Jonathan D. Spence, a prominent sinologist and professor emeritus at Yale University, died on December 26, local time, at the age of 85. The name Shi Jingqian was given to him by Fang Zhaoyao, a senior Chinese historian, during his doctorate in history at Yale University, and "Jingqian" means "admiring Sima Qian". In Shi Jingqian's "China Vertical and Horizontal", there is an article called "My Teacher Fang Zhaoyao", which shows the far-reaching influence of Fang Zhaoyao on it.
In previous years, the Shi Jingqian series of works was published by Guangxi Normal University Press, including "In Search of Modern China: 1600-1949", "Changing China: Western Advisers in China", "China Vertical: An Academic Exploration Journey of a Sinologist", "Cao Yin and Kangxi: The Career Of a Royal Favorite", "Matteo Ricci's Memory Palace", "Hu John's Question", "The Death of Wang: The Fate of The Little People Behind the Great History", "The Great Khan's Country: China in the Eyes of the West", "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". The Great Righteous Consciousness of the Yongzheng Dynasty", "Kangxi: Reconstructing the Inner World of a Chinese Emperor", and "Former Dynasty Dreams: Zhang Dai's Glitz and Desolation", a total of 12 volumes.
In 2014, Shi Jingqian was at the scene of Sichuan University's activities
In 2014, Guangxi Normal University Press, Ideal Country, held a lecture tour for Shi Jingqian's Chinese universities, the first stop was the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and the second stop was Sichuan University in Chengdu.
Shi Jingqian launched with the theme of "Writing Chinese History in the West", and at the Sichuan University Wenhua Activity Center, the scene was crowded, and even the rostrum was crowded with students. At that time, the dialogue guests were also Jin Anping and Zheng Peikai. Jin Anping is an American historian and wife of Shi Jingqian; Zheng Peikai is the editor-in-chief of the Chinese edition of Shi Jingqian's series of works and a student of Shi Jingqian.
Zheng Peikai and Mr. Shi Jingqian have a teacher-student friendship, and are the first doctoral students officially recruited by Mr. Shi when he teaches in the History Department of Yale University. Since 1972, under the guidance of Mr. Shi, Zheng Peikai has been immersed in the study and thinking of history, and from the perspective of a student, he has repeatedly read the teacher's historical works in order to learn the know-how of historical research and writing.
Zheng Peikai wrote the characteristics of each work in the general preface to the series of works written by Shi Jingqian. One of the sentences is: Shi Jingqian's historical works are often appreciated by both elegant and popular, taking into account academic research and popular reading, on the one hand, allowing experts and scholars to think about the meaning and direction of historical exploration, on the other hand, allowing general readers to deeply understand the history of modern China, especially the pursuit of the era environment and the meaning of life Chinese. His "Pursuit of Modern China" and so on, can best show his historical knowledge and the fluency of writing, can be impartial, on the facts, but is full of historical sympathy and understanding, so that Western readers understand that China is a real place, even if it is difficult to identify with the development of Chinese history, but also see the historical figures who live and struggle in it, are flesh and blood and feelings, in a specific bleak historical environment, courageously pursuing a glimmer of light in the vast future.
Shi Jingqian writes a new book every time,
A new study will be opened
In Zheng Peikai's eyes, Shi Jingqian is a very interesting person. He once briefly talked about his experience of studying with Shi Jingqian. The most impressive thing is that he went to the United States to study, and found that the teacher's teaching method was completely different from the previous method in his hometown, from elementary school, middle school, and college, as if the teacher knew everything. However, Shi Jingqian first told him, "I know very little, mainly rely on yourself, your Chinese foundation is better than mine, I can't help you with this." Zheng Peikai still heard the teacher say that he knew very little, because Shi Jingqian's philosophy was that everyone should seek a path of thought or scholarship on their own.
"Probably because I was his first phD student, he was quite good to me, I was at Yale for six years, he applied for a six-year scholarship for me, especially in 1976, 1978, he found me a scholarship to travel in China, which was rare at the time, and the possibility of coming around in China at that time was not so great."
