Autumn Night Joyfully Meeting Mr. Wang"
These two poems not only vividly depict rural scenery and his leisurely life, but also in style are the earliest regulated poems in Tang poetry that completely rid themselves of the ornate atmosphere of Qi and Liang poetry. His poem "Thinking of My Hometown While in the Capital and Asking a Fellow Villager," through a series of questions, also brims with heartfelt concern for his homeland. Whether from thought or art, he was a pioneer figure in the Tang Dynasty's landscape and pastoral poetry school.
Wang Ji was an important writer in the early Tang Dynasty, and has been continuously studied by literary researchers since the Tang Dynasty. This century's research on Wang Ji, whether in terms of life and thought or in the collation of his collected works, dating of his poetic works, or artistic analysis, has achieved great success, especially after the re-emergence of the five-volume edition of "Collected Works of Wang Wugong" in the late 1970s, which brought people's research on Wang Ji to a new level, achieving greater breakthroughs.
One, Examination of Wang Ji's Life and Collation of His Collected Works
The Birth and Death Years of Wang Ji: The earliest examination of Wang Ji's birth and death years in this century was conducted by Zheng Zhen duo, who believed in his article "Examination of the Birth and Death of Chinese Writers" and later in "Illustrated History of Chinese Literature" that Wang Ji's birth and death years were 590?-644, approximately from the tenth year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty to the eighteenth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty. Hu Shi's "History of Vernacular Literature" believed Wang Ji was born in 584 and died in 644. Su Xuelin's "General Overview of Tang Poetry" believed Wang Ji was approximately born in 590 and died in 650.
Wen Yiduo's "Comprehensive Collection of Tang Poetry" believed Wang Ji was born in 585 AD and died in 644 AD. Lu Kanru and Feng Yuanjun's "History of Chinese Poetry" shared Wen Yiduo's views. Subsequently published numerous works such as Liu Dajie's "Development History of Chinese Literature", Wang Shijing's "Tang Dynasty Poetry", Zhou Zuocan's "Literature History of the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties", You Guoen et al.'s edited "History of Chinese Literature", the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Literature Institute's edited "History of Chinese Literature", and Wang Guo'an's annotated "Annotations on Wang Ji's Poetry" all believed Wang Ji was born in 585 AD and died in 644 AD. Fu Xuancong's "Sketches of Tang Dynasty Poets" believed Wang Ji's birth year, although not exactly examinable, could not be earlier than the fifth year of Kaihuang (585), should be within the next few years, and his death year was in the eighteenth year of Zhenguan (644), at the age of thirty-four.
However, Han Lizhou and Zhang Xithou, based on the newly discovered "Five-Volume Edition of Wang Wugong's Collected Works", both examined that Wang Ji should have been born in the tenth year of Kaihuang during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui (590); Zhang Xithou's "Analysis and New Evidence of Wang Ji's Life and Thoughts" was published in the "Academic Monthly", 1984, Issue 5. Luo Zongqiang and Hao Shifeng's edited "Literature History of the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties", Zhou Zuocan's edited "Great Dictionary of Chinese Writers" (Tang and Five Dynasties Volume) etc., all adopted Han Lizhou's view.
Xia Lianbao's "Chronology of Wang Ji" believed Wang Ji should have been born in the ninth year of Kaihuang (589), arguing Wen Yiduo's view was incorrect. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Literature Institute's compiled "History of Tang Dynasty Literature" also believed Wang Ji was born in 589.
Research on Wang Ji's Life: Fu Xuancong's "Sketches of Tang Dynasty Poets" was one of the earlier articles examining Wang Ji's life. The article first examined Wang Ji's place of origin, believing accurately speaking, Wang Ji should be from Longmen, Jiangzhou. Regarding Wang Ji's life events, the article also did some examination work. It believed Wang Ji's passing the imperial examination should have been in the tenth year of Daye, entering Chang'an in the autumn of the fourth year of Wude, serving in the Menxia Province shortly thereafter, and Wang Ji's seclusion should have been after the seventh year of Zhenguan. The article also believed Wang Fusu's "Donggaozi's Reply to Minister Chen" was forged by Wang Fusu. Detailed examinations of Wang Ji's life began with Han Lizhou's "Seeking Truth in Wang Ji's Life", which first believed Wang Ji's place of origin should be Longmen, Jiangzhou (today's Hejin County, Shanxi Province), then according to "The Family Tree of Wenzhongzi", "Supplement to the Biography of Wenzhongzi", "The Wang Family Genealogy", supplemented the narration of the Wang family genealogy, also made up for Wang Ji's youth situation, then examined the process of Wang Ji's three official careers and three periods of seclusion. In the same year published "Problems in Wang Ji Research and My Views" also discussed the reasons and essence of Wang Ji's alternating career and seclusion throughout his life. The article disagreed with the claims in the "Preface to the Collection" and the "New Tang History - Biography" that "he lost his positions due to his love for alcohol", and Shen Deqian's claim in "Tang Poetry Selected with Commentary" that it was "mourning the impending fall of the Sui Dynasty". The article believed Wang Ji's alternating career and seclusion had special reasons: one, the contradictory psychology of the declining noble family's offspring, making Wang Ji inevitably fluctuate between career and seclusion in the turbulent times between the end of the Sui and beginning of the Tang Dynasties. Two, Wang Ji's alternating career and seclusion were related to internal struggles within the ruling group (referring to the Yang Xuangan Rebellion, the Xuanwu Gate Incident, and his elder brother Wang Ning offending high-ranking officials during the Zhenguan era). Three, Wang Ji's complex and contradictory thoughts were also an important reason for his alternating career and seclusion. Four, the generous property and privileges of the noble family provided conditions for Wang Ji to either pursue a career or retreat into seclusion.
