Biography
Wang Mingsheng, also known as Fengjie, Yitang, Xizhuang, and Xib in his later years, was a native of Jiading Town (now Shanghai). He is a bachelor of official studies, a bachelor of the cabinet, a minister of the Ministry of Rites, and the minister of Guanglu Temple.
Born on May 21, the 61st year of Kangxi's reign (July 4, 1722), he was very smart at a young age. He could read hundreds of words at the age of four or five. The county magistrate Feng Yong regarded him as a child prodigy. At the age of seventeen, make up for all life. He has repeatedly won the first place in the annual national examination, and was ranked second in the rural examination, and his reputation is very good. Su Fu and Chen Dasheng were admitted to the *** Academy to study, and talented people from the southeast came out from under them. In Wumen, he sang peace with Wang Chang Defu, Wu Tailai Qi Jin, Zhao Wenzhe and others; Shen Shangshu Guiyu thought he was no better than the "seven sons of Jiajing". He also discussed the classics with Hui Songyan and realized that Han Confucianism must be the basis for exegesis. I have followed "Shang Shu" by heart and have been exploring for a long time, and I believe that the ancient texts of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are definitely fake, and the annotations by Ma and Zheng are actually the ancient texts of Kongbi; the "Taishao" presented by the Eastern Jin Dynasty is solidly fake, but the Tang Confucians denounced it as a fake Taishi. It is true and not false; distinguishing the authenticity of ancient texts, and the twenty-nine chapters of "Shangshu" are all brilliant, and it is useful to know what is going on.
In the twelfth year of Qianlong (1747), when he was 26 years old, he took part in the Jiangnan Provincial Examination and passed the examination.
In the 19th year of Qianlong (1754), he took part in the imperial examination at the age of 33, in Chinese style. He passed the imperial examination as the second person in the first class and was submitted to the Imperial Academy for editing. Duke Pu, Jiang Wenke, who was in charge of the academy, valued his studies and was extended as a guest. Later, he moved to serve as a lecturer for bachelors and served as a daily lecturer and official.
In the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign (1759), at the age of 38, he became a cabinet bachelor and minister of rites. Not long after he became the examiner of the Fujian Provincial Examination, he met a woman on the way and took her as a concubine. She was used by Luo Dian, the censor, and moved to the left to become the minister of Guanglu Temple.
In the 28th year of Qianlong's reign (1763), his mother died at the age of 42. He retired from official service and settled down in Suzhou. He stayed at home for thirty years, studied in isolation, engaged in writing, used Sinology to examine the history of the rule of law, and studied Confucian classics with Huidong and ***.
He wrote hundreds of volumes of "Seventeen Histories", mainly collating the text, correcting errors and omissions; examining the true and false of the deeds, distinguishing the similarities and differences in the records and biographies; and detailing every detail of the names and objects of officials, officials, and objects. There are 100 volumes of Mo Shu Pian, with ten titles: Shuo Lu, Shuo Zi, Shuo Place, Shuo Zhi, Shuo People, Shuo Things, Shuo Ji, Shuo Ke, Shuo Tong, Shuo Department. In order to cover the visit to Wang Shenning and Gu Tinglin, Yuga Bo was cited for support. The ancient text "Xu Dunhou" used the methods of Ou and Zeng to explain the studies of Xu and Zheng. In his early years, he admired the "prosperous Tang Dynasty" in poetry, and loved Li Yishan alone. He was rich in chants and collected in forty volumes.
From the time when my hair was tied up until it turned gray, I never stopped reading for a day. At the age of 68, his eyesight suddenly went blind, and he was two years old. He was cured by Wuxing's medical acupuncture, and he was writing books as usual. He died on December 2, the second year of Jiaqing (January 18, 1798), at the age of seventy-six. Main works
Wang Mingsheng writes about Hongfu. He used Sinological textual research methods to study history, which lasted more than 20 years, and wrote 100 volumes of "Seventeen Historical Discussions". The records, chronicles, records, and biographies in the histories starting from the "Historical Records" and going down to the Five Dynasties will be cross-examined, similarities and differences will be distinguished, and each other will be supplemented. Other historical masterpieces will also be consulted to correct errors. The geography, official positions, regulations and systems are all explained in detail, making it one of the famous historical works of the Qing Dynasty.
He wrote 30 volumes of "Shang Shu Hou Case" and 1 volume of "Hou Bian", focusing on the teachings of Zheng Xuanzhi, a classics scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This book is also an important work that inherits the tradition of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty.
