Yuan · Administrator and Official

Wang Gen 王艮

Wáng Gěn

Attested AD 1320 - AD 1350

Passages: 12
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Wang Gen was an administrator and Official.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Zhishan	止善	Zhǐshàn

Life and dates

Death

Age 71
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 176

Age

71
Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 176

Attested activity

AD 1320 to AD 1350 仕宦江浙
Dated from the passage context · History of Yuan 192, passage 142

Career and standing

administrative aide of Liang-Zhe Salt Transport Commission 兩浙都轉運鹽使司經歷
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 149
administrative officer of Xia Prefecture headquarters 峽州總管府知事
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 145
chief clerk of Huaidong Pacification Commission 淮東宣慰司令史
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 144
clerical officer of Huaidong Surveillance Commission 淮東廉訪司書吏
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 142
recording secretary and assistant judge of Luzhou 廬州錄事判官
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 143
secretariat clerk of Jiang-Zhe Branch Secretariat 江浙行省掾史
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 145

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vice director of Jiangxi Branch Secretariat 江西行省左右司員外郎
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 170
magistrate of Jiande County 建德縣尹
Held
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 149
administrative aide of Maritime Grain Transport Command 海道漕運都萬戶府經歷
Transferred
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 156
revising officer of Jiang-Zhe Branch Secretariat 江浙行省檢校官
Transferred
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 162
Entered
Retired
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 175

Places and affiliations

Polity Id yuan · Relation Served
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 142
At Zhuji in Shaoxing 紹興諸暨
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passage 140

Works and attributed material

Proposal · Author
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 146-147
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 151-153

Events and relationships

Cancelled wreck debts for transport households
Administrative · Aide
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 157, 160-161
Reduced Shaoxing salt quota
Administrative · Aide · With Wang Kejing (王克敬)
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 150-151, 154-155
Refuted Songjiang concealed land accusation
Administrative · Official
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 163, 167-169
Remitted Anfu false rent levies
Administrative · Official
Directly stated · History of Yuan 192, passages 171-174

References in the histories

Search passages

History

12 passages

History of Yuan, Chapter 192Volume 192 Biographies 79: Virtuous Officials 2 · 12 passages

王艮，字止善，紹興諸暨人。 Wang Gen, courtesy name Zhishan, was a native of Zhuji in Shaoxing.

會朝廷復立諸市舶司，艮從省官至泉州，建言：「若買舊有之船以付舶商，則費省而工易集，且可絕官吏侵欺掊克之弊。」 When the court re-established the maritime trade offices, Gen accompanied provincial officials to Quanzhou and proposed: "If we buy existing ships and assign them to merchant fleets, costs will be lower, work easier to organize, and officials' fraud and extortion can be stopped."

中書省報如艮言。 The Central Secretariat approved Gen's proposal.

沮之者以為有成籍不可改，艮毅然曰：「民實寡而強賦多民之錢，今死、徙已眾矣，顧重改成籍而輕棄民命乎！ Opponents said the established registers could not be altered; Gen declared firmly, "The population has shrunk yet we still levy heavily; many have died or fled—shall we prize the registers above the people's lives?

尋有復排前議者，艮欲辭職去，丞相聞之，亟遣留艮，而議遂定。 When opponents revived the old proposal, Gen threatened to resign; the chancellor heard of this, urgently ordered him retained, and the reform stood.

艮執言曰：「運戶既有官賦之直，何復為是紛紛也！」 Gen insisted, "The transport households already receive official payment—why all this turmoil?"

運船為風所敗者，當核實除其數，移文往返，連數歲不絕，艮取吏牘披閱，即除其糧五萬二千八百石、鈔二百五十萬緡，運戶乃免於破家。 When transport ships were wrecked in storms, deductions were supposed to be verified, but documents shuttled back and forth for years; Gen read through the files and at once cancelled fifty-two thousand eight hundred shi of grain and two million five hundred thousand strings of cash, sparing the transport households from ruin.

艮至松江，條陳曲折，以破其誑妄，言其「不過欲竦朝廷之聽而報宿怨，且冀創立衙門，為徼名爵計耳。 When Gen reached Songjiang he laid out the facts item by item and exposed the fraud, declaring that it "was merely an attempt to alarm the court, settle old scores, and win a new office for the sake of fame and promotion.

艮言上，事遂寢。 When Gen's report reached the capital, the matter was dropped.

艮到官，首言：「是州之糧，比元經理已增一千一百餘石，豈復有欺隱詭寄者乎？ When Gen took office he said at once, "This prefecture's grain quota has already risen by more than eleven hundred shi since the Yuan initial survey—how could concealment still be possible?

行省用艮言，悉蠲之。 The branch secretariat adopted Gen's view and remitted the levies entirely.

艮在任歲餘，以中憲大夫、淮東道宣慰副使致仕。 After little more than a year in office he retired with the rank of Grand Master for Governance and as vice commissioner of the Huaidong Pacification Commission.