Collection of Letters (Complete 4 Volumes)

Author: Wang Daokun (Ming Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: Wang Daokun (1525–1593) was a Ming Dynasty litterateur. His courtesy name was Boyu, and his sobriquets were Nanming and Taihan. He was from She County (now part of Anhui Province). In the 26th year of the Jiajing era (1547), he passed the imperial examination and excelled in classical prose, poetry, and literary theory. His literary theories followed the pre-Qin and post-Qin Seven Scholars, and he was known as one of the "Post-Qin Five Scholars," highly regarded by his contemporaries. Wang Daokun was also skilled in military affairs. Initially serving as the magistrate of Yiwu, he taught the people martial arts to prepare for Japanese pirates. Later, he was promoted to Fujian Military Preparations Commissioner, assisting in suppressing Japanese pirates in Fujian. For his contributions, he was elevated to the position of Anhui Commissioner of Inspection and Supervision, and later served as an Imperial Censor. He rose to the rank of Vice Minister of War and was jointly known as the "Southern and Northern Marshals" alongside Wang Shizhen. The two men also mutually admired each other. However, Wang Shizhen later claimed in his old age that he "secretly disdained Wang Taihan's writing but could not speak of it."
Although Wang Daokun was renowned for his literary fame, his written zaju (Chinese opera) did not meet expectations. Today, only four of his zaju survive: "High Tang Dream," "Five Lakes Journey," "Distant Mountain Opera," and "Luoshui Sorrow," all one-act plays collectively titled "Daiyataang Yuefu." The content of these plays is based on legends to depict the love stories of historical figures: "High Tang Dream" narrates King Chu Xiang's encounter with the goddess of Mount Wu in a dream, with the theme derived from Song Yu's "High Tang Fu"; "Five Lakes Journey" tells the story of King Goujian of Yue after defeating the State of Wu, who becomes suspicious of his ministers and, with Fan Li's timely retreat, retreats to the Taihu Lake with Xi Shi; "Distant Mountain Opera" depicts Zhang Chang, the Imperial Prefect of Chang'an during the Han Dynasty, indulging in marital bliss and painting his wife's eyebrows; "Luoshui Sorrow" tells the tale of the spirit of Lady Zhen transforming into the goddess of the Luoshui River, who fulfills her unrequited love with Cao Zhi. From the content of these four plays, it can be seen that Wang Daokun's zaju represented the tendency of scholars and officials to seek entertainment and pleasure through opera creation after their official duties. Therefore, the themes were narrow, often focusing on the romantic and elegant affairs of literati, lacking positive significance. In terms of art, although the language was elegant and graceful, the dramatic elements were weak. As a result, Shen Defu criticized them as "not fitting the genre" in his "Guqu Zayan."
The "Daiyataang Yuefu" has an original publication from the Wanli era, with a preface by Wang Daokun from the 39th year of the Jiajing era (1560), indicating that all four plays were written before he turned 35. Shen Defu mentioned in "Guqu Zayan" that he had also seen Wang Daokun's play "Tang Minghuang Qixi Changsheng Dian," but there is no other supporting evidence for this claim. Wang Daokun's other works include the "Taihan Collection," comprising 120 volumes, which has been preserved in Ming Dynasty printings.
This book holds special significance for the study of Ming Dynasty economic history and research on the Zhen (local merchant) class. This has been widely acknowledged by academia, as evidenced by the extensive references and revelations in the book "Studies on the Xin'an Merchants" by Japanese scholar Fuji Hiroshi. This is partly because Wang Daokun served as the military supervisor for the renowned anti-Japanese general Qi Jiguang and later became Vice Minister of War. Many chapters in his collected works provide valuable historical material for studying the anti-Japanese struggle in the Ming Dynasty, late Ming military affairs, particularly the defense of Baoding and Jilin, making them highly valuable for research.