Wang Anshi Collection

Author: Wei Xiaohong
Review
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-10-01
Features:
The embers of the stove are cold, the sound of the hour glass fades,
The gentle wind is biting cold in the wind.
The spring scenery is annoying, unable to sleep,
The moon moves, the flower shadows climb the railings.
—Wang Anshi, "Nightly Duty"
Between Jingkou and Guazhou, a river divides,
Zhongshan is just a few mountain ranges away.
The spring wind again turns the south bank of the Yangtze green,
When will the bright moon illuminate my return?
—Wang Anshi, "Boating at Guazhou"
A nation's culture has its source and flow. At the very least, the broad masses of the people should know what the true source of traditional Chinese culture is and what its fundamental flow is. As publishers, we have no need to explore this issue, but we have the obligation to present publications that reflect the essence of Chinese culture to the people. Thus, there is this series, "Essential Family Collection of Chinese Classics." This is a publishing plan that is almost boundless, but it reflects the sincere hearts of us as publishers. We know that the Chinese family is the fundamental unit of Chinese culture. If the cultural families of China possess the fundamental classics and representative works of the Chinese nation, then this will undoubtedly help promote our excellent national culture and forge our great national spirit. This is the original intention behind publishing this series. Therefore, this series is based on classic traditional cultural masterpieces and is divided into six volumes:
Volume 1: Classics of the Hundred Schools of Thought
This includes 16 pre-Qin foundational works such as the Book of Songs, Book of Changes, Analects, Mencius, Han Feizi, and others. They are the lifeblood of the Chinese nation. Zhang Zhidong said, "Pre-Qin writings are worth a thousand gold in a word." This accurately summarizes the works of the Pre-Qin philosophers.
Volume 2: Selected Works of Famous Poets
This includes individual selected works of 21 renowned literary figures such as Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Li Bai, Du Fu, and Yuan Haowen. These selections center on Tang and Song Dynasty literary masters, representing the highest achievements of Chinese lyrical literature.
Volume 3: Masterpieces of Historiography
This includes the Zuo Zhuan, the Four Histories, and the Zizhi Tongjian. They are the essence of Chinese historiography. To understand history, one must start here.
Volume 4: Comprehensive Selections
This includes Tang Dynasty poetry, Song Dynasty ci poetry, Yuan Dynasty qu poetry, A Thousand Poems, and Essentials of Classical Chinese. These are all tested and renowned selections, intended to broadly supplement the shortcomings of the Selected Works of Famous Poets in capturing the essence of Chinese literature and poetry.
Volume 5: Notes and Miscellaneous Works
This includes 15 widely accepted miscellaneous works from the Three-Character Classic to Zeng Guofan's Family Letters. In fact, they embody the deeper connotations of the outstanding culture of the Chinese nation.
Volume 6: Dramas and Novels
This includes 18 dramas and novels from the Romance of the West Chamber to the four great classical novels. These represent the peak of Chinese literary creation. To some extent, they are like the Three-Character Classic in that they contain the fundamental spiritual nourishment that has nurtured the Chinese people.
To be responsible to readers, we do not seek immediate success in publishing but adopt a strategy of gradual expansion through the publication of individual volumes. We do not aim for economic benefits from a single book or a single time but seek to continuously expand our readership. Our hearts are in harmony with the broad readership, so we are certain of having a wide market.
Wang Anshi (1021–1086) was a famous litterateur and statesman of the Song Dynasty, born in Fuchuan, Lichuan (now Fuzhou, Jiangxi). In his youth, his writings were outstanding and praised by Ouyang Xiu. At the age of 20, he passed the imperial examination and served as a local official for several terms. During his tenure as magistrate of Yinzhou, he faced severe disasters and the people lived in great hardship. Wang Anshi improved water conservancy, enhanced transportation, and governed effectively. In the second year of Emperor Shenzong's Xining era, he actively promoted reforms to alleviate the people's suffering. In the eighth year of the Yuanfeng era, the new reforms were abolished, and Wang Anshi, out of grief, fell ill and died the following year.
Throughout his life, Wang Anshi struggled to realize his political ideals, closely linking literary creation with political activities. Due to his applicable literary concepts, his poems and prose were deeply political, serving directly as tools for his political struggles. His prose was mostly argumentative. These works targeted societal issues, proposed clear arguments based on in-depth analysis, and possessed strong persuasive power. For example, in Rebuttal to Sima Guang's Advice, he analyzed Sima Guang's criticisms of the new reforms concisely and persuasively, using tactful yet firm language to demonstrate his unwavering political stance. Wang Anshi's prose placed great emphasis on the persuasiveness of theory, with less attention to creating atmosphere or depicting scenes to move readers emotionally. As a result, his prose was generally profound, logical, and concise, with a simple and unadorned style—a reflection of his literary beliefs.
Like his prose, Wang Anshi's poetry was rich in political content and had a clear ideological, expressing his sympathy for the people, his melancholy about the future of society, and his resistance to traditional thought. It fully conveyed his grand political ambitions and positive attitude toward life. Many of his poems on objects and historical reflections also reflected his political aspirations and critical spirit. In his later years, after resigning from his post and retiring, changes in his life and mood led to changes in his poetic style, as he composed more poems describing lakes and mountains and paid greater attention to refining the art of poetry. Many of his masterpieces, such as Boating at Guazhou, are as follows:
Between Jingkou and Guazhou, a river divides,
Zhongshan is just a few mountain ranges away.
The spring wind again turns the south bank of the Yangtze green,
When will the bright moon illuminate my return?
These later poems were novel and exquisite, with skillful and natural word and phrase choices, demonstrating greater artistic maturity than his earlier works. However, the political passion that once filled his earlier poems had greatly diminished at this stage.
This book selects 83 of Wang Anshi's poems, 5 ci poems, and 35 prose pieces, all from the Linchuan Collection. Some words and phrases have been corrected based on comparative studies, though these corrections are not individually noted in the annotations. The selection focused on poems and prose related to Wang Anshi's political reforms, ideas, and proposals, while also considering the diversity of themes, content, and artistic expression. The arrangement of the poems and prose is roughly chronological, with content as the secondary organizing principle. The introductions to the poems and prose primarily reference Cai Shangxiang's Brief Examination of Wang Jingong's Chronology and Li Bi's Annotations to Wang Jingong's Poems. To facilitate the use of this book, appendices include a "Brief Chronology of Wang Anshi's Life," "Major Documents on Wang Anshi Studies," and "Quotations from the Collected Works of Wang Anshi."
Wang Anshi's poems and prose cover a wide range of fields, including history, politics, economics, and culture.