Wang Ming王明

Period

Modern

Dates

1911 — 1992

Role

Daoist ScholarsPhilologist (scholar of textual studies)

Birthplace

Yueqing (present-day Yueqing, Zhejiang)

Life

Wang Ming, a native of Yueqing in Zhejiang, was a research fellow at the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and one of the founders of modern Chinese Daoist studies. He graduated from Peking University in the 1930s, studying under Tang Yongtong, and engaged for many years in the compilation of Daoist texts and the study of intellectual history. His representative work, the Collated Edition of the Taiping jing (Taiping jing hejiao, 1960), reconstructs the full text of the Taiping jing from the fragmentary surviving text and the Digest of the Scripture of Great Peace, and is the most fundamental critical edition for the study of early Daoism; his Annotated Edition of the Baopuzi: Inner Chapters (1980) is the standard edition for the study of Ge Hong; his Annotated Edition of the Wunengzi and his essay collection Studies on Daoist Philosophical and Religious Thought (Daojia he daojiao sixiang yanjiu, 1984) were pioneering in many respects in the study of the intellectual history of Daoism. He trained a large number of scholars of Daoist studies, and was the founder of the tradition of Daoist research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Contributions & Influence

• Compiled the Collated Edition of the Taiping jing, laying the foundation for the study of early Daoism
• Annotated and edited the Baopuzi: Inner Chapters, which became the standard edition in general use
• Founded the tradition of Daoist research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Works

• Taiping jing hejiao (太平经合校, Collated Edition of the Scripture of Great Peace)
• Baopuzi neipian jiaoshi (抱朴子内篇校释, Collated and Annotated Edition of the Baopuzi Inner Chapters)
• Wunengzi jiaozhu (无能子校注, Collated and Annotated Edition of the Wunengzi)
• Daojia he daojiao sixiang yanjiu (道家和道教思想研究, Studies in Daoist Philosophy and Religious Thought)