Huang Zunxian (chinesisch 黃遵憲, Pinyin Huáng Zūnxiàn, W.-G. Huang Tsun-hsien, May 29, 1848Vorlage:Spaced ndashMarch 28, 1905), courtesy name Gongdu (公度), was a Chinese official, scholar, and poet, active during the late Qing Dynasty. He was born in Jiayingzhou, now Mei County, Guangdong, and died 57 years later in the same place.
Early life and career
Huang was born May 29, 1848 in Jiayingzhou (now Mei County), Guangdong, China to a family of Hakka heritage. His father Huang Hung Chow was a scholar-official (Juren or 举人) and served the courts of the Qing dynasty.Vorlage:Sfn At age three, he witnessed the effects of the greatest land reforms in China.Vorlage:Sfn As a toddler, the younger Huang could recite the famous Chinese anthology Thousand Families Poems (千家诗) and as a nine-year-old child studied poems from the Tang dynasty. His life took a turn a few years later, during the Taiping Rebellion, when he was robbed of many of his possessions. He applied to be a Juren, like his father, when he became of age in 1877. Despite heavy competition, he found success and was posted to Tokyo, Japan to serve as the Imperial Chinese Embassy's Counsellor.Vorlage:Sfn While in Japan, he did some editorial work for the Japan World Magazine,Vorlage:Sfn looked into aspects of the medicine of the country,[1] and noted how much the country had progressed through time and published his studies in a book, Treaties of JapanVorlage:Sfn (printed 1890[2]). Then-Emperor Guangxu was fascinated with the work and invited Huang to detailedly explain it to him in person. It was partially because of Huang's book that made Guangxu amend some rules in China.Vorlage:Sfn Huang is also considered to be a philosopher, having analysed, discussed, and questioned the framework of China.Vorlage:SfnVorlage:Sfn
Afterwards in 1882, Huang was assigned to San Francisco, California, United States. During his time as Consul-General there, he realised how wealthy the immigrant Chinese had become, and how much of an asset they were to China. After seven years in the United States, he moved back to his home country China. In 1890, he relocated to London, England to act as the Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy; one year later he was reassigned to Singapore to become the Consul-General there. He witnessed how similar the Singaporean Chinese, both rich and generous, were to the native Chinese. Disagreeing with China's policy of not allowing overseas Chinese to return to the country, and torturing them if they did so, Huang composed a formal request to the Emperor to do away with the rule, offering that China was "driv[ing] fish into other people's nets". The request was accepted and on January 29, 1894, it was announced that the Chinese overseas were no longer barred from returning to China.Vorlage:Sfn In between, Huang was Hunan Province's Salt Intendant[2] and he started the Journal for Contemporary Affairs.Vorlage:Sfn The change of policy was widely celebrated and reported; Huang was soon to be appointed to China's Ambassador to Japan. However, before that could materialize, the ruler of China changed from Guangxu to the toddler grandchild of Empress Dowager Cixi. With Guangxu detained, Huang's career as a diplomat ended.Vorlage:Sfn He slammed Cixi's coup but at the same time expressed his relief at being freed of his diplomatic duties.Vorlage:Sfn
Personal life
Huang enjoyed penning poems.Vorlage:Sfn He was well-liked as a poet and his poetry works received postitive criticism, with one source citing him as "the most distinguished poet among the late nineteenth-century reformers".Vorlage:Sfn His influences in poetry included Wei Yuan, Gong Zizhen, and Jin He.Vorlage:Sfn His grandmother was a Lady Li, whose death when Huang was still a child supposedly put him in "deep sorrow", as evidenced in a poem pertaining to Li's tomb.