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Hunan classicist and poet who taught at the Zunjing and Chuanshan academies, wrote a frank history of the Hunan Army and headed the Republic's history office
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Zi Renqiu · Xiang Qi
Wang Kaiyun, courtesy name Renqiu, styled Xiangqi, came from Xiangtan in Hunan and passed the provincial examination in 1857. In the late Xianfeng years he lived in Beijing as a guest of the powerful minister Sushun, and later moved in and out of Zeng Guofan's circle and other official households. In 1879 the Sichuan governor-general Ding Baozhen invited him to head the Zunjing Academy in Chengdu, and he went on to lead the Sixian school in Changsha and the Chuanshan Academy on Dongzhou island at Hengyang; Liao Ping, Yang Rui, Yang Du and the painter Qi Baishi were among his pupils. His History of the Hunan Army (Xiangjun zhi), finished in 1881, angered Zeng's former officers by its candour about the army's failings. In 1913 Yuan Shikai made him director of the state history office, and he died at Xiangtan in 1916; his poetry, prose and diaries are gathered in the Xiangqilou collection.
Qing
Republican EraWang Kaiyun, courtesy name Renqiu, was from Xiangtan. The Draft History of Qing says his prose traced back to Zhuangzi and Liezi and drew on Jia Yi and Dong Zhongshu, his parallel prose could greet Yan Yanzhi and Yu Xin as equals, and his verse could stand against Ruan Ji and Zuo Si. His works include the Xiangqi lou collected poems and prose and his diaries.
The Draft History of Qing lists among Wang Kaiyun's writings the Xiangjun zhi in sixteen juan, a record of the Hunan Army. After the Republic began he briefly took charge of the history office and then went home; he died in the bingchen year (1916) at the age of eighty-five by Chinese reckoning.