Wang Mingsheng

Wang Mingsheng

Wang Mingsheng

(July 4, 1722 - January 18, 1798), an official, historian, Confucian classics scholar and textual research scholar of the Qing Dynasty. It was named fengzhe, Yizi auditorium, Xizhuang, Xijiang and Xizhe. Jiading County, Taicang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province (Jiading District, Shanghai). He was a Bachelor of official studies, a Bachelor of cabinet and a minister of rites, and a minister of Guanglu temple. He is a master of textual research of Wu school. He wrote one hundred volumes of "Discussion on seventeen histories", which is handed down from generation to generation. In addition, "gengyangzhai poetry anthology", "Xiji Jushi anthology" and other works.

Life of the characters

In his early years, Wang Mingsheng studied poetry in Changzhou and Shen Deqian. Later, he asked for classics from Yu Huidong. He studied Confucian classics, history, primary school, bibliography and so on. He ranked first in the 19th year of Qianlong (1754). He served as editor of Hanlin academy, Bachelor of official studies, Bachelor of cabinet and Minister of rites, and Minister of Guanglu temple. He took a concubine on his way to be the chief examiner of Fujian provincial examination. He was impeached by the imperial censor Luo Dian and moved to Guanglu temple. Later, he resigned.

Wang Mingsheng insisted on opposing Confucius's "spring and autumn brushwork" and refuted historical facts of his predecessors' distortions of history, such as Ouyang Xiu's new history of the Five Dynasties and Zhu Xi's Compendium of general references. He advocated: "the Scripture is to clarify the Tao, and those who seek the Tao do not have to pursue righteousness and reason in vain. However, when the text is corrected, the pronunciation is distinguished, the exegesis is interpreted, and the annotation is passed on, the meaning and the principle are self-evident, and the Tao is in it. Li CI Ming praised his works such as "discussing Yan Tong and resolving the doubts of ancient times".

Kangxi was born on May 21 (July 4, 1722) in Jiading County, Taicang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province (Jiading District, Shanghai). Feng Yong, the county magistrate, called him "child prodigy".

In the third year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1738), at the age of 17, he made up for all the students.

Qianlong 12 years (1747), 26 years old to participate in the Jiangnan examination in the Deputy list, only by the very name.

In 1754, when he was 33 years old, he took part in the imperial examination in Chinese style. Jiang Wenke, who was in charge of the court, attached great importance to his studies and became a guest. Later, he moved to serve as a lecturer and served as an official.

In 1759, at the age of 38, he became a Bachelor of cabinet and Minister of rites. Soon after, he became the chief examiner of Fujian provincial examination. On the way, he met a woman and took her as a concubine. He was borrowed by the Royal censor Luo Dian and moved to Guanglu temple.

In 1763, his mother died at the age of 42. Since then, he retired from his official career and settled down in Suzhou. For 30 years, he studied in a closed house, engaged in writing, researched the history of rule of law with Sinology, and studied Confucian classics with Huidong and Shen Tong.

He wrote one hundred volumes of "Discussion on seventeen histories" mainly in collating this article, correcting errors; examining the truth and falsehood of deeds, distinguishing the similarities and differences between records and biographies; and describing in detail the names and regulations of local officials. There are ten items in the hundred volumes of moth Art: Shuo Lu, Shuo Zi, Shuo Di, Shuo Zhi, Shuo Ren, Shuo Wu, Shuo Ji, Shuo Ke, Shuo Tong, Shuo Xi. Gai visited Wang Shenning and Gu Tinglin, and quoted you Jiabo as an example. In ancient Chinese, Xu and Zheng's learning was explained in the way of Europe and Zeng. In his early years, he worshipped the "prosperous Tang Dynasty" and loved Li Yishan alone. His poems were very rich and collected 40 volumes.

From hair to white, not a day out of the book. When he was 68 years old, his two eyes suddenly disappeared. When he was two years old, he was cured by Wu Xing's medical acupuncture. When he wrote the book as usual, he died on December 2, 1798 (January 18, 1798) and was 76 years old.

Main achievements

Historical works

Wang Mingsheng wrote Hongfu. He studied history with the method of Sinology textual research, which lasted for more than 20 years. He wrote a total of 100 volumes of "Discussion on the seventeen histories". This paper makes a textual research on the chronicles, annals, tables and biographies from the historical records to the Five Dynasties, distinguishes the similarities and differences, complements each other, and corrects the mistakes by referring to other historical masterpieces. It is one of the famous historical works of the Qing Dynasty. His 30 volumes of "Shangshu Houan" and 1 volume of "houbian" focus on the theory of Zheng xuanzhi, the Confucian classics scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This book is also an important work that inherits the Confucian classics tradition of the Han Dynasty.

In his later years, he imitated Gu Yanwu's "rizhilu" and wrote 100 volumes of "moth art series", which is of great academic value to the research of ancient Chinese system, utensils, characters, geography, inscriptions and so on. The manuscript of moth art chapter is about 100 volumes, but Wang's manuscript has not been finalized before his death. According to Yao Chengxu's "moth Art Edition * postscript" to Daoguang's Zhongmou engraving, there are 95 volumes of notes, and 82 volumes of actual engraving. His "Fanli" is called "Shuo Ke" 10 volumes, which details the gold and stone of the past dynasties. Wang Chang's "Jinshi Bian" has been seen, which is needless to say (in fact, "Cui Bian" has not been fully included); Shuo Xi "3 volumes, which are listed in the past It should be included in Wang's genealogy. So the book is 82 volumes. They are Volume 14 of Shuo Lu, Volume 22 of Shuo Zi, Volume 14 of Shuo Di, Volume 10 of Shuo Ren, Volume 2 of Shuo Wu, Volume 12 of Shuo Zhi, Volume 6 of Shuo Ji and Volume 2 of Shuo Tong. It is a collection of Wang's works on learning at ordinary times. When he proofread it, he checked the original text and found that it was the source of the note. If he said too much, he said it a little roundly. His notes are also in the book. There are shikaitang Edition (this edition) and xusikuquanshu edition in Daoguang 21 years. In addition, there are 80 volumes of XuSong Wenjian and 6 volumes of zhoulijun Fu Shuo.

