Wang Bo (1197–1274) was a Song-dynasty Chinese scholar, historian, poet, painter, and specialist in the Book of Changes. He was styled Huizhi, also Bohui; his sobriquets were Changxiao and Luzhai. He was a native of Jinhua in Wuzhou, present-day Jinhua in Zhejiang.
Life and education
His father was Wang Han and his grandfather Wang Shiyu; both had studied under Zhu Xi and Lü Zuqian. Orphaned young, he served his elder brother with great respect.
Admiring Zhuge Liang in his youth, he adopted Changxiao as a sobriquet; after he was over thirty, he came to see that his former sobriquet conflicted with the Confucian way of reverent attentiveness and therefore changed it.
He studied with He Ji, a disciple of Huang Gan and a second-generation disciple of Zhu Xi, and was described as solid and diligent in learning. The prefectures of Wuzhou and Taizhou later engaged him as a teacher at the Lize and Shangcai academies.
His titles included Chengshilang, Jiedu zhangshuji, jiaoshou, and xianzheng.
Family, associates, and students
His family included his elder brother Wang Tong (王桐), younger brother Wang Xiang (王相), son Wang Fu (王怤), and son-in-law Kang Daoyuan (康道元).
He was friends with He Qin, Wang Kaizhi, and Lin Shi; his students included Wang Kan, Jin Lüxiang, Che Ruoshui, Zhou Jingsun, Chen Tianrui, Sheng Xiangweng, and Yang Qi.
Scholarship and art
His work in the Classics included discussions of the Changes, Documents, Odes, Spring and Autumn Annals, Analects, and Mencius, and he was skilled at interpreting and correcting the Classics.
He was a poet and painter, and his writings were prolific.
Works and transmission
His oeuvre comprised several dozen works. His works included 《讀易記》, 《讀書記》, 《詩辨說》, 《天文考》, 《地理考》, 《詩疑》, 《書疑》, and 《研幾圖》.
Other works included 《論語衍義》, 《讀詩記》, 《孟子通旨》, 《文章復古》, 《文章續古》, 《濂洛文統》, 《擬道學志》, 《朱子摘要》, 《詩可言》, 《發遣三昧》, 《紫陽詩類》, 《家乘》, and collected writings.
Most of these works, including 《詩疑》 and 《書疑》, have been lost; his poetry and prose collection 《甲寅稿》 has also been lost. In the Ming Zhengtong era, his sixth-generation descendant Wang Di assembled a twenty-volume 《王文憲公文集》, which Liu Tong, magistrate of Yiwu, printed in the eighth year of Zhengtong (1443).
Death and posthumous title
He died in the tenth year of Emperor Duzong's Xianchun era (1274), aged seventy-eight, and was posthumously granted Wenxian.
References
- CBDB Wang Bo (10706)
- 搜韵 王柏 (30109)
- Wikidata Wang Bo (Q45369145)