Wang Yirong

Wang Yirong

Wang Yirong (1845-1900) was born in Fushan County, Shandong Province (now Fushan District, Yantai City) in ancient times. He is upright in nature and is known as the "East monster". He was the first person to discover and collect oracle bone inscriptions. In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, he became a Jinshi and was awarded the Imperial Academy editor. The third is the sacrifice wine for Guozijian. In the year of gengzi, the boxers raided Beijing and Tianjin, and were appointed as the Minister of regiment training in Beijing. When the Eight Allied forces invaded the capital and the emperor fled, Wang Yirong, his wife and his daughter-in-law threw themselves into the well to die for their chastity, posthumously known as "Wen Min".

Wang Yirong is involved in the history of books, and is fond of gold and stone. He has written "Han Shi Cun Mu", "Gu Quan Xuan", "southern and Northern Dynasties Cun Shi Mu", "Fushan Jinshi Zhi" and so on. He made close friends with Weng Tongshu, Xu Shu, pan Zuyin, Wu Dashu, Luo Zhenyu, Liu E and other collectors and scholars.

He was good at calligraphy, which was appreciated by Cixi. Cixi wrote and painted with his brush, and then ordered Wang Yirong to write his ambition.

See the draft of Qing history, Wang Chonghuan's chronicle of Wang Wenmin, Wang Yirong's anthology, and LV Weida's father of oracle bone inscriptions, Wang Yirong, etc.

Life of the characters

Wang Yirong

(1845-1900) word zhengru, word Liansheng, Shandong Fushan (now Yantai Fushan District) ancient village. He was the first discoverer of modern Chinese epigraphy, collector, calligrapher and oracle bone inscriptions. He is upright in nature and is known as the "East monster".

He came from an official family. His grandfather, Wang zhaochen, was a Jinshi in 1817. Father Zuyuan, official to Sichuan chengmian longmao road. Wang Yirong studied hard when he was young, and he was the head of Xuquan household department.

He went to Beijing with his father at the age of 15. In his youth, he was involved in the history of calligraphy and devoted himself to the study of bronze and stone. He has traveled all over Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi, Henan and Sichuan, searching for cultural relics and ancient books. "All books, calligraphy and paintings, bronze seals of the past three generations, and stone tiles of spring goods are treasured and played secretly.". He visited the famous collectors and scholars at that time, such as pan Zuyin and Wu Dazheng, to learn from each other.

Guangxu six years (1880) in Jinshi, election Shu Jishi. In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), he was the editor of the Imperial Academy, and wrote several times. In the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), it was registered as a censor. Guangxu nineteen years (1893), he was Henan Provincial examiners.

Guangxu 20 years (1894), the first-class exam, promoted to serve read. The next year, he entered the South study and served as the Imperial Academy's sacrificial wine. When the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke out, the Japanese occupied Weihai and fell into Rongcheng. After the great earthquake in Dengzhou, Wang Yirong invited him to return to his hometown to do regiment training to defend the enemy. He also asked Wang Hongfa, a designated commander and cousin, to help Weihai. The peace was negotiated and the capital was returned. The special purpose was to make up the sacrificial wine. Guangxu 24 years (1898), mother worry, dismissed. At the end of the mourning period, the son of the restoration of the state supervised the sacrifice of wine. During the seven years of Wang Yirong's reign, he offered sacrifices to the Imperial Academy for three times. "All the students were encouraged by his instruction, which was called" taixueshi "at that time.

In the 25th year of Guangxu (1899), when I was familiar with medicine, I bought a kind of medicine called dragon bone in Henian hall. I studied the graphics and characters on it. Through the large-scale acquisition of Shandong antique merchant fan Weiqing, Wang Yirong discovered oracle bone inscriptions for the first time and identified it as the Shang Dynasty. The discovery caused a sensation in the academic circles at home and abroad, pushed the history of Chinese characters to the Shang Dynasty of 1700 BC, and became the founder of the study of oracle bone inscriptions.