historical thought

Wang Mingsheng emphasized "seeking truth" and took the textual research of "the truth of Canon system" and "the truth of deeds" as his aim. The development of Chinese historiography to the Qing Dynasty has experienced more than 2000 years of heavy accumulation. Of course, the achievements are great, but the disadvantages are also hard to return. When a historical trend of thought came into being, it sorted out and reformed the books of the previous generation according to its purpose, which promoted the development of historiography, but inevitably caused all kinds of artificial errors, resulting in the distortion and tampering of ancient historical records. With unprecedented rational consciousness, historians in the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods made a comprehensive clean-up of ancient Chinese historical records.

The characteristics of Wang Mingsheng's textual research on history are as follows: first, he makes an overall evaluation of a formal history, then he studies various specific problems, and finally he discusses other relevant historical books. For example, the textual research of Hanshu begins with "Hanshu narrative examples" and "history" and "Hanshu Fanjian" as a whole. The textual research on the characters and historical facts of Hanshu is accompanied by the textual research of Hanji at the end. Another example is the textual research on the two books of the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning, the two books are summarized as a whole in terms of "the different time of the song and the European calligraphy" and "no distinction between the two books". The following textual research on the calligraphy and historical facts of the new and old books of the Tang Dynasty. At the end, the textual research on the historical judgment of the Tang Dynasty and Tang Jian is attached. Wang Mingsheng's discussion on the seventeen histories, compared with his notes on the twenty two histories and textual research on the twenty two histories, has made outstanding achievements in the textual research of historical books, historical deeds, geographical and official systems, and has made contributions to the sorting out and summarizing of ancient Chinese historiography.

The motive of Wang Mingsheng's writing "Discussion on the seventeen histories" shows the profound rational consciousness of historians. Based on the rational spirit of allowing himself to work and benefiting from his later studies, he devoted himself to historical research. He explained that the purpose of writing this book is "scholars always suffer from the complexity of official history, or they are ignorant of the classics, their deeds, geographical officials, their eyes narrowed and their hearts narrowed.". Try to take Yu Shu as the old horse of solitary bamboo, put it beside it and read it, dredge it and prove it. You can't feel that it's like opening the knot, shaking the pulse, or even having little help! It's not good for a man to let his work make his posterity comfortable; it's good for him to make his posterity happy when his residence is difficult. " (preface to the discussion on the seventeen Histories) this kind of consciousness of being willing to be the ladder of posterity impels Wang Mingsheng to make painstaking efforts, advance in the face of difficulties, and devote himself to the cause of historical textual research without complaint and regret. He has made fruitful achievements in historical textual research, and even can make a thousand year's reply on some issues. For example, he made a textual research on the inaccuracy of the deletion of Cui? Zhuan in the new Tang book, and pointed out that Wu Zhen's correction of errors in the new Tang book in the Song Dynasty was due to his ignorance of the Tang Dynasty system. The problems that Wu Zhen, who was closer to the Tang Dynasty, could not solve were solved by Wang Mingsheng, who was more than a thousand years later. I'm afraid it's not all about personal ability. It's mainly about whether he has the consciousness of willing to work hard and benefit later generations. This kind of rational spirit is worthy of admiration.

Wang Mingsheng's Historiography

The rational consciousness of Wang Mingsheng's historiography is reflected in his representative work "Discussion on seventeen histories". Wang Mingsheng regarded the textual research of historical rules and regulations and historical events as the swans of historians' governance, and opposed historians' subjective praise and criticism. He said: "there are gains and losses in the system of Canon recorded by historians. Readers need not express their opinions freely, and they need to be clear about the law. However, when we examine the fact of its canon system, we can have a clear understanding of the history of its establishment for thousands of years.

His deeds are both beautiful and evil, and history readers don't have to impose grammar, and they are good at adding and seizing. However, when we examine the facts of his deeds, we can find out the similarities and differences of the records, and the separation and combination of what he saw and heard. If he can be praised, if he can be belittled, how can we listen to the public opinions of the world. " (preface to the discussion on the seventeen Histories) it is of positive significance for Wang Mingsheng to put forward the principle of recording and verifying the authenticity of the ancient laws and regulations and historical events. Because the rise and fall of the history of chaos is reflected through the system of laws and regulations. If historians omit the system of laws and regulations, they will not be able to investigate the pros and cons of the former society, and historiography will lose its role of reference and management of the world.

The nature of the book "Discussion on the seventeen histories" is to investigate whether the official history records of the past dynasties are based on the Shi Zhi books, and to restore the truth of the false records caused by various reasons. Wang Mingsheng's attitude of paying attention to textual research and carefully praising and criticizing shows his rational spirit of respecting objective facts. The article "Xiang's fallacy 4", "Liu Jixiang biting Xiang", "Chen Ping's heresy" and "fan Suiqing killing Bai Qi" in "17 history discussion" also discuss historical figures and praise historical traces, but the praise and criticism are based on real historical facts

Chinese PinYin : Wang Ming Sheng