In his later years, he imitated Gu Yanwu's "Rizhilu" and wrote 100 volumes of "Moth Art", which has research on ancient Chinese systems, artifacts, characters, characters, geography, inscriptions, etc., and is of high academic value. The original manuscript of "Moshu Pian" is about one hundred volumes, and the final version was not finalized during Wang's lifetime. According to Yao Chengxu's "Moshu Bian*Postscript", which was published in Daoguang, there are ninety-five volumes in the banknote version, and eighty-two volumes were actually engraved. "Fan Lv" is called "Shuo Ke" in ten volumes, which details the epigraphy of the past dynasties. It has been found in Wang Chang's "Epigraphy and Stone Collection", so there is no need to go into details (in fact, the "Cui Collection" does not collect them all); the three volumes of "Shuo Series" are prepared to list the ancestors. Old news should be included in Wang's "Family Tree". Therefore, the engraved version is eighty-two volumes. They are Volumes 1 and 4 of "Shuo Lu", Volumes 2 and 2 of "Shuo Zi", Volumes 1 and 4 of "Shuo Di", Volume 10 of "Shuo Ren", Volume 2 of "Shuo Wu", Volume 1 and 2 of "Shuo Zhi", and "Shuo Zhi". "Shuo Ji" in six volumes and "Shuo Tong" in two volumes. It is a compilation of Wang's usual academic writings. Gen Heshou was a co-editor, who checked the original text when editing and annotated the source. If something was said that was too much, it was corrected. Gen's annotations are also kept in the book. There are extant copies of the Kaitang engraved version of Daoguang's 21st century (that is, this version), and the "Xu Siku Quanshu" version.
There are also 80 volumes of "Continuation of Song Dynasty Wenjian" and 6 volumes of "Zhou Li Jun Fu Shuo". Historiographical Thoughts
Wang Mingsheng emphasized "truth-seeking" and took the purpose of conducting historical research to verify "the reality of the classics" and "the reality of the deeds". The development of Chinese historiography to the Qing Dynasty has gone through more than two thousand years of accumulation. Although the achievements are great, the shortcomings are also hard to reverse. Whenever a historical trend of thought is formed, the books of previous generations are organized and transformed according to its purpose. This certainly promotes the development of history, but it also inevitably causes various human errors, and ancient historical books are distorted and tampered with. of accumulated disadvantages. Historians during the Qianjia period conducted a comprehensive review of ancient Chinese historical records with an unprecedented sense of rationality.
The characteristic of Wang Mingsheng's historical research is to first make an overall evaluation of an official history, then examine various specific issues, and finally discuss other related history books. For example, in the textual research of "Hanshu", the article "Narrative Examples of "Hanshu"" and ""History" and "Hanshu" Slips" are summarized at the beginning. Regarding the textual research and historical facts of "Hanshu", the textual research of "Hanshu" is included at the end. "Han Ji". Another example is the textual research on the two "Tangshu". The beginning is summarized by the articles "Song and Europe compiled the books at different times" and "the two books are not good or bad". The following is a textual research on the calligraphy and historical facts of the new and old "Tangshu", and ends with textual research. Books such as "Judgment of Tang History" and "Tang Jian". Compared with "Seventeen Histories" and "Twenty-Two Histories" and "Twenty-Two Histories", Wang Mingsheng's achievements are outstanding in the textual research of historical books, historical deeds, geography, officials and other regulations and systems. Contributed to cleaning up and summarizing ancient Chinese historiography.
Wang Mingsheng's motivation for writing "Seventeen Historical Discussions" shows the historian's profound rational consciousness. In the rational spirit of letting oneself do one's own work and benefiting from later studies, he devoted himself whole-heartedly to historical research. He stated that the purpose of writing this book is that "scholars often struggle with the complexity of official history and it is difficult to read, or encounter confusion about canonical systems, deeds and geography officials, narrow eyes and a narrow heart. Try to think of this book as an old horse with a lonely bamboo, and put it in front of you. Look at it from the side, unblock it and prove it, and you will not feel like the joints are opening and closing, the tendons are twisting and the pulse is shaking, maybe there is no help! I will let you work hard, and let future generations enjoy it; I will live there. Isn't it a good thing to make it easy for future generations to make it difficult?" ("Seventeen Histories, Preface") This consciousness of being willing to be a ladder for future generations drove Wang Mingsheng to work tirelessly and advance despite difficulties without any regrets! He devoted himself deeply to the cause of historical research and achieved fruitful achievements in historical research. On some issues, he could even make a difference in a thousand years. For example, he verified that the "New Tang Book" had deleted and misrepresented the "Old Tang Book·Cui Hui Zhuan" and pointed out that Wu Zhen's "New Tang Book Correction" of the Song Dynasty was wrong because he did not understand the system of the Tang Dynasty. The problems that Wu Zhen, who was relatively recent to the Tang Dynasty, could not solve, were instead solved by Wang Mingsheng more than a thousand years later. I am afraid it is not all about personal ability, but mainly about whether he is willing to work hard and benefit future students. This rational spirit deserves to be admired by future generations.
