Shi Jingqian Chinese edition of the book series.
Shi Jingqian and Zheng Peikai in Shi Jingqian's garden, 2019. Image courtesy of Yan Xiu
Shi Jingqian took a photo when he came to China in 2014. Courtesy of the Republic
Shi Jingqian (August 11, 1936 – December 26, 2021), whose real name is Jonathan D. Spence, was born in the United Kingdom, graduated from cambridge university in the United Kingdom and Yale University in the United States, and is a well-known expert in contemporary Chinese history in the United States, sinologist, known for his research on the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Commentators argue that in the Western world, Shi Jingqian "is a Chinese historian with the broadest readership of our time." He is also the sinologist who is most familiar to Chinese readers.
In his later years, Shi Jingqian liked to make flowers and grass. He took care of a swampy wetland in his backyard and built a pavilion next to it, named "Youyou Pavilion". "Yo yo deer singing, eating wild apples, I have guests, drums blowing sheng." Classic of poetry , Xiaoya Luming " .
In May 2019, Shi Jingqian's eldest disciple, Zheng Peikai, and his wife Yan Xiu visited the teacher's home in New Haven, and Shi Jingqian took them to explore the grassy garden behind the house. The group walked all the way to the swamp and took pictures in front of the yo-yo pavilion. Shi Jingqian in the photo looks a little weak, but he still has the pleasure of walking in the garden and getting close to nature. This was the last time Mr. and Mrs. Zheng Peikai met with the teacher. Behind the pavilion, a tree with dark red and light pink flowers bloomed like clouds and fireworks.
Shi Jingqian, a historian who wrote with talent and instinct, in his decades of chinese history research, with his excellent historical judgment, unique sensitivity, empathy and beautiful writing, not only achieved remarkable achievements in academic research, but also successfully made history out of the ivory tower, which had an indelible impact on the field of Eastern and Western historiography.
He studied under the famous sinologists Rui Woshou and Rui Mary and his wife, as well as Fang Zhaoyao, the author of the "Biography of a Celebrity of the Qing Dynasty", and the Chinese name "Shi Jingqian" was fang Zhaoyao, which means "admiring Sima Qian". Shi Jingqian did not compare himself to the great Chinese historian, but his writings were worthy of Sima Shi's words: "At the time of the investigation of heaven and man, the changes through ancient and modern times have become the words of a family."
Scholars of the older generation, such as Fairbank, praised him. Fairbank once commented: "In his empathetic and clever narrative, Chinese experiences have turned into flesh-and-blood encounters, although sometimes cruel." By truly imitating the characters and their situations, Shi Jingqian lovingly leads us into the lives of these people, making us feel as if we have witnessed all this, as if we have had direct communication with them. This feeling can only be given in the best historical works. ”
Therefore, some people call Shi Jingqian "three masters" along with Kong Feili of Harvard University and Wei Keman of the University of California, Berkeley.
On December 26, 2021 local time, the long-bearded historian died at home at the age of 85.
When the news came out, countless readers in the academic circles of the East and the West, as well as Shi Jingqian, expressed their remembrance of this venerable scholar in various ways. Nandu reporter interviewed Zheng Peikai, the first doctoral student officially recruited by Shi Jingqian and a famous historian. He and his wife Yan Xiu are also the editors-in-chief of the series of works of Shi Jingqian in the ideal country.
Zheng Peikai recalled Shi Jingqian's later years to the Nandu reporter, detailed Shi Jingqian's teacher inheritance, characteristics of governance, and academic achievements, clarified a public case in which Qian Zhongshu ridiculed Shi Jingqian as an "unsuccessful novelist", and talked about The "other side" of Shi Jingqian: This historian has always been obsessed with literature, especially loving to read contemporary poetry. He is a winner of the MacArthur Genius Award, and belongs to the small circle of The American cultural and artistic elite along with george Holland, John Ashbery and other famous contemporary poets — no wonder he exports praise and pours flowers and flowers.
He also has unfinished writing plans
Nandu: Do you know about Mr. Shi Jingqian's life before his death?
Zheng Peikai: Mr. Shi Jingqian lives not too far outside of Yale University's New Haven. The living environment is very good, there is a large garden behind the house, he planted a lot of flowers and trees, some are particularly beautiful. He also planted a lot of raspberries on the garden side. Raspberries are wild things, but he is well-tended and can also harvest raspberries.
