During the Ming Dynasty, the city of Taicang was known as Taicang Prefecture, governing the three counties of Kunshan, Changshu, and Jiading. The region was a hub of literary talent, producing a steady stream of scholars and artists. Among them, Grand Secretary Wang Xijue, a native of Taicang, was a passionate collector whose mansion housed an overwhelming abundance of paintings, calligraphy, and books, making him one of the wealthiest connoisseurs of his time.
Wang Shimin was the grandson of Grand Secretary Wang Xijue, who doted on this late-born grandson and built him a private studio stocked with priceless masterpieces from past dynasties for his study. From childhood, Shimin was obsessed with painting, and his grandfather spared no expense to collect authentic works of famous artists for him to admire and learn from.
Wang Xijue was close friends with Dong Qichang, Minister of Rites in Nanjing and a native of Songjiang. Dong Qichang's calligraphy and painting were hailed as "the finest south of the Yangtze." To avoid the eunuch faction's turmoil, he resigned and lived at home. Since Taicang and Songjiang were neighboring counties, Wang Xijue sent his grandson to Songjiang to study under Dong Qichang. From then on, Wang Shimin's skills in calligraphy and painting greatly improved.
During the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shimin passed the imperial examinations and became a jinshi. By the Chongzhen era, he served as Vice Minister of the Imperial Sacrificial Court, but soon the Qing forces breached the pass, and the Ming fell. From then on, Shimin retreated to Guicun in Taicang, finding joy in reading and painting.
Wang Shimin showed extraordinary intelligence from childhood, devouring books and producing outstanding poetry and essays. In calligraphy, his running and regular scripts followed the style of Chu Suiliang, while his clerical script reached back to the Qin and Han dynasties, earning him the title "foremost in modern times." His painting was even more remarkable. Since Changshu was the hometown of the earlier master Huang Gongwang, Wang Shimin not only captured the spirit of Dong Qichang's style but also achieved perfection in composition, brushwork, and technique, leading critics to declare that he "walked directly into the inner sanctum of Huang Gongwang."
In the early Qing Dynasty, the great painters Wang Jian, Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi, and Wang Shimin successively led the art world, known as the "Four Wangs of Jiangnan," with Wang Shimin being the foremost among them.
Wang Shimin was deeply committed to nurturing emerging talent, and the *Draft History of the Qing* praised him as "thirsting for talent like one thirsts for water." He compiled his collection of famous paintings into large albums, placing them in his studio and study for visiting artists to study and copy. Whenever someone sought his guidance, Wang Shimin would personally instruct them with all his effort. Many of the painters he mentored later became renowned, with Wang Hui and Yun Shouping standing out as the most exceptional.
When Wang Shimin was critically ill, Wang Hui and Yun Shouping attended him by his bedside. On his deathbed, Wang Shimin said, "In life I had talented scholars to teach, and at death I have talented scholars as companions—what regrets could I have?" Truly, his love for talent remained steadfast to the very end.
Thirsty for talent, longing for it like one craves drink—only genuine love for talent from the heart can make one "thirsty for talent." Later, the idiom "thirsty for talent" came to describe cherishing talent as eagerly as one thirsts for water.
Source: *Draft History of the Qing*, "Biography of Arts, Part Three: Wang Shimin"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "爱才若渴" came to describe cherishing talent as eagerly as one thirsts for water.