Wáng Guānguó 王觀國 (CBDB id 38498; fl. earliest year 1111, fl. latest 1131; index year 1085; zì Jiànhóu 建侯), native of Chángshā 長沙 in Tánzhōu 潭州 (modern Húnán). Almost no biographical record survives: he has no biography in the Sòng shǐ and is not listed in the Húguǎng tōngzhì 湖廣通志 covering his native region. The single external prose document by him to be preserved is the postface he wrote for Jiǎ Chāngcháo’s 賈昌朝 Qúnjīng yīnbiàn 群經音辨 KR1d0021, dated Shàoxīng rényì 紹興壬戌 (= 1142) seventh month, middle decade. There he gives his title as Zuǒ chéngwù láng 左承務郎 (rank 8b) magistrate of Nínghuàxiàn 寧化縣 in Tīngzhōu 汀州 (modern Nínghuà in western Fújiàn), with additional duties of zhǔguǎn quànnóng gōngshì 主管勸農公事 (agricultural supervision) and jiān bīngmǎ jiānyā 兼兵馬監押 (military escort officer) — i.e. a relatively junior provincial magistrate’s post.
CBDB records two Wáng Guānguó in the Sòng (id 38498 and id 38501); id 38501 has the zì Jiànhóu 建侯 and a recorded native place of Hóuguān 侯官 (Fújiàn), with floruit in 1135. The author of KR3j0037 Xuélín is unambiguously the Chángshā man (the Sìkù tíyāo names him as “Chángshā rén”), so id 38498 is the correct identification despite the slightly earlier CBDB floruit window. The 1142 postface attestation reconciles by establishing the longer span of an active career (early 12th century to mid Shàoxīng).
Wáng’s principal monument is KR3j0037 Xuélín 學林 (10 juan), originally titled Xuélín xīnbiān 學林新編 (the longer title preserved in KR3j0034 Wú Zēng’s Nénggǎizhāi mànlù). The work is one of the most rigorous Sòng xiǎoxué 小學 bǐjì: focused on the discrimination of zìtǐ 字體 (graphic form), zìyì 字義 (meaning), and zìyīn 字音 (pronunciation), it is rated by the Sìkù editors above its rivals, KR3j0042 Sūn Yì’s 孫奕 Shì’ér biān 示兒編 and KR3j0043 Xiàng Ānshì’s 項安世 Xiàngshì jiāshuō 項氏家説. The Xuélín lost its independent print transmission and was reconstituted by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and surviving manuscript witnesses.