He enjoys doing some gardening things. There was a slope behind his house, and at the bottom of the slope was a swamp, which he also took care of, and even took care of a "secret garden" on the other side of the swamp wetland and built a small pavilion. He was quite fond of labor when he was alive. It's just that his health started to be bad three or four years ago, he had a chronic disease, and there was something wrong with his physical coordination. This caused him to move more and more slowly, and he was not able to do the work of gardening. Usually, I take a walk. He fell two weeks before his death, causing him to become weaker and weaker, and finally passed away.
In his later years, he read books, especially liked to read literary things, read poetry, read novels, etc. He ended up with a plan to write, but it wasn't finished because he was too weak. He wanted to discuss the role of Materials involving Chinese Confucianism in Western thought, especially Confucius's Analects. The information was roughly sorted out, but unfortunately it was not finished.
His preaching and teaching were very open-ended
Nandu: You are shi jingqian's first doctoral student, can you reveal what kind of supervisor Mr. Shi Jingqian is? In what way did he take his disciples, and how did he preach and teach karma to solve problems?
Zheng Peikai: Mr. Shi Jingqian takes great care of the students. He has a special ability to understand the student's character and tendency to do scholarship by talking and interacting with the student. He basically let students develop themselves, never asked students, to follow the teacher's path to continue, carry forward my academic system, and establish a family school. In fact, he does not approve of any academic system and family school.
So we see that Shi Jingqian has brought out a lot of excellent students, and each of these students has an academic direction of independent development. Shi Jingqian hopes that everyone will develop freely and everyone will develop their abilities to the fullest. Everyone's abilities are different, their interests are different, and their pursuits are not exactly the same. But as long as it is developed in the academic scope, he is particularly encouraged.
As for how he preached and taught karma, as mentioned above, his way of preaching was relatively open-ended. As for his teachings, he will look carefully at what you have written. Because English is not my native language, although it is written well, there will be problems with the style of writing, and sometimes the expression is not in accordance with the logic of English thinking. He would help me change the article, and it was changed quite carefully. His own writing is very beautiful, so he helped me change it very well.
As for the puzzle solving, his method is very interesting and more open-ended. That is to say, you have already read a Ph.D., and the ability to think independently should be there. You find a question, where is the answer to this question, you should find it yourself, the teacher can not help you find the answer. The answer you find, he helps you see, somewhere should be clearer, you go to find a little more information. If the information is exhausted, then you must try to make it clear, and you can talk about a few points.
I am the first doctoral student officially recruited by Shi Jingqian. My research interests are the earliest contact between China and the West in the 16th century and the history of the emergence of early prototypes of globalization. Shi Jingqian felt that my topic was different from his, because he was studying the Qing Dynasty and beyond. So while he was mentoring me, Arthur Wright also directed my research on ancient history. But Arthur Wright passed away very early, and I hadn't written a paper yet, and Arthur Wright suddenly died of a heart attack. When he left, the history department vacated a chair professor seat. Shi Jingqian was very powerful, he persuaded the school, and he went to ask Yu Yingshi at Harvard to dig up Yu Yingshi and do my thesis review. Therefore, Yale hired Yu Yingshi as a chair professor, and I also had two teachers, Shi Jingqian was the main thesis supervisor, and Yu Yingshi was the teacher who reviewed the papers. In fact, I know both of them very well, have a lot of contacts, and benefit a lot. This is my teacher. The others of my brothers and sisters, of course, are all from Shi Jingqian's men.
He is a golden needle man, and the work is spent on the back
Nandu: Shi Jingqian is a "storyteller" among historians, his writing is vivid and delicate, full of details and imagination, and full of literature. For this, some people in the academic community thought that he was "not academic enough", and Qian Zhongshu jokingly called him a "failed novelist". How do you personally evaluate Shi Jingqian's way of governing and rhetorical strategy?
Zheng Peikai: On this issue, some of them are rumors, some of them are taken out of context, and then they are falsely rumored. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the vivid writing of history and the wonderful storytelling. It's just that some people may try to hide that they don't have Shi Jingqian's superb ability to express themselves, feel that their learning is not bad, how they have not been able to enjoy the fame, and always want to imply that his academic roots are not good. It's a strange attitude, and most of them are Chinese scholars. Maybe jealousy. Chinese now has a new term, envy and jealousy hate.
