Excerpted from: Wang Shixiang Family: Wang of Xiqing

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Wang Shixiang's ancestors originally lived in Qingjiang Township, Jishui County, Jiangxi Province, so they were called "Wang of Xiqing".

As for the name of "Wang of Xiqing", Wang Rentang, the 12th Sun, explained in the preface to the genealogy written in the 19th year of the Republic of China: "The people who know the details of the Wang family in Fujian can be traced back to Zhongyi in Langya, and the only family is Xiqing, which was built in Zhengjia, Ming Dynasty, and moved to Fujian from Qingjiang, Jiangxi Province. So far, there are only ten or six generations. For this matter, please refer to the edition of the Third Ancestor's Permanent Cemetery, first.

after the Wangs moved to Fujian from Jiangxi, they gradually developed into a famous family in Fuzhou because of the convenience of shipping at the port and the developed business. Who knows, when the Wangs arrived at the Sixth Ancestor, due to poor health, they gradually lost their competitiveness in business travel. Since then, their family fortunes have declined, and the glory of their ancestors has only remained in the past era.

the family has fallen into poverty. In Wang Shixiang, the great-grandfather, Qingyun Gong, began to study hard in order to change his fate and revive his family business. At that time, during the Jiaqing and Daoguang years in the late Qing Dynasty, the country was still a relatively rich period, and the world style was inevitably "proud of extravagance", but such a world style did not affect Qingyun Gong's diligence in studying and his ambition.

After ten years' cold window and lofty aspirations, Wang Qingyun was finally promoted in the 24th year of Jiaqing (1819), and won the Jinshi ten years later. From then on, the Wang family began to step into the Qingyun and went straight to the road of being an official.

Three years after Qingyun Gongzhong was a scholar, he entered the Imperial Academy and later served as a political scholar in Guizhou. At the age of 51, he was neck and neck with Zeng Guofan in political achievements and knowledge, and was also appointed by the court as the examiner of the martial arts examination. Later, during the Taiping Army period, he served as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and in the first year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1862), he was an official to the minister of industry.

however, in this year when he was named as an official, Qingyun died unfortunately due to illness, and the court honored him and paid tribute to Wen Qin. Here, the name of Wang Shixiang's ancestor was also included in the celebrity biography of the Draft of Qing History.

Apart from his open career, Qingyun Gong is also a diligent scholar. During his stay in the Hanlin Academy, he once devoted himself to the education and industry of a province, and wrote an important book, The Remains of Shiqu, also known as Ji Zheng of Xi Dynasty, which was published in six volumes. Among them, the achievements of governing the country and managing finances in the Qing Dynasty were recorded in detail, including imperial examinations, recommendation, bureaucracy, military and political affairs, military personnel, taxation, local taxes, customs duties, salt law, mining administration, wasteland reclamation, etc., all of which were recorded in the book and elaborated in detail. From a modern perspective, this book was a practical financial brief history of the Qing court at that time.

Qingyun gave birth to the second son, and the second son, Wang Chuancan, was once the director of punishments. Wang Chuancan gave birth to four sons, namely Renzhi, Renkan, Renshu and Rendong. The eldest son is benevolent, and he died early. Wang Shixiang's grandfather, Wang Rendong, is the fourth grandson of Qingyun Gong.

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In the fourth year of Chengfeng (1854), Wang Rendong was born in Denglong (Lantern) Lane, Min County, Fujian Province (now Gulou District, Fuzhou City). He grew up very handsome, and his poems became increasingly brilliant when he was a teenager. In the second year of Guangxu, Bingzi (1876), Wang Rendong won the provincial examination and was appointed as a cabinet secretary. Later, he served as Nantong Zhizhou, Jiangsu Alternate Road, Jiang 'an Supervisor of Grain Road, Suzhou Grain Road and Suzhou Customs Supervisor. However, when Wang Rendong was an official in the Qing court, it was at the time of the decline of the late Qing Dynasty, when he was at home and abroad. Although he was only tall, he was already unable to find a way to save the country.

Wang rendong died of illness in Shanghai in 1918 at the age of 64. His wife, Liu Xuexi, was born in the second year of Xianfeng (1852) and died in the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886) at the age of 34. Buried in lower Fengshan outside Beiguan, Fuzhou. Liu knows books and rituals, and knows great friendship. Give birth to filial piety, filial piety, filial piety and filial piety, and give birth to a daughter.

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Wang Renkan, the grandparent of Wang Shixiang, was famous for being an honest official. In the third year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1877), he was the champion of Ding Chou, and later became the magistrate of Zhenjiang and Suzhou. I once advised the Western Empress Dowager to repair the Summer Palace, but I didn't.