In 1900 (the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), the boxers attacked Beijing and Tianjin. Li Duanyu and Wang Yirong were appointed as the training ministers of the Beijing Communist Youth League to "participate in the defense of the capital". The eight countries' allied forces invaded Beijing, Li Hongzhang negotiated peace with the eight countries, and the emperor and Cixi fled. After Dongzhimen was defeated, Wang Yirong returned to his home in Xila Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing. With his stepwife Xie and his eldest daughter-in-law Zhang, Wang Yirong took poison and threw himself into the well to die. He was 55 years old.

In September of the same year, the Qing government gave Wang Yirong the title of Wenmin.

The death of Wang Yirong

Wang Yirong was in the South study, and his calligraphy was appreciated by Cixi. Cixi painted with Xu Ying, Lu Runxiang, Li Wentian and Wang Yirong. Cixi once awarded Wang an exquisite carved jade cigarette bottle, which is now stored in Yantai Museum.

When the Sino Japanese war broke out, Empress Dowager Cixi prepared for the celebration of her 60th birthday. Wang Yirong turned up and asked for a "pause, but congratulations". Although Cixi didn't punish him, Wang Yirong fell out of favor and became one of the causes of Wang's desperation and martyrdom.

In the summer of 1898, Cixi abolished the Guangxu new deal, and Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei fled abroad. Cixi imprisoned Guangxu and wanted to dethrone him. All countries opposed the deposing of Emperor Guangxu and demanded the suppression of the "Boxer Rebellion" against foreigners and foreign religions.

In 1900, boxers raided Tianjin, slaughtered Christians and bled in Fangshi. Cixi's attitude towards the Boxer Rebellion was ambiguous. She ordered Li Hongzhang and Yuan Shikai to enter the capital. Ronglu used the central military of Wuwei to protect the embassies of various countries, and ordered Li Duanyu and Wang Yirong to be the regiment training ministers of the capital. After receiving the imperial edict, Wang Yirong sighed and said, "this day is my death." Li Duanyu, who was also appointed Minister of League training, was depressed and retired at home, and died the next year. Due to the lack of weapons, Wang Yirong wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Zhang Zhidong, claiming to be a "Street veteran", sighing that "there is no place to buy even if he has money", and "begging for weapons temporarily" from Zhang Zhidong.

The ministers were divided into two groups: the main battle group and the main peace group. The main combatant faction connived at tens of thousands of Yihe regiments pouring into Beijing. The envoys of various countries forced the Qing government to suppress the Yihe regiments. Cixi agreed that all countries should send guards into Beijing. Nearly a thousand embassy guards, fully armed, entered Beijing. Hostility between China and foreign countries is rising.

In May, the boxers burned the buildings of Zhengyangmen and the ashes of Lushi in Beijing, as well as churches and some foreign companies. The Qing soldiers killed German envoy klinder in Chongwen gate. Cixi ordered the Qing army and the boxers to attack the foreign embassies in Dongjiaominxiang, and urged Li Hongzhang, who was in Guangzhou, to go north to serve the king. Li Hongzhang called back "this is a mess, Guangdong does not obey the imperial edict.". Wang Yirong said: "boxing people can not rely on, when the joint business people to defend."

In June, the eight countries' allied forces captured Tianjin, and the Allied forces advanced to Beijing. On the outskirts of Beijing, Zhili governor Yulu was defeated and killed himself, and Navy Minister Li Bingheng was defeated and killed himself. Wang Yirong will never be able to be known for a long time. In the courtyard of his Beijing apartment, there is a well, wide and deep, with a horizontal stone and a stone well fence. Wang Yirong asked people to open Hengshi, enlarge the wellhead and prepare for death. In July, the eight countries attacked Beijing, and Cixi fled with the emperor. When Beijing fell, Rong Lu, Minister of military aircraft, fled to Baoding, and Xu Tong, a bachelor, hanged himself with Chongqi, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs. Wang Yirong was deeply despairing, so he wrote the words: "the Lord is worried about the humiliation of his subjects, and the Lord humiliates his subjects to death. It's close to where it ends. " When the Allied forces attacked DongBianMen, Wang Yirong still insisted on resisting, and soon he was defeated. He returned to his family and said, "my righteousness must not survive!" With his stepwife and widowed eldest daughter-in-law, he committed suicide in a well. In August, the Qing government held a memorial service for the slain German Minister klinder and established klinder archway. In September, the Qing government praised Wang Yirong for his martyrdom, posthumous title Wenmin, and his wife Xie and daughter-in-law Zhang.

