Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/233

 [q.v.], but later committed suicide. His younger daughter, Wang Shu-p'in 汪淑蘋, also committed suicide, owing to alleged mistreatment at the hands of her stepmother. On October 4 Wang Shih-to declined to accept a post from the Taipings, and on December 17 succeeded in escaping from Nanking to Chi-ch'i, Anhwei, where, for the ensuing six years, he made his living as a teacher in private schools. Fortunately he kept a diary of his experiences in Nanking under the Taipings and also a diary covering the years 1855–56. Three manuscripts of this diary were edited by Têng Chih-ch'êng 鄧之誠 into a three chüan book, entitled 乙丙日記 I-ping jih-chi, printed in 1936. In it Wang praises the ability of the Taiping leaders,, and , and concludes that the fundamental cause of the uprising was over-population and poor government by the Manchus. The remedies he proposed included birth-control, the destruction of female infants, and ruthless measures against the rebels.

On February 10, 1859, Wang Shih-to was invited by Hu Lin-i to Wuchang to assist the latter in his post as governor of Hupeh. But as Wang declined to accept any official title, Hu provided him and other scholars with quarters to compile the compendium on military tactics known as Tu-shih ping-lüeh (see under ). Feeling sympathy for the impoverished and aging scholar, Hu printed (1860) his Shui-ching chu t'u (圖), 2 chüan—charts on the Classic of Waterways (see under ), including two treatises, entitled 漢志釋地略 Han-chih shih-ti lüeh and Han-chih chih-i (志疑), which are his critical notes on the geographic section of the History of the Earlier Han Dynasty. Hu provided a preface to the work in which he dilates on Wang's career, his personal characteristics, his extensive knowledge of various subjects, and the many books he compiled, most of which were destroyed in the turmoil of the Rebellion. Despite Wang's preoccupation with scholarly matters, Hu Lin-i often consulted him on civil and military matters, and when Hu was in charge of the Anhwei campaign they had almost daily correspondence on current affairs. Nor did Wang's ability escape the notice of who, when hard-pressed at Ch'i-mên (1860–61), Anhwei, received from Wang numerous suggestions, many of which were accepted. After the recapture of Anking (September 5, 1861), Wang offered to both Tsêng and Hu suggestions for winning over some of the Taiping leaders, and also plans which led to the final recovery of Nanking. After Hu's death, on September 30, 1861, Wang wrote a detailed account of his administration as governor of Hupeh, entitled 胡文忠公撫鄂記 Hu Wên-chung kung fu-Ê chi, 6 (some sources say 20) chüan, completed in 1862. Unfortunately the manuscript of this work has not yet been discovered. After the recapture of Nanking on July 19, 1864, Wang returned to that city, but declined to accept an official post, though his lowly habitation was frequented by eminent visitors and by such officials as Tsêng Kuo-fan and. Later Wang was asked to be a compiler of the 同治上江兩縣志 T'ung-chih Shang-Chiang liang-hsien chih, a local history of Shang-yüan and Kiang-ning which was printed in 1874. In 1880 he was editor-in-chief of the 續纂江寧府志 Hsü-tsuan Chiang-ning fu-chih, a supplementary history of the prefecture of Nanking (1881). At the same time his collection of prose and verse was published by his friends and disciples under the title 汪梅村先生集 Wang Mei-ts'un hsien-shêng chi, 12 + 1 chüan (1881). In 1883–84 a pupil published more of his verse under the titles, 悔翁詩鈔 Hui-wêng shih-ch'ao, 15 chüan, and Hui-wêng tz'ŭ-ch'ao (詞鈔), 5 chüan; and his notes, Hui-wêng pi-chi (筆記), in 6 chüan. In 1885 Wang's achievements were brought to the notice of the Emperor who bestowed upon him the title, Preceptor of the Imperial Academy. He died at the age of eighty-eight (sui).

By his first wife Wang Shih-to had five daughters and one son, and by his second, three sons. But all of his children died young, except his third daughter, Wang Shu-ling 汪淑苓 (b. 1834), who married a fellow-townsman named Wu Jung-k'uan 吳榮寬. The latter seems after 1877 to have taken his family to Shansi where he remained. In recent years a number of Wang's unpublished manuscripts have been discovered in Taiyuan, Shansi, where his son-in-law had probably taken them. Some of these manuscripts are in the possession of Têng Chih-ch'êng who edited from them, in addition to the I-ping jih-chi and other works, a supplementary volume of poems, entitled Wang Hui-wêng shih hsü-ch'ao (續鈔), of which the latest preface is dated 1925.

[5/74/20a; Chronological Biography in Shih-hsüeh nien-pao (see bibl. under ), vol. 2, no. 3 (1936);, T'sêng Wên-chêng kung ch'üan-chi; , Hu Wên-chung 835