Wáng Jì 王績 (ca. 590–644)
Zì Wúgōng 無功 (“Without Merit”); self-style Dōnggāo zǐ 東臯子 (“Master of the Eastern Knoll”) and Wǔdǒu xiānshēng 五斗先生 (“Mr. Five-Pecks-Drink”). Native of Lóngmén 龍門 in Jiàngzhōu 絳州 (modern Héjīn 河津, Shānxī), of the Tàiyuán 太原 Wáng lineage. Younger brother of the early-Táng Confucian classicist Wáng Tōng 王通 (Wénzhōng zǐ 文中子, 583–617).
Held a xiàotì liánjié 孝悌廉潔 examination distinction in the late Suí (Dàyè 大業, ca. 614), serving briefly as mìshūshěng zhèngzì 秘書省正字 and then Liùhé xiàn chéng 六合縣丞 in Yángzhōu 揚州; resigned the latter post (or fled it) in the wake of the Suí collapse. In Wǔdé 武德 he was recalled to be a dàizhào 待詔 in the ménxiàshěng 門下省 — a sinecure he prized for the daily ration of three pints of wine, leading to the nickname Dǒujiǔ xuéshì 斗酒學士 (“Peck-of-Wine Academician”). In the early Zhēnguān 貞觀 he resigned a final time to become tàiyuè chéng 太樂丞 expressly so as to use the official Music Bureau cellar to brew with the recipe of the brewmaster Jiāo Gé 焦革; on Jiāo’s death he resigned for good and retired to his ancestral fields at the Hézhǔ 河渚 island in the Fén river, where he spent his last years drinking, brewing, gardening, playing the qín, and writing.
Wáng’s poetry occupies a transitional position between the late Liùcháo yǒnghuái tradition and the High-Táng lǜshī: his Yě wàng 野望 (“Gazing on the Wilds”) is conventionally cited as the earliest fully formed pentasyllabic lǜshī, and his quietism, drink-cult, and ironic recluse-poses prefigure Mèng Hàorán 孟浩然 and Wáng Wéi 王維. He left a Jiāo shì jiǔ jīng 焦氏酒經 (recording Jiāo Gé’s brewing method), a Jiǔ pǔ 酒譜, a commentary on Lǎozǐ 老子, and a Huì xīn gāoshì zhuàn 會心高士傳, all lost. His extant collection is the Dōnggāo zǐ jí KR4c0001, assembled by his friend Lǚ Cái 呂才 in 5 juǎn, condensed by Lù Chún 陸淳 to 3 juǎn in the late Táng. CBDB does not record his birth year; the ca. 590 figure is a back-projection from his Sui examination date.