Wáng Wèigōng jí 王魏公集
Collected Works of [Wáng] Wèi-gōng [Ān-lǐ] by 王安禮 (撰)
About the work
Wáng Wèigōng jí 王魏公集 is the surviving collection of Wáng Ānlǐ 王安禮 (1034–1095, zì Héfǔ 和甫), youngest brother of Wáng Ānshí 王安石 王安石 and Wáng Ānguó 王安國. The Wèigōng in the title derives from his Wèijùn kāiguógōng enfeoffment — recorded only in Tián Zhòu 田晝’s Wáng Héfǔ jiāzhuàn, not in Sòngshǐ (the Sìkù editors’ explanation: Sòng practice routinely added xūnfēng honors at jiāoēn sacrifices; the historians did not always record them). The original 20-juǎn collection (so listed in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì and Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí) survived into the early Míng (Yè Shèng 葉盛’s Lùzhútáng shūmù of mid-Míng records “Wáng Wèigōng jí 6 cè”); after that no record. The Sìkù editors reconstituted the present 7-juǎn recension entirely from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Wáng Wèigōng jí in 7 juǎn by Wáng Ānlǐ of the Sòng. Ānlǐ, zì Héfǔ, of Línchuān, brother of Wáng Ānshí. Jiāyòu 6 / 1061 jìnshì. Held office through Hànlín xuéshì, zhī Kāifēngfǔ, Shàngshū zuǒchéng; transferred to Zīzhèngdiàn xuéshì zhī Tàiyuánfǔ. Deeds in his Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn. Of Ānshí’s three brothers, only Ānguó repeatedly was disgraced for upright remonstrance; his wénjí is also lost. Ānlǐ’s position was somewhat more elevated; the shǐ says he took jīngjì (statecraft) as his self-aim but was kuòlüè xìjǐn (broad-easy, indifferent to small punctilio) — hence in his career: once dismissed as zhī Húzhōu / Rùnzhōu for drinking with courtesans, once dismissed for corruption, repeatedly stumbled and rose. He was a man also tuòshǐ (slack-loose) outside the bounds of the law. However, as Zhīzhìgào, on a comet’s appearance, he forcefully said the zhízhèng dàchén had not embodied the emperor’s intent of nurturing the people — yònglì dān yú gōují, qǔlì jiū yú yuánfū (forces exhausted on ditch-and-skeleton, profit pursued from the gardener) — these phrases are all jīcì (sharp criticism) of the New Policies; on the dàtǐ (great principle) he could still hold the upright — he is not to be wholly disparaged for one defect. The collection was originally 20 juǎn, seen in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí gives the same count. The Míng Yè Shèng’s Lùzhútáng shūmù further records Wáng Wèigōng jí in 6 cè — so in early Míng there was still a transmitted recension. Thereafter no bibliography records it — perhaps lost from mid-Míng on. We have now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s scattered occurrences across the various rhymes assembled and arranged into 7 juǎn. Inside, his nèiwài zhìgǎo (court and commission edict drafts) are rather diǎnzhòng kěguān (canonical-weighty, worth seeing); the xùshì zhī wén (narrative writings) are also fully yǒu fǎdù (fully observant of compositional norms). For instance the Shěn Jìcháng, Yuán Jiàng zhìmíng are particularly enough to supplement the shǐzhuàn lacuna. Compared with Ānshí, the scope is somewhat narrower, but examined for register, they are roughly similar. Ānlǐ’s Wèigōng enfeoffment — the shǐ does not record; only Tián Zhòu’s Wáng Héfǔ jiāzhuàn says: “accumulated xūn (merit-marks) reaching Shàngzhùguó; jué Wèijùn kāiguógōng; shíyì sānqiān hù; shíshífēng wǔbǎi hù.” This was because Sòng routinely on jiāoēn would bestow on the various ministers xūnfēng mínghào — rǒnglàn (proliferated and excessive) — hence the shǐ does not fully record. Examination of his Língtái mìyuàn — now cataloged in the zǐbù — has at the head an Ānlǐ shǔxián line: “Shàng Qídūwèi Jùxiàn kāiguónán” — his běnzhuàn also does not mention this — clearly what the shǐ omits is already much. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Wáng Wèigōng jí is the principal source for one of the Línchuān Wángs’ less famous brothers. Wáng Ānlǐ’s jìcì (sharp criticism) of his elder brother’s New Policies — preserved in the comet memorial cited by the Sìkù editors — is one of the more striking instances of intra-family ideological dissent in Xīníng / Yuánfēng politics; the language yònglì dān yú gōují, qǔlì jiū yú yuánfū directly indicts the bǎojiǎ corvée and the qīngmiáo loan policies. The zhìmíng for Shěn Jìcháng 沈季長 (Wáng Ānshí’s son-in-law) and Yuán Jiàng 元絳 — both supplementing Sòngshǐ lacunae — are the most-cited individual pieces from the collection. The Wèigōng enfeoffment, otherwise recoverable only from Tián Zhòu’s family biography, supplies the title under which the collection has been transmitted (rather than the more familiar Wáng Héfǔ jí). Dating bracket: Wáng’s death (1095) to the Sìkù re-collation (1781).
Translations and research
- Liu, James T. C. 1959. Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih and his New Policies. Harvard UP. Treats Wáng Ān-lǐ briefly in the broader Lín-chuān Wáng context.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP.
- Lǐ Huá-ruì 李華瑞. 2001. Wáng Ān-shí biàn-fǎ yán-jiū-shǐ 王安石變法研究史. Rén-mín. Discusses Wáng Ān-lǐ’s intra-family dissent.
Other points of interest
The intra-family ideological dissent of the Línchuān Wáng brothers — Ānshí (architect of the New Policies); Ānguó (vocal critic, dismissed); Ānlǐ (covert critic via court memorials) — makes this collection a peculiarly instructive biéjí for Xīníng / Yuánfēng political history. Wáng Ānlǐ’s Língtái mìyuàn (cataloged in the zǐbù; KR3d) is one of the less-noticed bridges between Sòng biéjí and astronomical-bureau scholarship.
Links
- Wang Anli (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §44 (Xīníng New Policies).