Wáng Zhīwàng 王之望 (1103–1170)
Zì Zhānshū 瞻叔. Native of Xiāngyáng Gǔchéng 襄陽糓城 (modern Húběi); later domiciled in Táizhōu 台州 (Zhèjiāng). Jìnshì of Shàoxīng 8 (1138). CBDB id 1787.
Career: rose through Tàifǔ shǎoqīng under Gāozōng. Did not align with the chief minister Qín Huì 秦檜 — for which he was praised as upright. On Xiàozōng’s accession (1162) he was elevated to Hùbù shìláng concurrent ChuānShǎn xuānyùshǐ (Pacification Commissioner of Sì-chuān-Shaanxi); rose to Cānzhī zhèngshì (Vice-Privy Councilor). Impeached for “exhausting the troops on the Yangtze and the Huái” — an attack on his role in the war effort against the Jin. Qiándào 1 (1165) he rose to Fújiàn Ānfǔshǐ, was promoted Zīzhèngdiàn dàxuéshì, transferred to Zhī Wēnzhōu, and died there.
His policy stance from the late Shàoxīng era was for hé (peace) — an active collaborator of Tāng Sītuì 湯思退 during the Lóngxīng peace negotiations of 1163–1164, and the principal political opponent of Zhāng Jùn 張浚 (the war advocate). The Sìkù editors at KR4d0210 give him a strikingly ambivalent assessment, praising his foresight on the disastrous Fúlí (1163) campaign and his strategic insight on the difficulty of the Sòng-Jin border, while condemning his alliance with Tāng Sītuì.
Surviving in Kanripo:
- KR4d0210 Hànbīn jí (16 juǎn, WYG; reconstructed from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, retaining perhaps three or four tenths of the original 60-juǎn recension recorded by Jiāo Hóng).