The rational consciousness of Wang Mingsheng's historiography
The rational consciousness of Wang Mingsheng's historiography is reflected in his representative work "Discussions on Seventeen Histories". Wang Mingsheng regards the research and clear research of historical laws, regulations, systems and historical events as the basis for historians to govern history, and opposes historians' subjective praise, criticism and free discussion. He said: "Historians have recorded gains and losses in the canon system. Readers of history do not need to have opinions and debates to clarify the law. But when we examine the reality of the canon system, we can have a clear understanding of the history of construction over thousands of years. Whether it is appropriate to follow the law or to be admonished, it is your choice to treat others. There are good and bad deeds. Readers of history do not need to impose grammar and add or take away, but should examine the reality of their deeds. , according to the history and latitude of the years, the divisions and states, the similarities and differences in the records, and the separation and combination of what was seen and heard, one by one can be analyzed without doubt, and if it is good, it can be praised, if it is bad, it can be criticized, and it can only be heard by the public opinion of the world. " ("Seventeen Histories". "Shangke·Preface") Wang Mingsheng put forward the recording and verification of the laws and regulations of the past dynasties and the truth of historical events as the purpose of historical management and the principle of historical examination, which is of positive significance. Because the ups and downs of the past dynasties are reflected in the laws and regulations. If historians omit the laws and regulations and do not record them, later generations will not be able to examine the pros and cons of previous generations of society, and history will lose its role of reference and management of the world. The nature of the book "Seventeen Historical Discussions" is to examine whether the official historical records of the past dynasties are based on the actual facts, and to restore the truth to the inaccurate records caused by various reasons. Wang Mingsheng's attitude of paying attention to textual research and speaking cautiously about praise and criticism shows the rational spirit of respecting objective facts in governing history.
Articles such as "Xiang's fallacies four", "Liu borrowed Xiang to eat Xiang", "Chen Ping's heresy", "Fan Sui Qingbai set out to kill him" in "Seventeen Histories" also discuss historical figures and praise and criticize historical monuments of the past dynasties. , but praise and criticism are based on real historical facts, and the discussion is placed in a specific historical environment. It is not an empty and abstract discussion of praise and criticism, which is completely different from the nature of the discussion regardless of objective facts. The essence of this kind of historical commentary is the dialectical unity of respect for historical facts and objective evaluation, which is crucial to the development of ancient Chinese historical methodology.
Wang Mingsheng devoted his main energy to editing and annotating ancient books and verifying historical events. It was precisely to shoulder the historical mission entrusted by the times and to adapt to the social needs of the period when Chinese traditional culture was summarized. In the practice of historical research, he realized: "There are many mistakes in the copying and engraving of ancient books, and they are often corrected by the unlearned. When I open the book, I often sigh that there are few scholars in the past." ("Seventeen Historical Discussions" Volume 42 "Li" "Philadelphia") If you do not first verify the errors in historical books and write a book based on erroneous historical facts, it will definitely have no academic value. Wang Mingsheng believes that the top priority is to conduct a comprehensive examination of ancient historical records and establish doubts, rather than busy writing. He said: "It is better to read more than to write well. If you want to read, you must first proofread it carefully. If you read too quickly without proofreading, you may make many mistakes; if you read lightly but do not read diligently, you may make too many mistakes." ("Seventeen Histories·Preface") He advocated combining the examination of errors and doubts with the intention of writing a book. He had a dialectical understanding of writing the book "Seventeen Histories": "I am not the one who intends to write a book. However, he cited his achievements in reading and proofreading to teach future generations. He did not come up with any new ideas at first, and he wrote a book by himself, just like the so-called "generating opinions, galloping discussions, clarifying the law and precepts, and establishing grammar with his husband." Those who arbitrarily add praise and blame, and claim the power of writing are those who do not want to be imitated. However, they are those who do not write, and even though they are written, they still belong to those who have not written." ("Seventeen Histories". "Shangke·Preface") He believed that only historical research works with correct historical facts and substantiated content are works, while those works that are subjectively discussed, praised and criticized without historical facts are not historical books. Wang Mingsheng's writing consciousness is the most representative among the historians of the Qian and Jiaqing Dynasties, reflecting the writing values ??of the historians of the Qing Dynasty.