Some young scholars now criticize the older generation of scholars with such an attitude, which is very frivolous and reckless. They will also quote some authoritative figures and give people random characterization. Mr. Qian Zhongshu speaks, occasionally snarky and mean, and we all know that he is extremely intelligent and sometimes cannot control his mouth. If he praises you, he often does not take you seriously and talks about you casually; if he criticizes you or satirizes you, he instead shows that he looks up to you, but he can also see your shortcomings. No one is perfect, most of his criticisms are ancient, and there are always some things that can be criticized. Have you ever found that Qian Zhongshu never criticizes people who are worse than him, or juniors, and Qian Zhongshu never criticizes juniors.
So there's a very interesting phenomenon. Qian Zhongshu felt that Shi Jingqian's way of writing history simply wrote novels, but he could not write novels and was an "unsuccessful novelist." The so-called failed novelist, failed is not translated as "failed", and the English is not so simple and straightforward. Failed here means unsuccessful, a man who did not become a novelist. Let's say we're going to put on a play, and we've arranged a show, but we haven't done it, and that's a failed play. Everyone quoted Mr. Qian as saying that Shi Jingqian was a "failed novelist", and the translator first misunderstood and did not understand the sound of the strings.
Many young scholars, whose Chinese and English roots are not good, misunderstand as soon as they see this hard-translated word. In fact, Mr. Qian's statement is not necessarily intentionally sarcastic, it may be a joke to show his playfulness. The playful jokes he tells are only qualified to tell, and the current generations must not take it seriously, drawing tigers does not become anti-dogs, self-defeating, and becoming frivolous "foreign field evil less".
As for Shi Jingqian's narration of a story, why did he narrate it so beautifully? The first is that he is very good at finding information. Often he has looked for Chinese materials and original documents, but this document is not enough to lay out a very clear historical image, so he goes to find a variety of related historical materials to clarify all the historical environments in this time and space. He presented the human situation, and then he put in the historical material about the character that he first grasped, and cleared it up, and this is a story.
When we look at the way he studies, he usually starts with a clearer topic and a very clear theme. He then looked for all sorts of materials to put the subject on record. He will not say that if he found this document, he will drill this document to the ground, examine and investigate different materials, whether this part of A is right, or Whether B is right, or there are some problems, he is not this kind of evidence-based academic research.
From Shi Jingqian's historical writing, we can see that he has a macroscopic understanding of history. He originally did the early Qing Dynasty, and later extended to the late Ming Dynasty. Since the late Ming Dynasty, he is interested in what is the environment, atmosphere and historical trend of the entire historical development of China. This is macro. Because he taught modern history, and taught at Yale for decades, he had to talk about these questions from the 16th century to the 20th century.
With a macroscopic overall structure, do a very small, seemingly small problem. For example, he mainly writes history through characters, but when you put the characters in a specific historical environment, you must clearly explain the relationship between the characters and the environment. This is Shi Jingqian's skill. Combined with the microscopic details, you will feel that there is a first and a second, the order is clear, and the historical image will slowly unfold. Where is this not academic? This is of course academic.
In fact, it is quite interesting to talk about. Some people actually say that the things studied by Qian Zhongshu are fragmented, completely unsystematic, and not academic. Where is the Money Clock Book without a system? Qian Zhongshu is well aware of the cultural background and macro aspects behind Chinese and Western literature. Step by step, he wrote some reading notes, each of which was a research topic and could be spread out into a monograph. Therefore, Mr. Qian's method is not to give the golden needle to people. Shi Jingqian is another kind, he is the Golden Needle Man, he has got everything right for you to see. But you don't know how much work he's putting behind his back. The material behind him, the collation behind him, the organization behind him, and when he writes, concentrate on highlighting a story, a historical phenomenon, a historical stage that a historical figure has passed, his life or a special fragment of his life. This is the way Shi Jingqian presents history.
He belongs to the small circle of american elite culture and art
Nandu: Earlier, you mentioned in an interview that Shi Jingqian was opened by Wen Shizhe. He is also said to have enjoyed reading literature, especially poetry. As far as you know, what kind of reading habits does he have on a daily basis? Which writers does he like?