Zhang Xithou's "Analysis and New Evidence of Wang Ji's Life and Thoughts" also narrated Wang Ji's life, but the discussion was similar to Han's, so will not be further detailed here.
Afterward, Zhang Daxin and Zhang Baiang's "Supplementary Examination of Wang Ji's Three Careers and Three Periods of Seclusion" proposed new views on Wang Ji's three careers and three periods of seclusion. The article first believed that the time Wang Ji passed the imperial examination through the recommendation of filial piety and integrity was not as Han Lizhou said, around the middle of Daye (around 611), because "In the ninth year of Daye, Wang Ji was still in his hometown near the Yellow River and Fen River, and had not yet entered officialdom. The conclusion in 'Seeking Truth' is not credible. Until we discover new conclusive evidence, it is better to associate Wang Ji's first official career with the tenth year of Daye." Regarding the time of Wang Ji's second entry into officialdom, the author agreed with Han Lizhou's opinion, just slightly supplemented, believing it must have been "after April of the fifth year of Wude," and possibly "directly related to the visits of friends." Regarding the reasons for the dismissal of this "wine scholar," the article believed Han Lizhou's view that "it was because Wang Ji's elder brother Wang Ning offended powerful ministers like Changsun Wujie and Gao Shilian, leading to retaliatory actions" was incorrect. The article believed that in fact, Wang Ji's retirement was directly related to the "Xuanwu Gate" incident at the end of Wude, hence "Wang Ji's second exit from officialdom should have been shortly after the initial years of Zhenguan." Regarding the time and reasons for Wang Ji's third entry into officialdom, the article believed, "Wang Ji's retirement to the Fen River area should have been around the seventh year of Zhenguan, and his third entry into officialdom seems not later than the fifth year of Zhenguan." "Just like the previous two dismissals due to 'illness' were pure excuses, the reason for Wang Ji's third entry into officialdom was not 'due to poverty'," but rather "in this 'prosperous era,' he was eager to leave his thatched cottage, seize the opportunity to establish merit, and glorify his ancestors; but hindered by the reputation of a hermit, he hesitated in making decisions, showing various awkward postures until he could no longer hold back and had to come out, thus emulating Tao Qian, using 'poverty' as an excuse to take the selection examination. This was the ideological background of his third entry into officialdom." Additionally, the article believed, "The 'Seeking Truth' placing Wang Ji's third official career between the eleventh and fifteenth years of Zhenguan seems contrary to reality," its "abandonment of office and return to seclusion must have been around the seventh year of Zhenguan, there is absolutely no reason for it to have been delayed until after the fourteenth year of Zhenguan." The examination was meticulous and quite convincing.
Xia Lianbao's "Chronology of Wang Ji" was written in 1984 and published in 1992, since he did not see the five-volume edition of "Wang Ji's Collected Works", there were inevitably deficiencies in the data basis.
The entries on Wang Ji in the first volume of "Notes on the Biographies of Talented Individuals of the Tang Dynasty" and the first volume of the fifth book also examined Wang Ji's life, which can be referred to.
