Wáng Qí 王琦 (fl. ca. 1740–1770)
Zì Zhuóyái 琢崖. Native of Qiántáng 錢塘 (modern Hángzhōu, Zhèjiāng). Qīng Qiánlóng 乾隆-period commercial-publishing scholar and editor of Táng poetic biéjí. The catalog meta dates him to “fl. 1760,” consistent with the publication dates of his major works (the Lǐ Chángjí gēshī huìjiě 李長吉歌詩彙解 of Qiánlóng 12 = 1747 and the Lǐ Tàibái jí zhù of Qiánlóng 23 = 1758).
Wáng’s principal scholarly contribution is the standard Qīng critical and annotated edition of Lǐ Bái’s 李白 collected works — the Lǐ Tàibái jí zhù KR4c0014 in 36 juǎn (30 of text + 6 of appendix) — which integrates the SòngYuán annotations of Yáng Qíxián 楊齊賢 and Xiāo Shìyún 蕭士贇 (= KR4c0013) with substantial supplementary kǎojù. This edition has remained the foundational modern reference for Lǐ Bái: every modern scholarly edition (Hàn Wèi 韓威 et al., 1977; Yú Xiánhào 郁賢皓) is built directly on it.
His parallel Lǐ Chángjí gēshī huìjiě 李長吉歌詩彙解 — the standard Qīng annotated edition of the late-Táng poet Lǐ Hè 李賀 (790–816) — is similarly the basis of all modern Lǐ Hè scholarship. He is sometimes confused with the slightly older Míng-period Wáng Qí 王琦 of the Sān cái túhuì 三才圖會 (1607); these are different individuals. CBDB has no entry.
Wáng also took editorial interest in medical and other scholarly publications: his 1764 (Qiánlóng jiǎshēn 乾隆甲申) postface to 張介賓 Zhāng Jǐngyuè’s KR3eq016 Zhìyí lù 質疑錄 — signed Qiánjiāng Wáng Qí 錢江王琦 (a Qiántáng / Hángzhōu variant) — is one of the better mid-Qīng medical-historical analyses, identifying the Zhìyí lù as Zhāng’s “晚年未定稿” (late-years unfinalised draft) and adjudicating Zhāng’s late revisions against the earlier Lèijīng / Jǐngyuè quánshū statements with characteristic Qián-lóng-era kǎojù care. His 1769 (Qiánlóng jǐchǒu 乾隆己丑) postface to 張志聰 Zhāng Yǐnān’s KR3eq018 Lǚshāntáng lèibiàn 侶山堂類辯 is signed Xūshān lǎorén 胥山老人 (“Old Man of Xūshān”) and adds important supplementary evidence on the late-Míng / early-Qīng Hángzhōu medical-circle traditions.