The history of Wang Mingsheng's governance focuses on examining the authenticity of historical records
The history of Wang Mingsheng's governance is based on "hoping to get the truth", so it pays special attention to the training of methodology. Accumulating a lifetime of academic experience, he summed up a set of methods on how to read, how to proofread, and how to verify the authenticity of historical records. Among them, reading based on a thorough knowledge of bibliography and thus laying a broad knowledge foundation are necessary preparations for historical research based on "obtaining the truth"; however, in the case of ancient books that have not been collated and have too much language, Next, reading must be combined with proofreading. The two are prerequisites for each other. From proofreading, the work of verifying the authenticity of historical records begins. Reading, proofreading, and identifying forgeries are interdependent and inseparable. It seems to be said that his reading method is calibrated calligraphy, and calibrated calligraphy is the identification of forgery. Everything revolves around the historical purpose of "expecting to obtain the truth."
How does Wang Mingsheng proofread his books? "The Preface to the Seventeen Histories of Shang Que" says, "I corrected the corrupted text, supplemented the lost text, and refined the text. I also quoted the canonical deeds, interpreted the confusion, reviewed and refuted, and finally completed the book, so it is called Shang Que." Wang Mingsheng, the so-called "correction" here is not just the work of text correction as commonly understood, but also a scientific research work that includes historical factual research and restores the true nature of history based on facts. The reason why he titled his historical work "Discussions on Seventeen Histories" was because his main focus was to "discuss" the authenticity of historical facts with previous history books, especially official histories compiled by the government. The process of collation is the process of reading seriously: "You both collate and read, you also read along with the collation, buy and borrow rare books, and collate again and again." As for verifying the authenticity of historical records, you need to resort to sources other than official history. Multiple evidence.
Among the various historical materials collected by Wang Mingsheng, they can be roughly divided into two categories: one is documentary records, including unofficial notes, local chronicles, various schools of thought, collections of poems and essays, Buddhist and Taoist classics, etc.; The other category is cultural relics, including inscriptions on bells, tripods, memorials to the Yi people, and inscriptions on mountain tombs, temples, Jialan steles, and cutoffs. He believes that these two types of materials can be checked and corroborated by each other, and he actually uses these two types of materials to conduct "intricate reference. Historical research on "Comparing things with similar things". This method was what Wang Guowei later called the "double evidence method." Wang Mingsheng emphasized the "historiography related to epigraphy and stone"
He believed that ancient epigraphic inscriptions could not only supplement the gaps in historical records, but also correct the errors in historical records. Both are of extremely important significance for restoring the truth of history.
In terms of using epigraphic data to supplement the gaps in historical records, his discoveries are of particularly great value to historical research. For example, neither the Old Book of Tang nor the New Book of Tang records that Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu colluded to frame the famous general Wang Zhongsi, but this incident was unusually related to major historical events that occurred later. "History has omissions, but you can see them through monuments." Wang Mingsheng supplemented this important historical fact that had been omitted based on the "Wang Zhongsi Shinto Stele" written by Yuan Zai, explaining how Wang Zhongsi was framed, thus providing another layer of explanation for the comprehensive explanation of why the Anshi Rebellion occurred and why the Tang Dynasty grew from prosperity to decline. A piece of evidence that cannot be ignored. Just as Wang Mingsheng said: "Zhongsi ranks first among the famous generals in the Tang Dynasty. His scheming and calculating skills, which benefit the country and the people, are especially hard to come by. He suffered unjust accusations and his career declined. Let Zhongsi be used to his fullest potential. Not only are there no disturbances on both sides, there is no difficulty in Lushan. It is a great misfortune for the world that the people of the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Great Wall." As for correcting historical records based on epigraphic data, Wang Mingsheng also made many discoveries. For example, based on the rubbings of "Li Liangchen Stele", "Li Guangjin Stele" and "Li Guangyan Stele", the mistake of "Old Book of Tang" in which Li Liangchen's military exploits in quelling the Anshi Rebellion were mistakenly attached to the military exploits of his son Li Guangjin was corrected. And so on and so forth.