[3] Most of Huang's poems relate to world affairs of his time,[4] including foreign ones, such as the presidential elections in the United States.Vorlage:Sfn In total, he published more than a hundred poems.Vorlage:Sfn After he died, an anthology of his poems, Poems of the Human Environment (人境廬詩草), was published and remains popular in China.[5] A proponent of the late Qing Poetic Revolution,Vorlage:SfnVorlage:Sfn select poems of his include: The Mountain Song, The Cherry Blossom Festival, The Fog of London,Vorlage:Sfn Songs of the Taiping Rebels,Vorlage:Sfn and On The Road to Wuqing.Vorlage:Sfn In his lifetime, he also showed an interest in opening schools in various countries in Asia.Vorlage:Sfn Huang and Liang Qichao were close friends.Vorlage:Sfn Huang extensively toured many parts of Asia, his favourite being Malaysia.Vorlage:Sfn His nephew, Parkcane C. Hwang, was the founder[6] and manager of the Bank of China in Singapore.[7]
Death and legacy
Evading arrest following the change of ruler of China, Huang fled to his hometown of Jiayingzhou,Vorlage:Sfn where he died on March 28, 1905,Vorlage:Sfn aged 58.Vorlage:Sfn Huang is remembered for saying the famous and often-quoted line when he was twenty years old, "我手写我口，古岂能拘牵!", which roughly means that it is perfectly fine to express one's feelings in simple language.[8] His body is as of 2013 missing, having been thrown into a dumpster following a looting of his tomb. The Huang Zun Xian Foundation, based in Hong Kong, has listed finding the body of Huang as one of its missions.Vorlage:Sfn One source credits Huang as "the first Chinese diplomat and scholar who championed for human rights for the early Chinese migrants".Vorlage:Sfn An exhibition honoring the achievements of Huang was held in January 1991.Vorlage:Sfn Huang's former abode in Mei County has been converted into a museum and a local government-promoted tourist destination.[9] It is cited as a "key preservation unit of cultural relic".[10]
References
Bibliography
- Khoon Choy Lee: Golden Dragon and Purple Phoenix: The Chinese and Their Multi-Ethnic Descendants in Southeast Asia. World Scientific, 2013, ISBN 978-981-4383-43-1.
- J. D. Schmidt: Within the Human Realm: The Poetry of Huang Zunxian, 1848–1905. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-03666-5 (google.com).
- 徐永端 [Xu Yongduan]: 黄遵宪 [Huang Zunxian]. 上海古籍出版社 [Shanghai Historical Collection Publishing], 1989 (chinesisch, google.com).
- 黄遵宪研究新论/纪念黄遵宪逝世一百周年国际学术讨论会论文集/纪念黄遵宪逝世一百周年国际学术研讨会论文集: 纪念黄遵宪逝世一百周年国际学术讨论会论文集 [The Research of Huang Zunxian...]. 社会科学文献出版社 [Scientific Society Publishing], 2007, ISBN 978-7-80230-579-3 (google.com).
- 黄遵宪 [Huang Zunxian]: 黄遵宪诗选 [Select poems by Huang Zunxian]. 中华书局 [China Bookstore], 2008, ISBN 978-7-101-05916-8 (google.com).
- ↑ CS Yao: On Huang Zunxian's research in Japanese medical history. China Medicinal Journal, Januar 1990 (chinesisch).
- ↑ a b Maxwell K. Hearn, Judith G. Smith, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) Department of Asian Art: Chinese Art: Modern Expressions ; [... Published on the Occasion of the International Symposium Chinese Art: Modern Expressions Held on May 19, 2001 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, ISBN 978-0-87099-983-3, S. 281– (google.com).
- ↑ Merle Goldman: Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era. Harvard University Press, 1977, ISBN 978-0-674-57911-8, S. 27– (google.com).
- ↑ S.F. Chung: Borders of Chinese Civilization: Geography and History at the Empire's End In: The Historian via HighBeam Research, September 22, 1998 Vorlage:Subscription required
- ↑ Huang Tsun-Hsien. Dartmouth.edu, abgerufen am 20. Juli 2013.
- ↑ Lee Chin Seng: Notable Gifts to Chinese Library In: NUS Linus, November 2003
- ↑ Mr. Parkcane C. Huang In: The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, June 15, 1937, S. 9–
- ↑ 中國現代文學史 [History of Modern Chinese Literature]. 秀威資訊科技股份有限公司, 2010, ISBN 978-986-221-435-0, S. 52– (chinesisch, google.com).
- ↑ Recommended Routes. Meizhou Government, abgerufen am 20. Juli 2013.
- ↑ Meizhou City. South China University of Technology, abgerufen am 20. Juli 2013.