Zheng Peikai: In fact, most of the ancient scholars were opened up by literature, history and philosophy. Now because of academic differentiation, specialization, professionalization, humanities and science, science and engineering, medicine, and even social sciences, after the more detailed, there has been a rupture, and even some strange things, the study of history does not look at literary works, the study of literature does not refer to historical works, the study of philosophy does not look at anything, it is really a strange phenomenon of the twenty-first century. Most people go into academia, and academia has a requirement for them. The requirement is simple, you are an expert. It doesn't matter if you don't understand anything else, there are other people in the university who understand other things anyway.
Some people seek their own knowledge, what Confucius called "learning for themselves." We live in a modern society, where scholarship becomes a profession, it is a workplace, it has requirements, and scholarship has become "learning for others." But we look at the more remarkable scholars, such as Qian Zhongshu, Shi Jingqian... These people are still pursuing their own interests. His academic pursuit in this life is actually his pursuit of knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge does not have such a clear demarcation as literature, history, and philosophy, because it is all universal and connected.
Shi Jingqian liked literary works. So Qian Zhongshu kind of laughed at him, saying that he should engage in literature and should not engage in history, saying that he was an "unsuccessful novelist." Shi Jingqian's favorite is poetry. He grew up immersed in classical literature, from ancient Greco-Roman literature to Shakespeare. He read novels in English, and he also read novels throughout The Continent. In poetry, he read classical poetry and often read contemporary poetry.
There were two poets he often discussed with me. I write poetry myself, and although I don't publish much, I like poetry. He sometimes talks to me about john Hollander. Holland was a poet in the eastern United States and later became a chair professor at Yale. His poems are quite interesting, and he pays attention to the beauty of rhyme. The rhythm of English poetry is traditionally very regular, and now it is relatively free, but there is also a certain rhythm in freedom. Holland's poems are very distinct in addition to the imagery, the emphasis on phonology is also very unique, which is worth thinking about, Shi Jingqian's writing, in the use of words, but also pay attention to the rhythm and rhythm of words.
John Hollander became famous in 1958 when Yale University gave him a book of poems, part of the "Yale Young Poets Series", edited by the great British poet W.H. Auden. Shi Jingqian has a lot of contact with Holland, and they have both won the MacArthur Genius Award, so they are also considered "peers".
In other words, Shi Jingqian likes poetry, of course, it is also related to these poets he knows, but the most important thing is that he is in this circle. He doesn't write poetry himself, but he belongs to the small circle of American cultural and artistic elites.
He ushered in many new aspects of Western historiography
Nandu: The Death of Wang Shi is an important work by Shi Jingqian after Kangxi, and it is also a work that he himself attaches great importance to. Why is Shi Jingqian interested in the fate of a peasant woman in Tancheng, Shandong? What was the significance of this kind of attention, sympathy for the humble little people in history, and the reflection of the socio-historical picture through the small people?
Zheng Peikai: Actually, it's quite interesting. It was a homicide. The law reference book at that time, the Compendium of Criminal Cases, recorded the case. There are fronts and backs, and there are simple story outlines. It was as if we had a homicide today, recorded from beginning to end. However, there is also a "Fuhui Quanshu", which is for the reference of those masters who are too conservative and county orders, and also records this case. So not an isolated material.
After discovering this, Shi Jingqian began to look for the local history of Tancheng in Shandong Province. Pu Songling has also been active in that area. Together, these outline the entire environment, economy, and society of the place, as well as the structure of the Qing Dynasty in this local society. Through this murder, the operation of local administration can be shown. Shandong Tancheng is relatively remote, how to implement the decrees of the central government of the Qing Empire? Originally, Shi Jingqian studied the Kangxi Emperor, this case occurred in the local area, the character is a poor peasant woman Wang Shi, how to concretely show the local, small to see the big historical situation?
"The Death of Wang" is a very interesting book, and it is also a book that Shi Jingqian himself quite likes. It was able to weave these things together, organize these materials, and then think at different levels, what was the situation of people in small places during the Qing Dynasty, living in the environment of greater China? What might have happened to her?