Wang Mingsheng’s notes on the importance of visual history in governing history
Like his contemporary historian Zhao Yi, Wang Mingsheng also believed that the so-called "Records" in the past dynasties had the disadvantage of being "taboo for the venerable". Instead, focus on the historical value of visual history notes. Zhao Yi corrected the falsifications and inaccuracies in the official history books of the past dynasties based on the authentic and credible historical materials in the unofficial history notes, and put forward the conclusion that "scholars should not ignore the ancients when discussing the past, and not necessarily all rumors are false and true". Wang Mingsheng has a similar point of view, believing that "not all those who collect novels may be wrong, and not all those who record based on facts may be wrong." The "novel" mentioned here refers to the folk unofficial historical notes; while the "factual records" refer to the official historical materials of the past dynasties recorded by the court historians and used as the basis for official revision of history. Wang Mingsheng believes that "there must be a lot of false beauty in the true records". For example, the true records of the Five Dynasties "are mostly compiled by the people of the Five Dynasties, and there must be a lot of embellishments and attachments." There are also many concealments." However, there are many true and credible ones in the unofficial history notes. Therefore, he quite fairly pointed out: "About factual records and novels have their own shortcomings and advantages. When taking them, you should conduct careful examination and consideration, and do not be paranoid." This method of seeking historical truth by cross-referencing unofficial history and official history is also in line with modern times. required by the scientific spirit.
Wang Mingsheng’s academic thoughts also have a conservative side. In terms of the study of Confucian classics, he said that "seeking the ancients means seeking truth", "do not dare to refute the classics when treating classics", and "should adhere to the family law of the Communist Party of China and follow the same master, and do not dare to move to others" . All these statements are manifestations of the limitations of Wu School's Pu Xue. However, Wang Mingsheng is an outstanding historian after all. The historical purpose that he advocated with seeking truth as the highest goal, the empirical method of verifying the authenticity of historical records, and his extraordinary historical insights are undoubtedly of great significance that cannot be ignored in promoting the modern transformation of Chinese historiography. Contribution and influence
Wang Mingsheng attaches great importance to the collation of historical records, and makes scientific judgments on the importance of collation and the necessary conditions; and makes full use of various collation methods to collate historical records; at the same time, he also pays attention to the discussion of errors caused by historical records The reasons were summarized and "erroneous cases" were summarized. The collation method was comprehensive and the results were fruitful. It made a huge contribution to the improvement of textual criticism in the Qing Dynasty and provided great convenience for future generations to sort out and study ancient historical books.
In terms of historical purposes, Wang Mingsheng resolutely rejected Confucius's "Spring and Autumn Annals" and the Confucian tradition of "galloping discussions and clarifying laws and precepts" in the Song and Ming Dynasties. The pursuit of truth is the highest purpose of history; in terms of historical methodology, he systematically discussed the empirical methods of "examining the reality of its canons" and "examining the reality of its deeds"; in terms of historical theory, Wang Mingsheng also contradicted the traditional Confucian concepts, Based on historical facts, it overturns the verdict of historical figures and events such as Fan Ye, the Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty, Yongzhen Reform, Ganlu Incident, Wen Tingyun, and Li Shangyin, showing extraordinary historical wisdom. A home of books
He is frugal and has no taste for sensuality. He only has pictures on the left and history on the right. He also has many engraved and Ming editions of Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasties in his collection, including those by Huang Pilie, Mo Boji, Ding Bing, Luo Zhenchang and other collectors. There are also records of his old collection in the bibliography. He has been studying Shangshu for more than 30 years and has written more than 30 volumes of Shangshu Later Cases. He is the author of hundreds of volumes of "Seventeen Histories", one of the classics of history. He also studied epigraphy and catalogues.
The collection of books is rich, most of which are used for historical research. It has extensively collected unofficial history notes, novels from hundreds of schools of thought, and inscriptions on Dingyi inscriptions. The library is located in "Gengyangzhai", "Yizhitang", etc., and has been carefully collated and reviewed. The books in the collection are printed with "Tongyi Dafu", "Yichou Tanhuaji", "Xizhuang Jushi", "Xib Jushi", "Guanglu Qing's Chapter", etc. He has written many works, mainly including "Zhou Li Jun Fu Shuo", "Xi B Jushi Ji", "Mo Shu Bian", etc. He also selected 12 poets he had known in his life and compiled them into "Tailing Collection", which he later engraved as "Xizhuang Shicun Manuscript".