Wāng Yīngchén 汪應辰 (1118–1176)
Zì Shèngxī 聖錫; original given name Yáng 洋, ceremonially changed by Gāozōng on his being placed first (zhuàngyuán) in the jìnshì of Shàoxīng 5 (1135) at age 17 — the youngest zhuàngyuán of the Sòng. Native of Xìnzhōu Yùshān 信州玉山 (modern Yùshānxiàn, Jiāngxī). Posthumous shì Wéndìng 文定; hence his collection is alternately called Wéndìng jí KR4d0204 or Yùshān jí.
In youth, studied under Yú Chū 喻樗 and through him with the Northern Dàoxué network — Yáng Shí 楊時, Hú Ānguó 胡安國, Lǚ Běnzhōng 呂本中, and Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成. After his jìnshì he served briefly at court but was impeached for a memorial that crossed Qín Huì 秦檜 and was demoted to Jiànzhōu tōngpàn (Fújiàn) — where he sat for seventeen years (c. 1138–1155), through Qín’s chancellorship. After Qín’s death (1155) he was recalled, rising through Lǐbù shìláng, Hànlínyuàn, and finally Fūwéngé xuéshì concurrently Sìchuān zhìzhìshǐ / Zhī Chéngdūfǔ in the late 1160s. The Sòngshǐ j. 387 places him among the bone-honest (gǔgěng) figures of the era alongside Wú Fú 吳芾 and Wáng Shípéng 王十朋.
In late life Wāng was on close terms with Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙, Zhāng Shì 張栻, and especially Zhū Xī 朱熹, who stood as his cousin-by-marriage’s nephew (從表姪 / 從表叔 according to the side described). When Wāng was appointed Fūwéngé dàizhì he formally proposed Zhū Xī as his replacement — one of the senior endorsements that established Zhū’s court standing. CBDB id 1759.
Surviving in Kanripo:
- KR4d0204 Wéndìng jí / Yùshān jí (24 juǎn, WYG; reconstructed from Chéng Mǐnzhèng’s Hóngzhì recension augmented by Yǒnglè dàdiǎn fragments).