Wang Niansun

Wang Niansun

Wang Niansun (from April 25, 1744 to February 25, 1832), with the name of Huaizu, is a native of Gaoyou County in Jiangsu Province. He is also known as "two kings of Gaoyou" with his son Wang. He is also known as "five gentlemen" with Qian Daxin, Lu wenhuang, Shao Jinhan and Liu Taigong.

Wang Niansun was intelligent when he was a child. At the age of eight, he finished reading the thirteen classics and touched on Shijian. Qianlong 40 years (1775) Jinshi, successive Imperial Academy Shuji Shi, Ministry of work chief, Ministry of work doctor, Shaanxi Dao Yushi, Li Ke gei Shi Zhong, Shandong Canal Road, Zhili Yongding River. Wang Niansun is a man of integrity, good at ancient examination and meticulous analysis. This paper puts forward the principle of seeking ancient meaning from ancient sounds, establishes the theory of general meaning, sums up the phonological system of the book of songs and the songs of Chu, and divides the Ancient Rhymes into 22 parts. Pay attention to the form, sound and meaning of each other, more creative. His works include Guangya Shuzheng, Shudu magazine, Guyun Pu, etc. After leaving the museum, he served as the head of the water department of the Ministry of industry. He devoted himself to the study of the river management strategy, understood the advantages and disadvantages of ancient and modern times, and wrote the first and second chapters of daoheyi. After the official calendar Shaanxi Road, Shanxi Road, Jingji Road, censor, to the matter of the middle, Yongding River, Shandong canal road. He is known for being fair and upright. In the past 10 years, 32 volumes of Guangya Shuzheng were completed. He compiled a brief account of Heyuan, and also wrote 82 volumes of reading magazine, 1 volume of Shida, 4 volumes of Wang Shihuang's posthumous writings, etc.

(overview photo source: biography of scholars in the Qing Dynasty, Volume I, collection and copy of Ye Yanlan in the Qing Dynasty, painting by Huang Koizumi)

Life of the characters

Wang Niansun was born on March 13, 1744 (April 25, 1744) in gaoyouzhou, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. At the age of eight, Wang Niansun finished reading the thirteen classics and related historical books. When Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty was on a tour to the south, he went to meet the driver as the son of a minister and presented the above volume. Emperor Gaozong gave him the title of Juren. In 1775, Wang Niansun was selected as a scholar of the Imperial Academy. After passing the examination in the Imperial Academy, he became the head of the Ministry of work. Later, he was promoted to a doctor, and then to a censor of Shaanxi Dao. In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), Emperor Renzong was in charge of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, gangsters were rampant in Sichuan and Hubei churches. Wang Niansun went up to Chen Chen to take six countermeasures to suppress thieves. First of all, he Liu was impeached. The words in the memorials were quoted from the Scriptures, which was in line with emperor Renzong's mind. In the same year, it was awarded Zhili Shuiding river. In the sixth year of Jiaqing (1801), Wang Niansun was dismissed because of the overflow of the river bank. Renzong ordered him to stay and supervise the river works. After the completion of the project, the official title of the principal will be awarded. When the Yellow River burst at hengjialou in Henan Province, Wang Niansun was ordered to go to investigate and manage the river affairs in Taizhuang. He was soon awarded the title of Canal Road in Shandong Province. During his six years in office, he was transferred to Yongding River. At the same time, the governor of Donghe and the governor of Shandong had different opinions on the issue of diverting the river to facilitate transportation. Renzong called him to Beijing to decide right and wrong. Wang Niansun Shangzuo said that the diversion of the Yellow River into the lake had to be silted up slightly, but the temporary implementation was harmless, and Renzong agreed. Before long, the Yongding River surged again, overflowing the embankment. Wang Niansun himself led the crime and got the imperial edict to retreat. In 1885, Wang Niansun took part in the banquet again. On February 25, 1832, Wang Niansun died in his private residence in Beijing at the age of 89.

Main impact

linguistics

Wang Niansun, as a genuine master of the Hui School of Pu Xue, has made remarkable achievements in exegesis by using the methods and attitudes of seeking ancient meanings from ancient sounds, borrowing words from original words, and referring to the meaning instead of sticking to it. Because ancient Chinese philology emphasized form but not stress, Wang Niansun took ten years to write Guangya Shuzheng in the form of annotating Guangya, quoting scriptures and biographies, adopting other theories, and making detailed textual research. He tried to seek ancient meanings from ancient sounds and correct many errors in the original book, such as wrong words, missing words, and deriving words. This book is quite original and makes a contribution to the development of ancient Chinese Exegetics He made a great contribution. He said to himself: "the purpose of exegesis is based on the sound. If the sound of a word is close to the same sound, the classics are often borrowed. Scholars use the sound to seek meaning. If they break the borrowed word and read the original word, they will be relaxed." Wang Yinzhi, his son, said that "the rule of the scriptures by the adults is also the same. If all the theories are juxtaposed, we should seek the truth. If the words are borrowed, we should change their reading. Those who are familiar with the door of Sinology but not limited to the barriers of Sinology are also familiar with it. "

