Wang Bi 王弼
Born	226 Shandong Province
Died	249 (aged 23)
Other names	Fusi (輔嗣)
Occupations	Philosopher, politician
Father	Wang Ye (courtesy name Zhangxu)[1]

Wang Bi (Chinese:王弼; 226–249^[2]),courtesy nameFusi (Chinese:輔嗣), was a Chinese philosopher and politician. During his brief career, he produced commentaries on theTao Te Ching andI Ching which were highly influential inChinese philosophy.^[3][4]

Wang Bi's grandfather Wang Kai (王凯) was a clansman ofWang Can, one of theSeven Scholars of Jian'an, while Wang Kai's wife was a daughter of the warlordLiu Biao.^[5] After Wang Can's two sons were implicated inWei Feng's rebellion in 219 and executed, Wang Bi's father Wang Ye was made Wang Can's heir;^[6] Wang Ye also inherited Wang Can's library of about 10000 volumes (including books fromCai Yong's collection). Wang Bi served as a minor bureaucrat in the state ofCao Wei during theThree Kingdoms period. He died from anepidemic at the age of 23.^[7][8]

Wang Bi's most important works are commentaries onLaozi'sTao Te Ching and theI Ching. The text of theTao Te Ching that appeared with his commentary was widely considered the best copy of this work until the discovery of the Han-eraMawangdui texts in 1973. He was a scholar ofXuanxue.

At least three works by Wang Bi are known: a commentary onConfucius'Analects, which survives only in quotations; commentaries on theI Ching and theTao Te Ching, which not only have survived but have greatly influenced subsequent Chinese thought on those two classics.

His commentary on theI Ching has been translated into English by Richard John Lynn,The Classic of Changes (New York: Columbia University, 1994)ISBN 0-231-08295-9

Several translations into English have been made of his commentary of theTao Te Ching:

• Ariane Rump, translatorCommentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang Pi,Monographs of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, No. 6 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1979)ISBN 0-8248-0677-8
• Richard John Lynn, translatorThe Classic of the Way and Virtue; A New Translation of the Tao-te Ching of Laozi as Interpreted by Wang Bi (New York: Columbia University, 1999)ISBN 0-2311-0581-9
• Rudolf Wagner, translator. A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's Commentary on the Laozi with Critical Text and Translation (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003)ISBN 0-791-45182-8

The German philosopherKai Marchal wrote a literary essay about his experience of reading Wang Bi in times of global upheaval.^[9]

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