Wang Renkan has been an official in the DPRK for several decades. He has done his duty faithfully, been honest and devoted to the public, and is loved by the people. In March of the 17th year of Guangxu (1891), Wang Renkan became the magistrate of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. Less than half a month after his arrival, the famous Danyang religious case happened. The people in this county planed more than 71 dead babies in the Catholic church, which caused public outrage. The church was burned by the surrounding people. Foreigners put forward various unreasonable demands, and Wang Renkan visited (1889) the articles of association of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, which was inspected on the spot, and more than 71 baby corpses were found. He thought that since the church was also engaged in baby-rearing, the baby should not be killed; It is self-inflicted if you don't follow the opposition of the masses in Guangxu fifteen years. Therefore, petitioning Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, not to hold the people accountable for burning the church when the case was closed, and to give the missionaries appropriate pensions, which was very decent.

in the spring of the 18th year of Guangxu (1892), Wang Renkan was appointed as the magistrate of Zhenjiang, and soon fell ill because of overwork. There was a local locust plague, and Wang Renkan personally supervised the capture in the wild, and his condition worsened. He still thought about exterminating locusts in his hospital bed; In the autumn of the same year, Dantu and Danyang suffered another disaster. Wang Renkan, on the one hand, requested permission to cut off the water for relief, and on the other hand, persuaded the gentry and businessmen to donate, saving more than 211,111 people.

in July of the 19th year of Guangxu (1893), Wang Renkan was transferred to Suzhou as a magistrate. It is said that this year, Yin Ruzhang was the examiner of Zhejiang Provincial Examination. In order to prevent the joints from communicating with each other, he took the waterway through Suzhou. Wang Renkan, the magistrate of Suzhou, should be on board to greet him. Just at this time, Lu Xun's grandfather Zhou Fuqing was a scholar of Yin Ruzhang in the same year. He sent servants to send money tickets and letters on how to connect joints.

Unexpectedly, this servant was ignorant and shouted for a reply, so Yin Ruzhang had to ask Wang Renkan to do it for him. When the stuffing was missed, Wang Renkan ordered the messenger to be taken down. Yin Ruzhang was furious to express himself. Fuqing in Hangzhou in the later Zhou Dynasty was sentenced to "beheading and waiting in prison" and spent eight years in the government prison. He was released only when Eight-Nation Alliance was in war.

Due to overwork, Wang Renkan fell ill again as soon as he arrived in Suzhou. However, I still go to the bureau (the organ that hears cases) every day to clean up the backlog. "In less than two months, there have been more than 711 cases." See Biography of Suzhou Magistrate Wang Renkan in the National History Museum. In the winter of the same year, when I was on a night patrol, I felt cold again, and finally I couldn't afford to get sick.

When the bad news reached Zhenjiang, "all the people were sobbing", and Wang Renkan's political achievements were listed in detail, which was reported to the governor and the governor, requesting to be reported to the court. Liu Kunyi, the governor, and Kui Jun, the governor, treated Wang Renkan as a solid government, and regarded civil affairs as a family affair. They had the style of ancient officials, and they heard about it. The Qing emperor made a letter to declare and pay a biography of the historical museum to show good behavior.

Of course, in an era of obvious decline in the late Qing Dynasty, Wang Renkan failed to see the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War and the collapse of the Hundred-Day Reform in the future, nor did he see the smoke of a "self-reform" movement in China disappear; But history is still fair. After all, we will never forget Wang Renkan, a young and honest official, whose historical relic, Wang Renkan Zhuangyuan Mansion in Luozhou, Fuzhou, still stands there.

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Wang Shixiang's father, Jizeng, is the third son of Wang Rendong.

After the Revolution of 1911, Wang Shixiang's grandfather Wang Rendong lived in Shanghai. Wang Jizeng was born in Shanghai in 1882 and studied in Shanghai Nanyang Public School in his early years. Nanyang College was a famous school in Shanghai at that time. Now Shanghai Jiaotong University was formerly Nanyang University in the early Republic of China, and Nanyang University was formerly Nanyang College in the Qing Dynasty.

Wang Ji once received a new education in Nanyang Public School, which was different from the old private school. Because Nanyang Public School was established in Sheng Xuanhuai with the intention of cultivating talents who knew western languages and arts (foreign languages and technology), the school required students to learn English, French, Japanese and other foreign languages first. Study law, public law, political science, trade law, business tax law; Learn science and technology such as natural calculation, geography, geography, manufacturing, steam turbine, mining and metallurgy.

