According to a number of Yale professors, Shi Jingqian, a famous historian and honorary professor of Yale University, passed away on December 26, 2021 local time, at the age of 85.
Born in Surrey, England, Shi Jingqian is known for his study of Chinese history, and together with Wei Feide and Kong Feili, he is known as the "Three Masters of Sinology" in the United States. The Nandu reporter noted that this American sinologist, who is considered to be the most representative after Fairbank, made the decision to study Chinese history because of a chance opportunity when he was studying.
The obsession with "storytelling" and the concern for the fate of individuals under the torrent of history have achieved their unique historical narrative and triggered a wave of follow-up by readers in China and the United States. He always insisted: "I just want to use my own works to arouse the reader's interest in China." ”
Origins: First exposure to Chinese history courses at Yale University
In 1936, Shi Jingqian was born in Surrey, England, to a family of scholars. When he was 6 years old, coinciding with World War II, by chance, he saw Chinese pen and ink paintings in relevant art history books, "Later, during World War II, I developed a heroic worship of China, and I became interested in Chinese history."
In his early years in boarding school, Shi Jingqian was exposed to a large amount of English literature and history, and also learned many languages. At the age of 13, he enrolled at Winchester College, one of the oldest public schools in the UK.
He graduated from Winchester in 1954, during which time he completed a two-year service trip to Germany as a second lieutenant. Despite a brief absence from the secondary school classroom, Shi Jingqian has more thinking in the world classroom: "[Serving] taught me to observe and think outside of traditional British society, and to look forward to responsibility, community and democratic government." ”
After returning to England, Shi Jingqian was admitted to Clare College, Cambridge University, majoring in British history, especially constitutional history. Soon he became co-editor of the literary magazine Granta, and in his second year of school, he was also appointed editor of the Cambridge student newspaper.
By chance, Shi Jingqian was selected by Cambridge to participate in the exchange student program and embarked on a study trip to Yale University. Perhaps surprisingly, the sinologist, who later became internationally renowned, first came into contact with Chinese history at Yale University. At Yale, Shi Jingqian met his mentors Rui Woshou and Mary Rui, who studied under the American sinologist Fei Zhengqing and was once described by Fairbank as the "smartest student" in almost his entire teaching career.
Rui Wo shou mainly studied the history of Buddhism and the history of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and Rui Mary was famous for her research on Tongzhi Zhongxing. Shi Jingqian once said that the decision to switch from studying British history to Chinese history was largely due to the two Professor Rui: "After talking with them, I suddenly realized that exploring Chinese history must be interesting." ”
Later, Rui Mary arranged for Shi Jing to move to Australia to study with the Qing shi master Fang Zhaoyao. Fang Zhaoyao instructed Shi Jingqian to read the history of the Qing Dynasty, during which he also returned to Yale to communicate with two professors Rui. His Chinese name "Shi Jingqian" was also taken by Fang Zhaoyao — to study history one must admire Sima Qian. At this time, Rui Woshou reminded him to pay attention to the "clichés" in Chinese history, and to observe history from different angles and come up with different ideas.
By reading the recitals of the Kangxi Dynasty, Shi Jingqian saw the system and evolution of the times. At the same time, Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin walked into Shi Jingqian's sight. "In the past, I studied Kangxi and Yongzheng and wanted to know how they would establish a new order in China and bring about changes for China. Later, I felt that I should study the conquered side and what they had lost. ”
Shi Jingqian gave the answer with his works.
In 1965, his doctoral dissertation Cao Yin and Kangxi: Master and Slave was published. Shi Jingqian narrated history in the first person of the Kangxi Dynasty, which had never appeared before. The American sinologist Levinson excitedly commented: "In the study of Qing history, there will be no more such works. ”
Perspective: Known for studying the little people at the bottom of history
Cheng Pei-kai, a renowned scholar who was once the Director of the Chinese Cultural Centre at the City University of Hong Kong, was Shi Jingqian's first doctoral student. He once commented that the reason why Shi Jingqian was able to look at Chinese historical materials with new eyes and new perspectives was because he had a deep humanistic foundation of European cultural traditions. "He knows what is worth cherishing in history."
Shi Jingqian once said that many historical issues are taken for granted, but in his view, history has many observation angles and is also very complicated, "history involves so many people, different angles of observation will get different ideas."
Shi Jingqian's unique insight into Chinese history can be seen in the selection of his works. In 1978, the Death of Wang: The Fate of the Little People Behind the Big History, known as a "masterpiece of style and narrative," was published. Based on the Qing Dynasty's "Collection of Criminal Cases", "Tancheng County Chronicle", Tancheng Zhixian Huang Liuhong's "Fuhui Quanshu", and Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhiyi" as the historical basis, this book explores the living environment and imagination space of farmers in the early Qing Dynasty.
Shi Jingqian is famous for studying the low-level people in history.
"I don't really want to make certain philosophical points or positions, or to offer metaphysical insights into the style of the article. Personally, I don't think historiography is meant to be puzzling. Shi Jingqian said.
Because of this, Shi Jingqian is able to face the differences between different cultures without prejudice and is committed to exploring the common nature of human beings in different cultures. In Changing China: Western Advisers in China, he attempts to explore whether there are the strengths and prejudices of Western helpers after the dilemma of the collision of different cultures between China and the West, thus influencing Europeans' perception of China.
Yu Yunguo, an expert in Song history and a professor of the History Department of Shanghai Normal University, once said that Shi Jingqian's unique expression of history, "unfolding a grand era with a small entry point," can just allow ordinary readers to contact a relatively correct view of history and historical facts, "not only making ordinary readers happy to hear and hear, but also making professional scholars feel that there are unique insights in the book."
Shi Jingqian's three-volume "Tracing Modern China", published in 1990, takes the end of the 16th century as the starting point of the narrative and narrates the history of China spanning nearly 400 years. His most prestigious work, which replaced the general histories of Fairbank and Xu Zhongyo, became one of the most popular textbooks in American universities—meaning that a younger generation of Westerners began to understand China from his narrative.
Visit to China: "There are countless stories waiting for me to tell in China"
Shi Jingqian was invited to give lectures at Peking University and Fudan University in China, and once it was difficult to find a ticket, and the theme of the lectures mostly revolved around "writing Chinese history in the West".
As for the phenomenon that "Chinese history and China issues written by foreign scholars are often more concerned by readers", he attributed it to the fact that the study of history can be carried out from multiple perspectives, while foreign scholars have different perspectives, "perhaps they are more interested in the research of foreign scholars, just because these studies give them a new perspective, allowing them to analyze the same kind of scene from a different perspective than before."
Shi Jingqian said that in the whole world map, China is an important and extremely attractive existence. Westerners need to spend a long time digesting and analyzing the data they get. "Something that can be seen at a glance doesn't exist. The more vague and faceted our view of China becomes, the closer we are to the most elusive truth. ”
In Shi Jingqian's eyes, China is a country full of drama, with a rich historical record and countless stories worth telling. He once described himself as a mushroom picker, while China is a forest full of mushrooms, "where there are countless mushrooms waiting for me to pick."
Written by: Nandu trainee reporter He Jiahui