Wang Niansun (; 1744–1832),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

: Huaizu () was a Chinese scholar of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Biography

A native of

Gaoyou Gaoyou (), is a county-level city under the administration of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta on the north side of the Yangtze River. History Recent archaeological finds at the Longqiuzhuang site in Gaoyou has ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, he worked as a government official specializing in channelization before retiring to devote himself to his studies. As an official, he is still remembered today for having the guts to

impeach Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Euro ...

the corrupt high-ranked official

Heshen Heshen (; ; 1 July 1750 – 22 February 1799) of the Manchu Niohuru clan, was an official of the Qing dynasty. Favored by the Qianlong Emperor, he was described as the most corrupt official in Chinese history, having acquired an estimated 1.1 ...

. A student of

Dai Zhen Dai Zhen (, January 19, 1724 – July 1, 1777), courtesy name Shenxiu(慎修), art name Dongyuan(東原), was a Chinese philosopher of the Qing dynasty. Hailing from Xiuning, Anhui Dai was a versatile scholar who made great contributions to m ...

, Wang is most famous for his commentary on the ancient thesaurus ''

Guangya The (c. 230) ''Guangya'' (; "Expanded '' ra''") was an early 3rd-century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi (張揖) during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the ''Boya'' (博雅; ''Bóyǎ''; ''Po-ya''; "Broadened ra") owing ...

'', ''Guangya shuzheng'' (廣雅疏證 "Guangya Annotations and Proofs"), which he spent a whole decade to complete. In his commentary he demonstrated his

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

principle of "looking for the ancient meaning by considering the ancient sound ... not constrained by the structure of the character" (). Although he was not the first one to point out this principle, he was the first one to demonstrate it in an exemplary manner. His ''Dushu zazhi'' (讀書雜誌 ''Miscellaneous Notes on the Classics'') is also a philological treasure house, especially valuable for its

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

of ancient texts. His son

Wang Yinzhi Wang Yinzhi (; 1766–1834) a Qing dynasty philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties t ...

() was also an important philologist. They are often referred together as "Father and Son Wang of Gaoyou" ().

References

*He Jiuying 何九盈 (1995). ''Zhongguo gudai yuyanxue shi'' (中囯古代语言学史 "A history of ancient Chinese linguistics"). Guangzhou: Guangdong jiaoyu chubanshe. *Wang Zhangtao 王章涛 (2006). ''Wang Niansun, Wang Yinzhi nianpu'' (王念孙, 王引之年谱 "Chronology of Wang Niansun and Wang Yinzhi"). Yangzhou: Guangling shushe. *''

Zhongguo da baike quanshu The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, b ...

'' (1980-1993). 1st Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe. * Linguists from China Qing dynasty government officials 1744 births 1832 deaths Writers from Yangzhou Politicians from Yangzhou Historians from Jiangsu 19th-century Chinese historians Qing dynasty classicists {{China-historian-stub