Collation of Wang Ji's Collected Works: Especially since the 1970s, the collation work of Wang Ji's collected works has achieved considerable success. Wang Guo'an's "Annotations on Wang Ji's Poetry" first systematically organized and annotated Wang Ji's works. This book used "Complete Tang Poetry" as the base text, proofread with Ming manuscripts and Sun's engraved editions, as well as the Ming Wanli printed "Collection of Donggaozi" and the Guangxu Bingwu Luo Zhenyu Tangfenglou printed "Collection of Wang Wugong" from the Shanghai Library, selected key proofreading notes, and provided concise annotations, combining scholarly research with popularization. Soon afterward, Han Lizhou published "Chronological Study of Wang Ji's Poetry and Prose," which for the first time dated Wang Ji's poetry and prose, compiling years for fifty-three of his works. Then, Zhang Xithou and Han Lizhou simultaneously organized and introduced the newly discovered "Five-Volume Edition of Wang Wugong's Collection." Han published "Two Newly Discovered Five-Volume Editions of 'Wang Wugong's Collection,'" pointing out that the two newly discovered five-volume editions of Wang Ji's poetry and prose were the Qing Tongzhi Yiyou Chongyang Chen's Wanqingxuan manuscript and the Dongwu Li's Yanlusi Fang manuscript, which contained nearly twice as many works as the commonly circulated Siku Edition, more than sixty additional poems and twenty-five essays compared to the Ming printed edition. After this article was published, it immediately attracted widespread attention from academia. Zhang almost simultaneously published "On the Transmission of 'Wang Ji's Collection' and the Discovery of the Five-Volume Edition," where he made different assumptions about the copying circumstances of the five-volume manuscript, but he and Han Lizhou both consistently believed that adding dozens of lost poems to a poet who lived approximately fourteen centuries ago was itself a major discovery that cannot be overlooked. A year later, Zhang Xithou published "Supplement to the Dunhuang Manuscript of 'Wang Ji's Collection'," using the newly discovered hand-copied five-volume edition of "Wang Wugong's Collection" to supplement the incomplete scroll of "Donggaozi Collection" (Bo 2819) that Mr. Wang Chongmin photographed in the 1930s at the National Library of France in Paris. Another year later, Han Lizhou published "Comprehensive Proofreading of the Five-Volume Edition of 'Wang Wugong's Collection'," using the carefully proofread Dongwu Li's Yanlusi Fang manuscript as the base text. When proofreading the base text, it referenced Lu Chun's abridged version, Huang Ruhen, Cao Quan, and Sun Xingyan's separately published three-volume editions, and "Complete Tang Prose." Additionally, it referenced some representative three-volume editions, anthologies, and poetic discourses, using fifteen proofreading editions in total. After the collection, it attached prefaces, biographies, contemporary responses in poetry and prose, and critiques, saving scholars much trouble in searching. This work is the latest and most refined collation of Wang Ji's collected works to date, preparing necessary materials for re-examining Wang Ji's poetry and prose and evaluating his position in literary history. Later, Kang Jinsheng and Xia Lianbao's "Annotated and Chronologically Arranged Edition of Wang Ji's Collection" was also published. Since this book was completed around 1984 and the authors did not see the five-volume edition, the included poems and prose were fewer than Han Lizhou's collated edition, but the chronological arrangement and chronology, as well as the annotations of poems and prose, were also of reference value.
Two, Research on Wang Ji's Thought
Before the mid-1970s: Before the reappearance of the five-volume edition, people's understanding of Wang Ji's thought was basically the same as that of researchers since the Tang Dynasty, viewing him as a passive recluse and a lofty hermit independent of worldly affairs.
For instance, Lu Kanru and Feng Yuanjun's "History of Chinese Poetry" believed "sometimes he led slaves and servants to grow millet and make wine, raised ducks and planted flowers, sometimes rode a cow through wine shops, staying for several days without returning, sometimes read the 'Laozi', 'Zhuangzi', 'I Ching', sometimes lived in the eastern hill of Beishan writing books." Wang Shijing's "Tang Dynasty Poetry" also believed "prudence preserves life, contentment brings happiness, that was his worldview, his philosophy of life." But it also believed Wang Ji when young "was very enthusiastic about politics," "and the thought of 'life is like a dream' formed later; as for retirement and living in seclusion, those were later events." Zhou Zuocan's "Literature History of the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties" also stated "naturally fond of alcohol" "deeply influenced by Daoist thought," "Wang Ji was an individualist, his worldview on one hand avoided reality, but on the other hand, showed his non-cooperation with rulers. It should be pointed out that Wang Ji's worldview was produced due to the darkness of society at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the instability of political situations, and the suppression of talents." You Guoen et al.'s edited "History of Chinese Literature" believed "he had some aspirations in his early years, but after being disappointed in his official career, he became disheartened. In the tumultuous period between the Sui and Tang Dynasties, he did not accomplish much," "Besides, he also learned a set of both critical and indifferent philosophy of life from Zhuangzi."
Relatively speaking, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Literary Research Institute's edited "History of Chinese Literature" had a deeper understanding of Wang Ji's thought: "Wang Ji expressed dissatisfaction with the new feudal dynasty from the standpoint of the feudal landlord class, therefore his thoughts were very complex and contradictory. He was influenced by his older brother Wang Tong (Wenzhongzi), holding orthodox Confucian thoughts, once comparing his brother to Confucius in the self-annotation of 'Beishanfu,' and discussing family rites and mourning clothes in letters to friends, wanting to take Confucius and Zhou as role models. But because he saw through the darkness of feudal society, while also accepting Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts of tranquility and non-action, he wanted to return to nature, deeply feeling 'rituals and music imprisoned Ji Dan, poetry and books bound Confucius' (from 'Presented to Cheng Chushi') as painful, freeing himself from rituals and teachings, indulging in alcohol to madness, often comparing himself to Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Liu Ling, especially Tao Qian, which was undoubtedly related to his dissatisfaction with real society... He liked listening to the 'true nature' Zen principles taught by monks on Beishan in his later years. Therefore, his poetry and prose contain Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist thoughts. He expressed indignation towards the detestable feudal society, showing a progressive side; but his attitude towards life was mostly leisurely and decadent, with more negative elements, reflecting less reality in his works, which was a serious shortcoming." Of course, now looking