In a telephone interview with Wang Shixiang in Beijing, we asked him his motives for publishing his books. Wang, now in his 80s, said quite casually: "We shouldn't just leave writing to the foreigners, we Chinese should also write, to fill in this gap."
時至今日，打電話到北京請問王世襄當年出書的動機，他老人家只是淡淡地說：「書不是只要外國人寫，我們中國人自己也該寫寫，把這個空缺補上。」