"Wang Zhenyi, 1769–1797, zi Deqing, hao Jinling nüshi, was a prominent Qing writer on astronomy and mathematics, and a poet. She came from a scholarly family native to Tianchang County, Sizhou Prefecture, Anhui Province, which later moved to settle in Jiangning Prefecture (present-day Nanjing) in Jiangsu Province. Wang Zhenyi’s grandfather, Wang Zhefu (?–1782) was her first teacher of astronomy and mathematics and her grandmother, née Dong, taught her poetry. Her father, Wang Xichen, made a few unsuccessful attempts at the imperial examination; he was a scholar with a good knowledge of medicine, geography and mathematics, and also taught her. He compiled a collection of medical formulas: Yifang yanchao in four juan. At twenty-five sui Wang Zhenyi married Zhan Mei of Xuancheng County, Ningguo Prefecture in Anhui, who also came from a scholarly family. Thus Wang Zhenyi spent her whole life surrounded by learning and knowledge.
During her adolescence she traveled to the northeastern province of Jilin with her grandparents, learned horseriding and archery and made the acquaintance of talented women there. After she turned eighteen sui she also became friendly with female scholars in Jiangning through her poetry. At the same time she undertook studies of astronomy and mathematics. After she married and moved to Xuancheng, she became even better known for her poetry and, particularly, for her knowledge of astronomy and mathematics; she once taught some male students.
Apart from what her grandfather had taught her before she was fourteen sui, most of Wang Zhenyi’s knowledge of astronomy and mathematics was self-taught. Her posthumous work Defengting chuji (First collection from Defeng Kiosk) testifies to the vast number of books she had read on the subject. Such books included the traditional astronomy annals, arithmetic books such as Jiuzhang suanshu and Zhoubi suanjing, and works by the great Qing mathematician Mei Wending (1633–1721). She had also consulted Western books including Euclid’s Elements translated into Chinese as Jihe yaofa. In this she was largely influenced by Mei Wending.
According to the 1880 Gazetteer of Jiangning Prefecture (Xuzuan Jiangning fuzhi), Wang Zhenyi authored six books on astronomy and mathematics but none of them have survived. However, the prefaces she wrote for her works Xiangshu kuiyu (Random insights into astronomy and mathematics), Chousuan yizhi (Arithmetic made easy), and Lisuan jiancun (Simple calendar calculations) were included in her collected works Defengting chuji. These and another ten papers in the same collection are the only extant works written by Wang Zhenyi on astronomy and mathematics. It is apparent from the prefaces to these three books that they mainly offered reviews on her predecessors’ work rather than Wang Zhenyi’s original ideas. Similarly, the ten papers were mainly records of her reading notes, many of which reflect Mei Wending’s great influence. A large part of her posthumous work Defengting chuji consisted of pieces of shi (poetry), ci (lyrics) and fu (rhapsodies) which, together with verses scattered in other collections, amounted to over three hundred. Her poetic works were known for their lack of feminine traits.
According to Hu Wenkai’s Lidai funü zhuzuokao and the 1880 Gazetteer of Jiangning Prefecture, Wang Zhenyi’s works totalled twelve, among which only Defengting chuji is still extant. Qian Yiji (1783–1850) of Jiaxing wrote in his preface that when she was dying Wang Zhenyi asked her husband to pass her manuscripts on to her friend Qian Yuling (1763–1827), who was Qian Yiji’s aunt and the wife of Master Kuai of Wujiang, in the hope that her friend would honor her name after her death. Qian Yiji first saw the fourteen juan of Wang Zhenyi’s initial collection of manuscripts and twenty-three juan of other manuscripts at Qian Yuling’s house in 1803 and then wrote a preface for Shusuan jiancun in five juan."
Ki Che Leung Angela, "Wang Zhenyi" in: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Volume 1: The Qing Period, 1644-1911
