Research On The Family Wang Of Xiushui County And Literature In Qing Dynasty

The family Wang of Xiushui county is a very influent cultural aristocratic family in Qing Dynasty. In more than one hundred years after the migration from Xiuning of Anhui to Xiushui of Zhejiang province, this family inherited nine generations, and offered us great contribution in economy, politics and literary.This paper inspects all aspects including their lineage, family members, writings, friends-making, literary achievements of this famous family in five parts.Chapter One is a complete study of the lineage problem of family Wang on the basis of Genealogy of Family Wang which is collected in Shanghai Library.Chapter Two is the research on the family members to find out the importance of excellent quality and learning tradition in a well-known family.Chapter Three is the instruction of Wang’s works in details including books written, edited and engraved by themselves, which is according to various catalogues, historical and biographical materials.Chapter Four mainly discusses the atmosphere of reading and collecting ancient books in the family from generation to generation. Wang Sen is their representative who studied from Zhu Yizun and kept in touch with famous collectors like Qian Zeng. He had The Catalogue of Qiuzhulou. Most Wang members made their living on studying and cultivating. Until Wang Ruzao and Wang Ruyang became the compilers of Complete Collection in Four Treasuries, they contributed precious editions to obtain great honor from the Emperor Qianlong. However, those treasures could not avoid the fate of being scattered and lost after years.Chapter Five examines the literature achievements of main writers in this family. From the varied styles of their works, we can discover that the change of tradition during different generations in one family which was effected by other poets in Xiushui.