Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/216

 Chinese history as stated in the Tzŭ-chih t'ung-chien (see under ) and other works. These writings are marked by shrewd judgment and critical acumen and embody at the same time his political philosophy. Perhaps no other person has demonstrated so clearly the differences between the institutions of the feudal period and those which came after. Wang dismissed with contempt the view of those Confucianists who argued that the ching-t'ien 井田 and other similar systems were put into practice after the feudal institutions were abolished. He supported the theory that the state is organized for the sake of the people, and not for their rulers—the best form of government being, in his opinion, the one which can be of the greatest service to the people. Nevertheless he believed that the people, being incapable of ruling themselves, need kings to carry out the will of Heaven. His works, being nationalistic in tone, stress the view that no alien is entitled to rule China. National heroes like Yüeh Fei (see under ) and Tsung Tsê 宗澤 are exalted, and traitors like Ch'in K'uei 秦檜  are unsparingly denounced. His political philosophy is even more systematically expressed in his 黃書 Huang-shu and his 噩夢 Ê-mêng, each consisting of 1 chüan.

As a classical scholar Wang Fu-chih was primarily concerned with the meaning of obscure terms and phrases which he analyzed by historical and philological methods. In this field he left more than thirty works, among them the 四書訓義 Ssŭ-shu hsün-i, 38 chüan, on the Four Books, and the 禮記章句 Li-chi chang-chü, 48 chüan, on the Record of Rites. But he was primarily a patriot, compelled to write because there was no means left to him for the expression of his nationalistic convictions. Hence all his works are dominated by a strong love of country. In this he resembles and  with whom, though they were contemporaries, he had no direct contact because of his self-imposed seclusion.

Wang Fu-chih was also celebrated as a poet, leaving eighteen collections of his own verse, in various forms; four collections of literary criticism; and seven anthologies of poets, from ancient times to the end of the Ming period. A drama, entitled 龍舟會 Lung-chou hui, is attributed to him. A collection of his short prose writings is entitled 薑齋文集 Chiang-chai wên-chi, 10 chüan, with a supplement (補遺 pu-i), 2 chüan.

Wang Fu-chih never received, during his lifetime, the recognition that was his due, owing to the fact that his works were not then published. Although about ten of them—chiefly on the classics—were printed by the middle of the nineteenth century, most of them lay in manuscript for about two centuries—a circumstance that shielded his anti-Ch'ing pronouncements from the literary inquisition of later times. The significance of his writings was first recognized by Têng Hsien-ho (see under ) who, on the basis of printed works and manuscript copies preserved by Wang's descendants, printed at Changsha in 1840–42 the collected works of Wang Fu-chih under the title 船山遺書 Ch'uan-shan i-shu. This collection contains 18 titles comprising 150 chüan—the editorial work being done by. In 1842 Wang's Ssŭ-shu hsün-i (see above) was printed by the Shou-i-ching Shu-wu 守遺經書屋, the library of a Wang 王 family at Hsiang-t'an, Hunan. The printing-blocks of these two editions were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion, but when established the Kiangnan Printing Office in Nanking (1864–66), that office reprinted the Ch'uan-shan i-shu. This edition, consisting of 58 titles in 288 chüan (not including the Ssŭ-shu hsün-i), was edited by and other scholars. At the same time Liu compiled a chronological biography of Wang Fu-chih, entitled 王船山先生年譜 Wang Ch'uan-shan hsien-shêng nien-p'u, which was printed with a preface by Liu dated 1865. This nien-p'u was corrected and supplemented by Lo Chêng-chün 羅正鈞, a Hunanese chü-jên of 1885, but Lo's edition appears not to have been printed. Lo was the author of a work about the friends and teachers of Wang Fu-chih, which he entitled Ch'uan-shan shih-yu chi (師友記), 17 chüan, printed in 1907. Liu Jên-hsi 劉人熙 of Liu-yang, Hunan, printed between the years 1897–1917 several work by Wang Fu-chih which had not appeared in Tsêng's edition. Early in this century the leaders of the anti-Ch'ing movement found support for their program in Wang's writings, thereby calling attention also to his other works. A definitive edition of the Ch'uan-shan i-shu, consisting of 70 titles in 358 chüan, appeared in 1910 in Shanghai. About the year 1915 there was established at Changsha an institute for the study of Wang's writings, known as the Ch'uan-shan Hsüeh-shê (學社). In the periodical Ch'uan-shan hsüeh-pao (報), published by this institute there is a nien-p'u of Wang written in 1934–35 by Wang Chih-ch'un 王之春. A work, entitled Ch'uan-shan hsüeh-p'u (譜), 6 chüan, printed in 818