Perhaps, in the new educational atmosphere of "taking middle school as the body and western learning as the application", Wang Ji once felt the power of western advanced technology and the collision of different cultural thoughts. At the same time, with the invasion of foreign countries and the decline of the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, he saw the incompetence of the Qing court and the corruption of officials more and more, and saw that the people were suffering and felt that the Chinese nation must first seek technology and reform system from the West, which made him think of studying abroad.

However, at that time, the Qing court implemented the policy of obscurantism and forbade people to go abroad, which coincided with the appointment of Sun Baoqi as the French ambassador to China. Sun Baoqi, the son of Sun Yijing, an important minister in the late Qing Dynasty, was a sincere and enlightened person. Wang Jizeng took advantage of this opportunity and went to Paris, France with Sun Baoqi for further study in 1912.

In this way, Wang Jizeng, who was only 21 years old, embarked on a journey to study in France. It can be said that Paris was the initial starting point of his later career as a diplomat.

after Jude Wong went to Paris, he studied diplomacy and public administration in French universities and Paris University of Political Science and Law for seven years, and was awarded the academic excellence award when he completed his studies. In 1919, after graduation, he first served as the secretary of Zhang Zhidong, the minister of military affairs of the Qing government. Later, due to his solid foreign language skills, diplomatic skills and experience in studying in Paris, he was soon appointed as the supervisor of international students in France, and Wang Jizeng also had the opportunity to revisit his hometown in Paris, France with his wife Jin Zhang.

Just as Wang Jizeng and his wife were living in Paris, the domestic situation changed dramatically. The Revolution of 1911 broke out in Wuchang, the Manchu Empire finally collapsed and the Republic of China was proclaimed.

Wang Shixiang and his father

After the founding of the Republic of China, Wang Ji once returned to China to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Beiyang Government, and in October, 1914, he served as the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year, just before Wang Shixiang was born, he bought a quadrangle in Fangjiayuan, Dongcheng, Beijing. It was a traditional courtyard with four courtyards and four floors, and the back door opened in a fresh alley. It was not large, but it was almost medium-sized. Wang Shixiang was born in this old quadrangle and has lived there for nearly eighty years.

in September, 1921, Wang Ji served as the minister in Mexico and concurrently served as the minister in Cuba. At that time, Wang Shixiang was six years old. Originally, the whole family had to go to Mexico with his father, but at this time, the second brother Wang Shirong was unlucky, and Wang Shixiang was recovering from scarlet fever, so it was not appropriate to travel far from home, so his mother had to take him to stay in Shanghai.

in August, 1921, Wang Ji was relieved of the post of minister in Cuba and became a full-time minister in Mexico. At the end of the same year, after he returned to China, the family finally reunited in Shanghai. In October, 1924, Wang Ji went from Shanghai to Beijing, and served as Secretary-General of the State Council in the Beiyang government in power in Sun Baoqi. Only then did the family return to Fangjiayuan's old residence. In 1926, Wang Ji was appointed as a member of the diplomatic seminar of an Guojun, and after 1931, he was appointed as the manager of the Beiping branch of British American Tobacco Company.

in the process of frequently serving as an envoy to foreign countries, Wang Ji also made careful observation and analysis on the economy, politics and culture of various countries, and wrote the Italian Political Economy and Finance Report, which introduced and commented on some political and economic situations abroad at that time. It should be said that it provided certain reference for Chinese people to understand the western economic culture and political system at that time. Later, as the situation changed, when the government of the Republic of China moved its capital to Nanjing, Beijing's government functions gradually shrank and became increasingly depressed, while Wang Jizeng had no intention of working in the Kuomintang government. Under the circumstances, he gradually faded out of politics.

The Wangs in Xiqing County, Fujian Province, made a fortune in business and passed the imperial examination, and gradually developed into an official family. Looking back on the life course of Wang Shixiang's ancestors for three generations, it can be said that there are many talented people, but they are rare. For example, there are important officials who are scholars and govern one side, officials who are top scholars and tell the truth about the shortcomings, and envoys who are engaged in westernization and diplomacy. Therefore, Wang's aristocratic family and official career, especially in the difficult situation of internal and external affairs after the Opium War, the style of "keeping abreast of current affairs", "combining Chinese and Western" and "paying attention to reality" developed by the Wang family from generation to generation in the Western Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly the style inherited from generation to generation, which has exerted a subtle influence on Wang Shixiang's growth and subsequent academic research.