Of course, the most eye-catching passage is the part where Wang Shi dreams in the snow, which is Pu Songling's material, which should be Pu Songling's dream, and it is transferred to Wang's body, like the immortal possessed after Fuluan. This is also in the small place of Tancheng in the Qing Dynasty, the possibility of dreaming imagination, the possibility of conscious or subconscious activity, the material comes from Pu Songling, this kind of exploration is very interesting and fascinating.
"The Death of Wang" has received rave reviews in the West, causing a great sensation, mainly inspiring us, how to write history? What historical environment do you want to reflect? You asked Wang Shi to be in a coma before he died, did he dream of these things? God knows. But is there anyone who can imagine these things? At that time, in this small place in Shandong, there was, Pu Songling thought so. Shi Jingqian expanded the space of the entire historical imagination, but the foundation is still historical materials. You have to notice that all the material he lists in the notes. Therefore, he opened up many new aspects in the study of Western historiography. This is also why Shi Jingqian has such a great influence in the field of historiography.
He has a deep curiosity about Chinese history and culture
Nandu: Why do you think Shi Jingqian is fascinated by the study of Chinese history?
Zheng Peikai: In fact, he did not study Chinese history before, he did not come into contact with Chinese history until after Yale. But he told me a story about his childhood. When he was five or six years old, his parents once took him to an exhibition with some Chinese artifacts, such as jade, bronze, calligraphy and painting. He felt that the world was so special, he was very addicted to some mysterious things in Chinese culture, he couldn't understand. Of course he didn't have a chance to delve into it again, he was so young at that time. But this thing was deeply hidden in his heart. Later, he had become an important Scholar of Chinese History, and he told me that he did not know whether it was hidden in his heart, and that the mysterious feeling of Chinese history and culture, especially the works of art, the kind of wonderful, a little uncertain, and unclear things, prompted him to explore. So it's a deep desire to learn.
In fact, it is difficult to say, some lingering yearning and infatuation in childhood will affect how much of our lives? You ask me, and I can't tell you what the key factor was at the moment when Shi Jingqian decided to study Chinese history in his lifetime. But he later told me that the story was funny, and it had always been in his mind, haunting there, and I thought it was quite important.
Nandu: As the editor-in-chief of the Ideal Republic and Shi Jingqian's series of works, do you think this set of books faithfully presents the literary characteristics of Shi Jingqian? Why can Shi Jingqian's works be loved by readers from both the East and the West?
Zheng Peikai: The collection of Works of Shi Jingqian that I edited is, by and large, faithfully reflects the appearance of Shi Jingqian's works. However, translation is a very difficult thing, especially Shi Jingqian's writing is so beautiful, which makes it a little difficult to translate. I think there are some people who have started to discuss the differences and advantages and disadvantages of different translations. Different translators have different understandings when reading the original text, and the way the translation is presented is different. The translation we chose is generally meaningful, and whether it fully shows the charm of the original text is another matter.
But his entire historical narrative, in terms of structure, in terms of subject matter, the translation is still relatively faithfully reproduced. Do we have any difficulties in dealing with translations? There are also. Because of all the translations, we find that there are individual errors in the understanding of the original text. Because Shi Jingqian expresses a historical scene or the psychology of the characters, sometimes the words used are more euphemistic and tortuous. The tactile and tortuous English expression, although it looks smooth and delicate, this kind of article is the most difficult to translate. So when we deal with translators' translations, we often find misinterpretations. It's all small mistakes, to the effect that it's not lost, but the taste is not right. At this time, we are the editor-in-chief, and we will not change anything other than correcting the specific small errors in the translation.
There is also a situation in which Shi Jingqian's original text reflects his misreading when he understood the original text of the Chinese, and we do not change this, which is the problem of Shi Jingqian. We just translate, we just translate the works. As a student of his, I would not write an article criticizing the teacher, nor would I be critical.
As for why Shi Jingqian's historical works have won the love of so many readers, because he is well written and has a clear narrative, all the historical situations he talks about are supported by academic documents. His writings, if you look at the notes that follow, have no word or origin, but he weaves them very well. Read it down and it's fascinating.
Therefore, I think Shi Jingqian has made a great contribution to the Understanding of Chinese History and Culture in the West. He does not discuss some of the current political conflicts, nor does he discuss historical and cultural issues from the perspective of interests, such as national interests. This could enrich our understanding of human civilization. And this understanding is necessary.
Written by: Nandu reporter Huang Qian