Besides being proficient in exegesis, Wang Niansun is very good at collation. He makes textual research on the errors of characters, the misreading of sentences, and the similarities and differences of phonetics and exegesis. There are more than 900 errors in the revised words and sentences in Huainanzi neipian. From these errors, we can get 62 cases. These 62 cases, summed up the regularity of ancient book errors, is the summary of Wang Niansun's experience in collating ancient book words and sentences errors, which is used as a general rule for later generations to collate other ancient books, and has extensive significance and far-reaching influence. Wang Yinzhi, his son, wrote a book called Jing Yi Shu Wen, which contains a lot of collation contents. The 53 "general theories" in Volume 31 and 32 at the end of the book are the essence. There is also a book named Jing Zhuan Shi Ci, which is dedicated to explaining the words in Jing Zhuan. From the nine classics, San Zhuan and the books of Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties, all the sentences with function words are searched one by one, and 160 function words are annotated. It opened up a way for the later study of function words and had a great influence. In the aspect of collation, he also put forward the idea of three brave changes and three no changes, which is very precise and provides a good example for the collation of ancient books.

water conservancy

In addition to the classics and history, Wang Niansun was also proficient in water conservancy. When he was an official in the Ministry of industry, he wrote the first and second chapters of daoheyi and compiled Heyuan Jilue according to the order of the emperor. "The arguer or mistakenly pointed out the origin of Heyuan, and Niansun tried to identify its errors. The argumentation is final. The" identifying errors "in Jilue was written by Niansun." (draft of Qing History)

Historical evaluation

Ruan Yuan of Qing Dynasty: Wang family of Gaoyou has no equal in China. (epitaph of Mr. Wang Shihao)

Zhou zumo, a Chinese linguist: 1. He is good at textual research, quoting the agreement, making extensive reduction, and being able to dredge the exegesis. (on reading Wang Niansun's Guangya Shuzheng) 2. Wang Niansun is the most outstanding person among the emendators in the Qing Dynasty. There is a volume of dialect Shuzheng in his posthumous book, in which there are often very refined opinions. (collected works of Zhou zumo's Linguistics)

Wang Li, one of the founders of modern Chinese linguistics, has made great contributions to exegetics. If Duan Yucai is the first in philology, Wang Niansun is the first in exegesis. Duan and Wang are the representatives of Qianjia school, and their works are the milestone of Chinese Linguistics on the scientific road. In their research work, there are many good things that we should inherit. (history of Chinese Linguistics)

Lu Guoyao, executive director of the Chinese Language Society: 1. Wang Niansun is a person of Mount Everest in the history of Chinese Linguistics and collation, and his works are classic works in the history of Chinese Linguistics and collation. However, in December 2001, Professor Mei Zulin of the United States delivered a speech strongly criticizing Guangya Shuzheng and mocking Wang Niansun's language, and then published his full text in Journal of Chinese linguistics. (collected works of linguistics of Lu Guoyao: a series of essays on the decline of the year) 2. It can be considered that Wang Niansun was one of Zeus on Olympus mountain in the field of ancient Chinese linguistics, or one of Zeus. His knowledge was approved by his contemporaries and respected by later generations. When it comes to shortcomings, due to the constraints of the times and the environment, any work will always have shortcomings or shortcomings. We must not be strict with the sages. When we comment on a book, we should see how much it surpasses its predecessors, how much it is superior to its peers, and how much it leaves behind. (Shuo "Shen")

Zhang Xiantan, associate professor of the College of Arts, Guizhou Normal University: Wang Niansun has a strong grammatical concept, which has influenced subsequent generations of scholars. (a study of the syntactic concepts in reading magazines)

Li Yujie, associate professor of the school of Arts, Jilin University: ① Duan Yucai and Wang Niansun were the masters of primary schools in the Qing Dynasty, and they all elaborated on sound training. (see the relationship between Chinese words from "Youwen Shuo") (2) Wang Niansun made the greatest contribution in the aspect of sound training, and he deeply understood the principle of sound as meaning. On the relationship between Chinese characters and words from the perspective of youwenshuo

interpersonal relationship

Relative members

(the main source of the table is Wang Niansun's chronicle of Wang Yinzhi.)

Main works

Wang Niansun's main works include reading magazine, Guangya Shuzheng, daoheyi, Heyuan Jilue, etc.

Index of historical data

The main historical materials recording Wang Niansun's life are as follows:

(table reference:)

Chinese PinYin : Wang Nian Sun