Wáng Hóngxù 王鴻緒
Zì Jìyǒu 季友, hào Yǎnzhāi 儼齋, also Héngyún shānrén 横雲山人. Native of Lóudōng 婁東 (modern Tàicāng 太倉, Jiāngsū). 1645–1723. Jìnshì of Kāngxī 12 (1673), where he was bǎngyǎn 榜眼 (second-place honoree). Career took him through Hànlínyuàn shìjiǎngxuéshì, Zhànshìfǔ shàozhānshì, Lìbù shàngshū, and Hùbù shàngshū (Minister of Revenue).
A central figure in late-Kāngxī court compilation projects:
- Qīnding Shī jīng zhuànshuō huìzuǎn 欽定詩經傳說彙纂 in 21 juǎn (KR1c0044) — appointed zǒngcái (chief director of compilation), Kāngxī-commissioned, completed and printed Yōngzhèng 5 (1727) after Wáng’s death.
- Míng shǐ gǎo 明史稿 in 310 juǎn — Wáng’s privately published draft of the official Míng shǐ, controversial because much of it was based on Wàn Sītóng 萬斯同’s earlier compilation. The Míng shǐ gǎo is a major source for the eventual official Míng shǐ.
- Numerous other Kāngxī compilation projects in the jīng and shǐ divisions.
Wáng Hóngxù was implicated in the late-Kāngxī succession factional struggles (associated with the Yúnsì faction); he was demoted in 1714 and never fully restored. His scholarly reputation rests principally on his role as project director rather than as primary exegete; his Shī-canon expertise was institutional rather than philological.