Wang Xihou (王錫侯 ; 1713–1777), courtesy name
Hanbo (韓伯 ), was a Chinese scholar from Xinchang County (modern-day Yifeng County, Jiangxi) who lived during the
Qing dynasty. He was executed under the Qing government's literary inquisition policies during the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor.
Wang was born in 1713. At the age of five, he began his studies with his brother Wang Jingyun, and became proficient at the exegesis of ancient Chinese texts by age eight. He locked himself in a room, studying day and night, and was sent home-cooked meals through a small crevice.
Wang became a scholar-bureaucrat at age 38. He wrote a book called Zi Guan, which criticized the Kangxi Dictionary and printed the emperor's name without leaving out a stroke as required by Chinese naming taboo. When the Qianlong Emperor found out about this in 1777, Wang was imprisoned in Beijing and sentenced to nine familial exterminations, the most serious form of capital punishment in imperial China.
Avoidance of naming taboo: Example of omitting a stroke. The last stroke of each character of Kangxi Emperor's given name "玄" (xuán) and "燁" (yè) is omitted.
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王錫侯（1713年 - 1777年），
清朝文學家。江西省新昌縣棠浦鎮沐溪村人。因「字貫案」文字獄，遭
乾隆帝所斬。
Read more...: 生平
生平
出生于康熙五十二年（1713年），後與兄長王景雲共同啟蒙。為求功名，自鎖於王氏祠堂小房，日以繼夜苦讀不出。家人從檻下小洞送進三餐。
二十四歲才補博士弟子，1750年，三十八歲中舉人。孟森在「字貫案」說王錫侯「蓋亦一頭巾氣極重之腐儒」，「鄉里小儒氣象」。以十七年光陰自編《字貫》一書，分天文、地理、人事、物類四大類，共四十卷。此書針對《康熙字典》收字太多，「然而穿貫之難」等缺失，加以補強，並稱「字猶散錢，義以貫之，貫非有加于錢，錢實不妨用貫，因名之曰《字貫》」。
乾隆四十二年（1777年）為一個仇家王瀧南向江西巡撫海成舉發，又誣陷說，王錫侯有40里花園，10里魚塘。乾隆帝以「罪不容誅，即應照大逆律問擬」，抄家時僅獲七十多兩銀子。《字貫》凡例寫入康熙帝、雍正帝、乾隆帝之名諱（玄燁、胤禛、弘曆），僅缺筆避諱沒有改字法、空字法而已，被乾隆帝指為大不敬。王錫侯被監送京城問斬，子孫七人都被判斬，其他人「充發黑龍江，與披甲人為奴」。胡思敬的《鹽乘》說：「被誅時情狀甚慘」。原來江西巡撫海成上奏時建議革去王錫侯「舉人」頭銜，乾隆帝在刑法方式上寬恕王錫侯，免其凌遲，處以斬首。寬恕其親屬，其諸子留待秋季大刑期間執行死刑。其餘諸項以律執行。江西布政使周克開、按察使馮廷丞也因為看過《字貫》一書，未指出悖逆之處，遭到部議降調外任。
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