Then, under the pressure of various countries, Cixi issued an edict to punish the culprit and suppress the Boxer Rebellion, punished Zaiyi, zaxun and other princes and ministers who supported the Boxer Rebellion, and executed a large number of main war officials in succession, which is known as "all the officials who fought were defeated and punished". The Allied forces of the eight countries arbitrarily killed several officials of the Qing Dynasty who "did not protect foreigners according to their posts". At the same time, the Dutong yamen hunted and killed the boxers and those suspected to be boxers on a large scale.

In 1901, on behalf of the Qing government, Li Hongzhang and Yi zhe formally signed the Treaty of Xin Chou with the representatives of the eleven countries. Li Hongzhang died of illness. At the beginning of 1902, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu returned to Beijing in exile in the west, and the Forbidden City regained its prosperity, but the end of the Qing Dynasty was coming.

After Wang Yirong's death, his son Wang chonglie came to Beijing to sell his family property and repay his debts. He sold more than 1000 oracle bones collected by Wang Yirong to Liu e, another pioneer of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and author of Lao Can's travels.

In the spring of 1901, Wang chonglie helped his father Wang Yirong, his stepmother Xie's and his widowed sister-in-law Zhang's coffins back home and buried them in Guxian village, Fushan County. In 1919, Wang chonglie died at the age of 49. Cixi's Jadeite cigarette pot became his funeral object. When learning from Dazhai in agriculture, Wang's cemetery was destroyed and this jade cigarette pot was unearthed. Later, it was collected by Yantai Museum and designated as a national first-class cultural relic.

Collection achievements

The draft of the history of the Qing Dynasty says that "Yirong was involved in the history of books and loved gold and stone, and Weng Tonghe and pan Zuyin were called his scholars.". All books, calligraphy and paintings, gold and stone seals, coins and tiles are treasured. Lamenting the difficulty of collection, Wang Yirong wrote a poem: "the collection of clothes also caused a group of book debts, and the discount of bonds was shamed by Xiaojia."

Wang Yirong often exchanged views with his colleagues Weng Tongying and Xu Ying. Xu Ying bought the temple stele written by song tuoyu, and Wang Yirong wrote the Chang'an version of the temple stele written by song tuoyu, which is collected for Xu SongGe

Lanting secret wonderful Qinxi Tong, thousand Liang gold said FUWENG.

City Wu Chang'an joint purchase of this, has always been hazy Tang tuozong. (collection of Wang Yirong)

Wang Yirong has built "Tiantu Pavilion", "haijingshe" and "Tianhua Pavilion" and other libraries, whose format and scale are comparable to those of "Tianyi Pavilion" in Ningbo. There are many editions of song and Yuan Dynasties in the collection, of which Han Shu is the most precious. There are many manuscripts in the collection, such as Wang Yuyang's poetry manuscript and the original manuscript of chibei biantan.

There are more than ten printed books in the collection: Hanlin offering, Wang Yirong's seal of Guozijian sacrificial wine, Lian shengdenglai's seal, Cisheng Yuci Duoshou's seal, haijingshe's collection, xiaolianhuashi's seal, tianhuage's seal, zhanhuage's seal, etc.

Ye Changchi, an epigraphist and collector, once looked at his collection and sighed that "the essence of identification is beyond the reach of modern collectors.".

Writing and calligraphy

He is the author of Han Shi Cun

Chinese PinYin : Wang Yi Rong