Abstract Wang Anshih was a famous statesman, writer and scholar of Northern Song Dynasty. He had two sons and two daughters. His first son Wang Pang (雱), courtesy name Yuanze, was a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations (Jinshi Jidi), a brilliant author of many books and a participant in the Xining Political Reform led by Wang Anshi. Wang Pang (雱) married a woman from the Xiao Family and had a daughter who was married to Lv Anzhong. The couple had no son, so they adopted a boy named Wang Di (棣) from the same clan. Wang Di had a son Wang Bi (珌) whose son was Wang Yanzhi (衍之). Wang Pang (旁),Wang Anshih’s second son, had mental disease and married a woman from the Pang (庞) Family, but the marriage ended in divorce. Wang Pang (旁)had a daughter, who was married to Zheng Juzhong and a son Wang Tong (桐), who secured an official position. Wang Tong had two sons, Wang Dao (瓙) and Wang Jue (珏). Wang Dao’s son was Wang Shengzhi, and Wang Jue’s son was Wang Yizhi. Wang Jue compiled and published the collected works of Wang Anshih — Linchuan’s Literary Collection. Many anecdotes about the descendants of Wang Anshih as recorded in the literati’s notes of Song dynasty were obscure and confusing. The life stories of his two sons were often confused with each other because the two names, Pang (雱) and Pang (旁), were very similar in their Chinese spelling and pronunciation. For example, Wang Pang (旁), Wang Anshih’s second son who had mental disease and was divorced, was often mistaken for his brother in some literati's records. What is more, opponents and critics of Xining Political Reform deliberately mixed up the life stories of the two brothers. Some of them slandered Wang Pang (雱), accusing him of arrogant pride and immoral conduct, and cursing him with retribution in hell after death because of his involvement in Xining Political Reform. Many of these malevolent records were adopted by such historical documents as A Continuation of Zizhi Tongjianand History of Song Dynasty by Li Tao, which later were considered ″faithful history.″ In Yuan and Ming Dynasties, they even figured in story-tellers’ scripts and popular fictions and played a significant part in negating and defaming Wang Anshih and his reform. This paper attempts to correct the mistakes in the above records by a textual analysis of the historical materials inWang Shaoqing (Wang Jue) Epitaph written by Chao Gongsu of Southern Song Dynasty and Song Huiyao Jigao by Xu Song. This will bring us a complete genealogy of Wang Anshih’s second son and clearly separate’ the life stories of Wang Pang (雱) and Wang Pang (旁). In addition, there were other writers who shared a close relationship with Wang Anshih and his sons, or had close contact with Wang’s progenies. They expressed their sympathy for the political reform in their literary notes. These valuable notes confirm and complement the records in Wang’s anthology and in Song Huiyao Jigao. Some of the notes include the lost works of Wang Pang (雱), such as his own epitaph, some portrayed him vividly, some supplemented the historical biography and described Wang Pang (雱) from a different perspective and enriched the historical scenes, and others kept a record of the anecdotes of Wang Anshih’s descendants. These notes are all invaluable for historical research.
|