Shi Jingqian (Photo: Muto)
Zheng Peikai believes that Shi Jingqian has great respect for Fang Zhaoyao, an old scholar, throughout his life, and the name "Shi Jingqian" was given to him by Fang Zhaoyao. Fang Zhaoyao helped compile the "Biography of Celebrities of the Qing Dynasty" at the Library of Congress in the United States, and later went to Columbia University to help Carrington Goodrich compile the "Dictionary of Ming Biography" (1368-1644), this old scholar's academic foundation is very deep, in this sense, Shi Jingqian's Chinese traditional Chinese studies skills are actually Fang Zhaoyao's teachings.
In addition, because Fang Zhaoyao was very influential in the field of historiography, when Shi Jingqian did his doctoral dissertation, Fang Zhaoyao asked him to go to the National Palace Museum in Taipei to see the archives. Shi Jingqian was the first Western scholar to enter the archives of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and he used these archives to write about Kangxi, so he had a special love for Kangxi. Many of the things that Shi Jingqian wrote later were very extensive, but his most basic things were based on archives, which was very solid.
"Generally speaking, Shi Jingqian's best way to write historiography is to be particularly clever in narrative, writing anything, he seems to enter this role in his head, in this regard, it is a bit like writing literary works. I think this is very interesting, because his Western history and literature are very deep. He likes to read poetry the most, so the literary style is very good. Zheng Peikai recalled that when Shi Jingqian wrote books, he often wrote a plan, and suddenly wanted to write another, he would open a study - there was a small house in his backyard, and it was his study - he had at most three plans at the same time, to write this book, to write that book to that study. Of course, he is still very focused on finishing one book after another, for example, after writing "Kangxi", he wrote "The Death of Wang", the material is a different thing, he will get the material to another study, and when the previous one is finished, he will write the latter one with all his strength.
Teaching is actually very meaningful,
His target audience is the student
Zheng Peikai said that generally speaking, even the most famous professors at Yale University must open courses for undergraduates, and students can choose courses at will. Zheng Peikai remembers that when he was in class, Shi Jingqian had about 60 students, and then ten years later he went back to see that there were more than 700 students who chose courses alone. Shi Jingqian also said that the most troublesome thing is that he can't find a teaching assistant, and he wants 20 teaching assistants to change the volume.
Shi Jingqian has one class per week, usually a big speech. He prepared this speech very well, "The Death of the Wang Family" he began to talk about the social situation in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, he took a legal case, of course, there are many other materials, in conjunction with Huang Liuhong's "Fuhui Quanshu".
Starting from a case, talking about the situation of society at that time, and then developing into a book, Shi Jingqian looked at the students' reactions from his speeches and teachings, whether they were interested in this, and the more he talked about it, the clearer he became, and finally he made a book. Many of his books are made step by step, so in this sense, teaching is actually very meaningful.
Why do people like to read books written by Shi Jingqian? Zheng Peikai believes that a big reason for this is that Shi Jingqian has a reader in his mind, that is, his students. In addition, there is a point more special, Shi Jingqian is a British, living in the United States for 60 years, did not enter the United States, Zheng Peikai did not ask the teacher why, he analyzed that the teacher lives in the favorite English environment, teaches at the favorite university, is surrounded by students he likes, and he is in dialogue with history, which is also very important, but also let readers like to read his works.
Shi Jingqian series of works
Zheng Peikai said that Shi Jingqian is full of enthusiasm for what is happening in China, not in the current affairs, but in the situation, experience, and situation of historical figures. Shi Jingqian seems to have entered history when he writes "In Pursuit of Modern China", and it seems that he did not try to discuss the development of the whole of China from a more objective perspective, and discussed it until modern times.
Shi Jing moved out such a series of books, and everyone thought that his writing was very good. There is one point that Zheng Peikai would like to mention in particular, that is, the translation of the writing is quite fluent, but compared with Shi Jingqian's original English, it is still not the same. His English is not gorgeous, but it is easy to read, which is the main reason why most European and American readers like to read. Everything he said had a source, and occasionally there was a small misreading of the ancient text, but very little, and sometimes it was not deeply investigated.
Red Star News reporter Chen Mou
Edited by Li Jie
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