Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/215

 and titles. He also gave him the new title, Ching-k'ou Chiang-chün 靖寇將軍, and ordered him to serve under Tuhai at Han-chung. But Wang, feeling unsafe, attempted, without success, to hang himself; and his wives committed suicide. Late in 1681, after Wu San-kuei's rebellion had ended, Tuhai was ordered to escort Wang to Peking. Wang, however, was aware of the retribution awaiting him and strangled himself at Sian (October 10). Thereupon his hereditary rank was abolished and his family was incorporated in the Plain White Banner.

According to, Wang Fu-ch'ên did not himself wish to rebel, but was forced to do so by his subordinates. Liu also asserts that when Tuhai returned to Peking the latter was severely rebuked by Emperor Shêngtsu on the ground that he had shown himself to be a partisan of Wang. Consequently Tuhai committed suicide. The only one who profited by Wang's revolt was his adversary, Chang Yung.

[2/80/15a; P'ing-ting San-ni fang-lüeh (see under ); Liu Hsien-t'ing, Kuang-yang tsa-chi 4/16a.]

2em

 WANG Fu-chih 王夫之, Oct. 7, 1619–1692, Feb. 18, philosopher and classicist, was a native of Hêng-yang, Hunan. His father, Wang Ch'ao-p'in 王朝聘, a proponent of the philosophy of Chu Hsi (see under ), studied in the Imperial Academy during the years 1621–26 and 1628–31. Wang Fu-chih's eldest brother, Wang Chieh-chih 王介之, was a voluminous writer who left among other works a commentary, entitled 春秋四傳注 Ch'un-ch'iu ssŭ-chuan chu, 2 chüan, of which there are manuscript copies in the Seikadō Library, Tokyo, and in the Kuo-hsüeh Library, Nanking. This scholarly background probably had some influence on Wang Fu-chih. He was 9 precocious youth, with the reputation of being able to read ten times faster than the average person. At the age of twenty-three (1642) he passed the official examination for the chü-jên degree. Two years later Peking fell into the hands of the bandit leader, and finally was taken by the Manchus.

An ardent patriot, Wang Fu-chih was deeply distressed by the loss of the capital and by the martyrdom of Emperor I-tsung (see under ). He gave up all hope of taking the chin-shih degree and with his father sought refuge for four years (1644–48), during which he studied the classics intensively. Late in 1648 he raised an army at Hêng-shan, Hunan, which was de feated by Ch'ing troops. He then fled to Chao-ch'ing, Kwangtung, where he joined the Ming remnants under the Prince of Kuei (see under ). During the succeeding two years he followed the Prince to various places in Kwangtung and Kwangsi. He was respected by, but his ardent enthusiasm and his outspoken criticism of the factions that wasted their time in quarreling aroused the hatred of the dominant politicians, and they plotted his death. Realizing the hopelessness of the Ming cause, Wang abandoned the Prince of Kuei in the spring of 1650. On the basis of his experience, and the sources he had access to in these years, Wang later wrote the 永曆實錄 Yung-li shih-lu ("Veritable Records of the Yung-li Reign Period"), 26 chüan, consisting of biographies of the Prince, of his ministers, soldiers and others. Early in 1651 he returned to his native place and devoted himself to study, declining to have any dealings with the Manchus. He pursued his studies for the next forty years.

The passion of Wang Fu-chih for learning was exceeded only by his industry. His collected works, which were published recently, comprise seventy titles in 358 chüan (see below). Primarily an adherent of the Sung philosophy, he, like most of the early Ch'ing scholars, was violently opposed to the doctrines of Wang Shou-jên, usually known as Wang Yang-ming (see under ). But he differed from most of his contemporaries in his adherence to the view-points of Chang Tsai (see under ) whom he regarded as the greatest philosopher of the Sung period. His elaborate 張子正蒙注 Chang-tzŭ chêng-mêng chu, 9 chüan, elucidates both his and Chang's philosophy. Like the Sung scholars, he was learned in Buddhistic and Taoistic writings, but he did not make a secret of it as did his Sung predecessors. His commentary on the book of Chuang-tzŭ, entitled 莊子解 Chuang-tzŭ chieh, 33 chüan, is one of the best works on the subject. In addition, he composed two works on Buddhistic philosophy.

The most popular works of Wang Fu-chih are perhaps his 讀通鑑論 Tu T'ung-chien lun, 30 + 1 chüan, and his 宋論 Sung-lun, 15 chüan, in which he passes judgment on the main events of 817