Sinologist Shi Jingqian died: he showed the depth of Chinese history in a faint place
2021-12-28
Shi Jingqian is good at uncovering a corner of the great changes in Chinese history by focusing on individual destiny, and his writing is beautiful, which makes his works full of human and story. Shi Jingqian, a famous historian and honorary professor of Yale University, died on December 26 local time at the age of 85, the Beijing News reported. When Shi Jingqian studied for a doctorate at Yale University, he got his Chinese name from Fang Zhaoying, a mentor and historian of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which means "learning history and admiring Sima Qian". He is regarded as the representative of the second generation of Sinologists after Fei Zhengqing. He is known as the "three masters of American Sinology" together with Kong Feili and Wei Feide. Small incision writing "big history" Shi Jingqian was born into an intellectual family in the northern suburbs of London in 1936. He was taught at Winchester University and Cambridge University. During his doctoral study at Yale University in the 1960s, he completed an important turn in the study of Chinese history. He has two mentors, one is Rui Mary, Fei Zhengqing's most proud student, and the other is Fang Zhaoying, a historian of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As for why we should study China, Shi Jingqian once said: "because Chinese history is very complex. I love history, like characters, and like to study the relationship between characters." His field of historical research is quite broad, integrating the study of characters, society, politics and cross-cultural exchanges, and showing all aspects of Chinese history from different angles. He is good at uncovering a corner of the great changes in Chinese history by focusing on individual destiny, and his writing is beautiful. This makes his works full of human feelings and stories. We know that most historical works are difficult to understand because the historians are committed to raising history to a science and strictly abide by the accuracy of historical materials and the objectivity of describing history. Under this academic writing background, Shi Jingqian added his own reasonable imagination on the basis of historical materials and adopted literary narrative techniques, which greatly enhanced the readability of his historical works. This is very rare. Whether it is topic selection or historical writing, Shi Jingqian is trying to construct or reveal its theme through the excavation and description of small historical materials. It is a major feature of Shi Jingqian's history to start from the small topic selection link, lay out, weave and render step by step, and finally form a grand historical structure. He once said that the reason why he often wrote some unique historical themes was not that he had some theories and grand designs in advance, but on the contrary, his mind was always full of details such as "hint, image, scene and sound". Once a certain detail attracted him to be determined as a historical theme, he then indulged in writing "the internal relationship and interaction between these individual things, as well as the overall historical environment in which these things exist". Let the West understand China Although there is no lack of respect for historical materials in Shi Jingqian's works, many people still believe that the boundary between his works and "historical novels" is blurred. The reason is that in the process of describing history, he used "imagination", which is a taboo means for contemporary historians to return the original history. Shi Jingqian's imagination mainly focuses on three aspects: integrating the data of fracture. This kind of imagination is mostly based on reliable historical data, connecting the "blank area" in historical data; Empathy repeats the inner world of historical figures with the similarity of human experience; This is the main imagination in Shi Jingqian's works, which is also the most controversial place in his works. But this does not mean that Shi Jingqian's narrative history is a kind of historical novel, because it is different from the "imagination" of historical novels: first, the characters they tell have really existed; Second, the main plot is supported by data. These imaginations are added by the author in the process of writing with full consideration of readers' acceptance factors, which shortens the distance between readers and the things described. Even if all the details of these imaginations are removed, it does not affect their main academic views on history. He used historical imagination only to better describe the facts within the scope allowed by historical laws. In his research and writing, Shi Jingqian also devoted himself to the collision and exchange between Chinese and Western cultures. As an Englishman studying Chinese history in the United States, Shi Jingqian is in a cross-cultural context. What is more valuable is that in addition to English, he also knows Chinese, French, Italian and Latin, which makes his historical works full of cross-cultural communication tension. According to Jin Anping, Shi Jingqian's wife and historian, the reason why her husband's books are popular in the west is that "they provide a way for Western readers to understand with a beautiful style". In this sense, it is not difficult for people to understand the role of Shi Jingqian in spreading Chinese history and culture: through the description of those little-known historical details, it constitutes a plump, real and epochal China. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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