Wen | Lei Yi
Fast forward to the anniversary of the death of Jonathan D. Spence (1936-2021).
Jonathan D. Spence (1936-2021), a well-known American historian and former president of the American Historical Society, a famous American historian and former president of the American Historical Society, died at the end of 2021 at home in the United States, completing his 85-year-old life journey. Along the way, he left behind 14 high-quality works on Chinese history and, of course, a garden full of peach and plum.
He was born on 11 August 1936 in England to an intellectual family. His father graduated from Oxford and Heidelberg Universities, was fluent in German, worked in publishing houses and galleries, was a book editor for Joseph Conrad, his mother was familiar with French literature, his two older brothers were classical scholars and chemical engineers, and his sister worked not only as a film producer, but also as a professional translator in French, German and Italian. This family background has made him deeply influenced by the classical humanistic spirit. At the age of 13, he entered Winchester College, one of the oldest public schools in the UK. He showed interest and talent in history in middle school and won a history scholarship. In 1956, he entered Carlisle College, Cambridge. Majoring in British History, he was also the editor of a literary magazine and a Cambridge student newspaper. His experience as a literary editor at university had a profound impact on his later writing style and style.
In 1959, he came to the United States and entered Yale University, where he studied Ming and Qing dynasty history under Mary C. Wright, a professor of history at Yale University and a female professor best known for her book "Tongzhi Zhongxing." When he was in his third year of study, he came to Australia on the recommendation of Marie Rui, who was very academic, and studied philology under Fang Zhaoyang, who graduated from Yenching University. Fang Zhaoying gave him Chinese name "Shi Jingqian", which means to admire Sima Qian, a name that he gladly accepted. Fang Zhaoying has worked in many universities and libraries in the United States and Australia, and compiled many authoritative literature. Under his guidance, Shi Jingqian's mastery and search of historical materials and documents of the Ming and Qing dynasties made great progress. Through the recommendation of Fang, he was able to enter the National Palace Museum in Taipei to consult the archives. On the basis of a large number of archives, the doctoral dissertation was completed. The paper was published by Yale University Press in 1966 under the title Cao Yin and Kangxi. Since then, he has written numerous books, including Cao Yin and the Kangxi Emperor, Changing China: Western Advisors in China, 1620-1960, Self-portrait of the Kangxi Emperor, The Death of the Wang Clan, Tiananmen, Matteo Ricci's Memories of Chinese Palaces, John Hu's Doubts, Tracing Modern China, Memories of the Dream of the Former Dynasty, China Marquee, The Country of the Great Khan: China in the Western Eyes, The Yongzheng Emperor's Great Righteous Awakening, and God's Son of China: Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Wait a minute.
In Shi Jingqian's works, "people" is the core theme of his historical narrative, and no matter how it is written, the essence is a biography. Of course, from the emperor to the literati, there are many elites, but there is also the history of small people who have not been noticed in history, typical such as "The Death of the Wang Clan". No matter how high the status of the heir is emperor or how low as the nameless working woman, his research perspective is always equal. "Tiananmen", on the other hand, painted a group portrait of Chinese intellectuals.
In the study of people, the most difficult is the study of small people, because they are just ordinary members of the crowd, so small in the process of history that they are hardly recorded. Occasionally, it is also extremely fragmentary. However, "The Death of the Wang Clan" is about the tragic fate of small people in a cruel big time. There is too little historical information about Wang, but he devotes three-quarters of the space to the background of the story, intertwined with the 17th-century earthquake in Tancheng, Shandong, famine, land struggles, power conflicts in the countryside, and the deeds of virgins and martyrs. Wang's hardships, desires and dreams are fully presented in this context. Scattered pieces of historical materials, he carefully "pieced together" a picture of Wang's personal, local and epochal picture. Through "Wang's Dream", he actually expresses how humble civilians who have no complaints can maintain their dreams and self-respect in the face of natural and man-made disasters.
Shi Jingqian is a British, a professor at an American university, who can speak several Chinese. This unique background or advantage allows him to conduct cross-cultural research almost imperceptibly or instinctively. "Matteo Ricci's Memory of the Chinese Palace" and "John Hu's Doubts" use English, German, French and Italian languages to consult relevant archives and records, and provide an in-depth perspective on the history of missionaries in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the history of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and the history of globalization. Matteo Ricci is famous, needless to say. "The Question of John Hu" began with three missionary-related manuscript archives excavated in Europe, he was one of the few Catholics in China during the Yongzheng period, and a French Jesuit missionary in China was returning to Europe, hoping to find one or two Chinese to travel with him to Europe to help him copy Chinese books so that he could study ancient Chinese books. John Hu volunteered, signed a five-year employment contract, and the two traveled to Europe together. "John Hu's Doubts" studies and analyzes the various manifestations and doubts of Hu in Europe recorded in the archives, and there are many records and studies of missionaries coming to China, while the Chinese who came to Europe at that time were not many, and there were even fewer records, and relevant research can be described as rare. Cultural clashes, collisions and fusions, through various details, many people can't help but endure, three-dimensional and vivid expression. Reading it carefully, it is thought-provoking and thought-provoking. Hong Xiuquan's research is also from the perspective of comparative culture. How did a scholar who had never been abroad accept foreign Christianity in frustration, organize and mobilize peasant rebellions that set off a raging tide in the sea, and how he transformed this foreign religion into an ideal of "heavenly kingdom" acceptable to Chinese peasants. He put Hong Xiuquan's thoughts and concepts in the process of globalization, which is indeed new.
Shi Jingqian's character research always places people in the historical environment at that time. From people, people can see and see through the social, political, historical, cultural, customs and other aspects of the time. At the same time, these in turn make the reader's understanding of this historical figure more profound. This kind of integration of man and the environment is always silent and unconscious, listening to him tell the story, entering the "story", it seems that there is no theory. In fact, he has repeatedly stated that he does not like the standard academic narrative method of inserting theory into his writing. He believes that theories have limitations, so he doesn't want to limit his narrative method to a corner. Of course, he also has his own theories and frameworks, but few theory or concept first. His goal is to make theory intangible, "anonymously" into the narrative.
After World War II, the mainstream paradigm of American academic history was a high degree of "social science", historical research was data statistics, theoretical analysis, interpretation framework, social structure, and "people" were fewer and fewer, more and more marginal. However, Shi Jingqian's research method is "swimming against the current", which is completely different from the mainstream. However, such a historian, contrary to the mainstream, served as president of the American Historical Association, which shows his academic "recognition".
In his writings, "man" is the center and protagonist, revealing a strong classical humanistic spirit. Classics and humanities are the breath that exudes in his writings.
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