MUZIChinese Matrix
Writers › Writer / Poet
Southern Qi writer from Linyi, one of the Eight Friends of Jingling, famed for his Preface to the Qushui Poems; he died in prison aged 27.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Yuanchang · Wang Ningshuo
Wang Rong, courtesy name Yuanchang, was a Southern Qi writer from Linyi in Langye and one of the Eight Friends of Jingling around Xiao Ziliang. He held posts from legal clerk to Secretary Gentleman, and in 493 became General Who Pacifies the North, hence Wang Ningshuo. He is best known for his ornate Preface to the Qushui Poems, and his works were gathered by Zhang Pu as the Wang Ningshuo Ji. When Emperor Wu lay dying he tried to put Xiao Ziliang on the throne, failed, and was imprisoned and ordered to die after the new emperor's accession, aged 27.
Northern and Southern
Literature · Poetry7Wang Rong was quick and discerning from youth and widely read; he was recommended as xiucai, served as military aide to the Prince of Jingling, then Crown Prince's attendant, then Secretary of the Palace Library, and soon after Assistant of Danyang and Secretariat gentleman. He was later ordered to die in prison, at the age of twenty-seven.
When the emperor held the lustration feast for his ministers at Fanglin, he had Wang Rong write the preface to the Qushui poems; its style was ornate and rich, and the age praised it. His collected writings circulated. The record says he was alert and bright from youth, widely read and gifted in writing.