Cover news reporter Zhang Jie
On the evening of December 26, local time, according to the news published by Joanna Freeman, a professor of history at Yale University, on social media, Jonathan D. Spence, a famous historian and honorary professor at Yale University, passed away on December 25, 2021, local time, at the age of 85.
Shi Jingqian is recognized as one of the most influential sinologists in the world, and is known as "the most storytelling historian". Born in the United Kingdom in 1936, he received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1965 and was a professor at Yale University, director of the Center for History and East Asian Studies, and president of the American Historical Society. Shi Jingqian is known for his study of Chinese history and is one of the world-renowned giants of Chinese history research. Since 1974, he has completed 14 historical works on China, including "In Search of Modern China", "The Death of Wang: The Fate of the Little People Behind the Great History", "Kangxi and Cao Yin", "Matteo Ricci's Memory Palace", "Former Dynasty Dreams: Zhang Dai's Glitz and Desolation", etc. Because of these achievements, Shi Jingqian, along with Philip Alden Kuhn and Frederic Evans Wakeman, was known as the "Three Masters" of American Sinology after John King Fairbank.
"There are many historians to admire, but the most admired is Sima Qian"
In mid-March 2014, Shi Jingqian and his wife came to Sichuan to give an academic exchange lecture in the Academic Lecture Hall of the Wenhua Activity Center of Sichuan University. The theme of the speech was "Writing Chinese History in the West". At that time, a reporter from West China Metropolis Daily was present to report.
Due to the large number of teachers and students who came to listen to the lectures, not only were the seats under the stage robbed early, but even the open space in front of the seats was full of people. The school host at the event site had to guide some of the students on the podium and sit in a circle around Shi Jingqian. This lecture at Sichuan University is the second stop of Shi Jingqian's lecture tour after his first lecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
In his speech, Shi Jingqian introduced his research on Chinese history in English, and his wife, Professor Jin Anping, revealed that the two came to Sichuan for the first time and went to Du Fu Caotang in Chengdu and liked it very much. According to the accompanying staff of the Chinese publisher, the two especially liked the plants and flowers of Du Fu Caotang. Because of his admiration for the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, he was named Shi Jingqian. In the process of communicating with The Students of Sichuan University, Shi Jingqian was asked who was the most admired historian, and his answer was: "There are many historians who are respected, but the most admired is Sima Qian." ”
The "Works of Shi Jingqian" series is both academic and popular
Let Western readers have a sense of Chinese history
In recent years, the "Republic" brand of Guangxi Normal University Publishing House has introduced and produced a series of "Shi Jingqian works": "Cao Yin and Kangxi", "Matteo Ricci's Memory Palace", "Hu Ruowang's Question", "The Land of the Great Khan", "The Death of Wang", etc., which have been expanded to 12 in 2019. The series invited Zheng Peikai and Yan Xiu to be editors-in-chief, selected excellent and reliable translations as the base, and re-edited and published. In China, not only academics like it, but also popular with ordinary readers in non-academic circles. The reason why Shi Jingqian's works can attract ordinary readers outside the academic circle is largely because of his smooth writing, flowing clouds, and his works have a high degree of readability.
There are not many foreign scholars who study Chinese history, but Shi Jingqian has his own unique contributions and outstanding features. In particular, he is good at using beautiful and fluent writing to combine the intricate characters and historical events of modern China, through rigorous historical research, with reference to the research results of experts, and with the traditional historical method of "telling stories", so that Western readers can "see the clouds and mist to see the blue sky" and have a "feeling" for China's historical experience.
As a professional historian, Shi Jingqian can on the one hand let experts and scholars think about the significance and direction of historical exploration, on the other hand, let the general reader deeply understand the history of modern China, especially the pursuit of the era environment and the meaning of life Chinese. Shi Jingqian explores a very different life, traces the words they cast in the long river of history, weaves them into a well-written and rigorously provened story, and presents a little-known aspect of Chinese history, which is rarely valuable.