王錫 (公嘏)

Wang Xi 王錫 (499–534), zi Gongjia 公嘏. Liang period writer.

Wang Xi's ancestral home was Linyi 臨沂 in Langye 琅邪 commandery (modern Linyi, Shandong). His father Wang Lin 王琳 was married to the Princess of Yixing, Xiao Lingyi 蕭令嫕, the younger sister of Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464–549), Emperor Wu (r. 502–549) of Liang. As a child of seven or eight he visited his mother in the imperial palace where he made a fine impression on Emperor Wu. As a youth he was quite intelligent and was a diligent student. At the age of twelve he became a student at the national university, and at age fourteen he was appointed assistant in the palace library. Wang Xi and Zhang Zuan 張纘 (499–549), who was another prodigy, were assigned to the staff of the crown prince Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501–531). Emperor Wu ordered them to serve as the prince's mentors and companions.

About this time Wang Xi was granted the noble title of Marquis of Yong'an. He was also assigned as companion for the Prince of Jin'an, Xiao Gang 蕭綱 (503–551), but Wang declined the post on the grounds of illness. in January 521, the Northern Wei court sent Liu Shanming 劉善明 as an envoy to the Liang court. Liu Shanming requested to meet Wang Xi and Zhang Zuan. Liu was much impressed with their knowledge of the Classics and histories, as well as their wit. In 522, Wang Xi was promoted to director of the Bureau of Personnel. Because he was a member of the consort clan, he received many honorific titles, which he was not able to accept because of a chronic illness. Wang Xi dismissed his attendants and refused to receive guests. He died in 534 at the age of thirty-six. The monographs on bibliography of the Sui shu and the two Tang histories list Wang Xi's collected works in seventeen juan. This was lost in the Song. His only extant works are “Sushan si fu” 宿山寺賦 (Fu on the Sushan Monastery), and two poems that he composed to match pieces by Xiao Tong.

Bibliography

Studies

• Cao Daoheng and Shen Yucheng, Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian, 33.
• Cao Daoheng 曹道衡 and Fu Gang 傅剛. Xiao Tong pingzhuan 蕭統評傳, 172. Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 2001.

Works

a. “Dayan shi” 大言 (Magniloquence) and “Xiyan shi” 細言詩 (Diminiloquence)

Translations

• Wang Ping. “Culture and Literature in an Early Medieval Court: The Writings and Literary Thought of Xiao Tong (501–531.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 2006, 19.
• Wang Ping. The Age of Courtly Writing, 29.

DRK

《梁書》卷21

錫字公嘏，琳之第二子也。幼而警悟，與兄弟受業，至應休散，常獨留不起。年七八歲，猶隨公主入宮，高祖嘉其聰敏，常爲朝士說之。精力不倦，致損右目。公主每節其業，爲飾居宇。雖童稚之中，一無所好。十二，爲國子生。十四，舉清茂，除秘書郎，與范陽張伯緒齊名，俱爲太子舍人。丁父憂，居喪盡禮。服闋，除太子洗馬。時昭明尚幼，未與臣僚相接。高祖敕：「太子洗馬王錫、秘書郎張纘，親表英華，朝中髦俊，可以師友事之。」以戚屬封永安侯，除晉安王友，稱疾不行，敕許受詔停都。王冠日，以府僚攝事。

普通初，魏始連和，使劉善明來聘，敕使中書舍人朱异接之，預宴者皆歸化北人。善明負其才氣，酒酣謂异曰：「南國辯學如中書者幾人？」异對曰：「异所以得接賓宴者，乃分職是司。二國通和，所敦親好；若以才辯相尚，則不容見使。」善明乃曰：「王錫、張纘，北間所聞，云何可見？」异具啓，敕卽使於南苑設宴，錫與張纘、朱异四人而已。善明造席，遍論經史，兼以嘲謔，錫、纘隨方酬對，無所稽疑，未嘗訪彼一事，善明甚相歎挹。佗日謂异曰：「一日見二賢，實副所期，不有君子，安能爲國！」

轉中書郎，遷給事黃門侍郎、尚書吏部郎中，時年二十四。謂親友曰：「吾以外戚，謬被時知，多叨人爵，本非其志；兼比羸病，庶務難擁，安能舍其所好而徇所不能。」乃稱疾不拜。便謝遣胥徒，拒絕賓客，掩扉覃思，室宇蕭然。中大通六年正月，卒，時年三十六。贈侍中，給東園秘器，朝服一具，衣一襲。諡貞子。子泛、湜。