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Wang Jian
Southern Qi chief minister from Linyi in Langye, fifth-generation descendant of Wang Dao, Director of the Palace Secretariat, who set the new dynasty's protocols and compiled the Qi Zhi; posthumously Grand Commandant, named Wenxian.
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zhong Bao · Wenxian (posthumous name)
Wang Jian, courtesy name Zhongbao, was from Linyi in Langye (today's Shandong), fifth-generation descendant of the Jin chancellor Wang Dao, born in 452. He served Song as Palace Library Assistant and Palace Attendant, and under Qi rose to Director of the Secretariat, Director of the Palace Library and Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, as Duke of Nanchang. He helped fix the new dynasty's rites and institutions, ran a scholars' hall and promoted younger men such as Ren Fang. He compiled the Qi Zhi on the model of Liu Xin's Qilue and the Yuanhui Sibu Shumu, and wrote the Chu Yuan Bei. He died in 489, named Wenxian.
Life and times
Dates 452 CE–489 CE