Wang Guowei

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Wang Guowei (Chinese: 王國維 courtesy name: Jing'an 靜安 or Baiyu 伯隅) (1877 - 1927) was a Chinese scholar and poet. A versatile and original scholar, he made important contributions to the studies of ancient history, epigraphy, philology, vernacular literature and literary theory.

A native of Haining, Zhejiang, he went to Shanghai to work as a proofreader for a newspaper, after failing to pass the Imperial Examination in his hometown, at the age of 22. There he studied in the Dongwei Xueshe (東文學社), a Japanese language teaching school, and became a protégé of Luo Zhenyu. Sponsared by Luo, he left for Japan in 1901, studying natural sciences in Tokyo. He returned to China one year later. He began to teach in different colleges, and devoted himself to the study of German idealism. He fled to Japan with Luo when the Xinhai Revolution took place in 1911. He returned to China again in 1916. In 1924, he was appointed a professor by the Tsinghua University. In 1927, he drowned himself in Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace.

Wang focused on the studies of Chinese vernacular literature during the early year of his career. He used Schopenhauer's philosophy for the criticism of the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, as well as writing a concise history of the theatries of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Later he changed his academic direction, focusing on philology and ancient history. He was the first scholar to combine the data provided by new archaeological findings (e.g. oracle bones) and those by ancient texts for the use of studying ancient Chinese history.