Writers › Writer / Poet

Wang Bo

Early Tang poet and prose writer, author of the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, who died after falling into the sea on his way to visit his exiled father

Also known as Zi Zian · Wang Sanlang

Wang Bo, courtesy name Zi'an, came from Longmen in Jiangzhou (modern Hejin, Shanxi) and was a grandson of the Sui Confucian Wang Tong. He passed a special examination as a boy and became a compiler for Li Xian, Prince of Pei, but when the princes held cockfights he wrote a mock proclamation against the Prince of Ying's cock, and Emperor Gaozong, seeing it as setting his sons against one another, dismissed him. Later, as an administrator in Guozhou, he hid and then killed a government slave named Cao Da; sentenced to death, he was saved by an amnesty, but his father Wang Fuzhi was demoted to Jiaozhi. Travelling south to see his father, he wrote the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng at Hongzhou. In 676 he fell into the sea during a crossing and died of the shock. Du Fu's line on the style of Wang, Yang, Lu and Luo names him first of the Four Paragons of the early Tang.

Life and times

  1. 650 CEBornTang
  2. 676 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Sayings13
    1. Meeting Like Drifting DuckweedTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Preface to the Prince of Teng's Pavilion: strangers meeting by chance
    2. Outstanding People, Inspired LandTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Pavilion preface: a gifted land that yields great people
    3. A Life Full of MisfortuneTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Pavilion preface: a life dogged by misfortune
    4. A True Friend Makes Distant Lands Feel NearTangFamous line from Wang Bo's farewell to Vice-Magistrate Du: true friendship outlasts distance
    5. Earthly Treasures, Heavenly GemsTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Pavilion preface: a land of rich products and rare treasures
    6. +8 more
      1. Fishing Boats Singing Home at DuskTangFamous line from Wang Bo's Preface to Tengwang Pavilion: fishermen's songs at dusk
      2. Firmer of Purpose the Poorer One GrowsTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Preface to Tengwang Pavilion: hardship only hardens one's resolve
      3. Fine Friends Gathered Like CloudsTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng: fine friends thick as clouds
      4. Wild Geese Crying in the Autumn ChillTangLine from Wang Bo's Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng: geese crying in the autumn cold
      5. Never Abandoning Aspirations as High as the CloudsTangLine from Wang Bo's Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng: holding to lofty aims in hardship
      6. A Hall Full of Distinguished Guests at Prince Teng's PavilionTangIdiom from Wang Bo's Preface to Prince Teng's Pavilion: every seat filled with honoured guests
      7. Even the Ends of the Earth Feel Like Next DoorTangFamous line from Wang Bo's farewell to Vice-Prefect Du: true friends are never far apart
      8. A True Friend Somewhere Within the Four SeasTangFamous line from Wang Bo's farewell to Vice-Prefect Du: true friendship knows no distance
  2. Literature · Poetry1
    1. Farewell to Vice-Magistrate Du on His Posting to ShuTangWang Bo's regulated farewell to a friend posted to Shu, a parting without tears
  3. Literature · Rhapsodies1
    1. Preface to the Prince of Teng's PavilionTangWang Bo's early Tang parallel-prose preface, written at a Double Ninth banquet in Nanchang