User:Sissilxy/sandbox

This is an evaluation of the Wikipedia page for Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao.

- As a Chinese speaker and pinyin user, I am a little confused about the translation of his name. His name represented by pinyin is listed in the first sentence but a Chinese speaking person searching for his name would have put that in instead of Yuen Ren Chao. I am not so much as opposing this spelling as to I am curious.

- Within the session of his biography, there were many fact-presenting information on where he went to school, where he taught, what he did at what time but with very scarce citation. One part states that he and his wife were known for their humor and co-wrote a book on his family's biography. Writing a book about his family does not seem to be a piece of evidence for them possessing good humor.

I find this Wikipedia page more or less well-written and thorough but seems to not do the linguist justice. There were many things introduced during the biography session about his teaching and research in both China and the U.S. but they do not seem to be followed up with more information on what those things were. The list of works did not seem to be particularly comprehensive but more like cherry-picking things. There are 38 watchers for this page but only 24 edits from its creation in 2005 to its last edit in 2016. Stylistically, it is more than likely that one person mainly composed the whole article as it read fairly fluidly but 24 edits in more than a decade is quite low of a number in terms of edits. I think the article is of good quality but lacking a lot of information.

The opening paragraph mentions him as a "linguist, educator, poet, scholar and composer" but only goes on to mention his works in linguistics and teaching positions with no mentioning of his works in poetry and only as collaborator for one song. The Works session also listed his translations work with several books but does not mention him as a translator in the title paragraph. I am interested to see how and why this categorization has come about.

Furthermore, the page mentions his friendship with Hu Shi, a leader of the New Culture Movement, which was one of the most important literary and political movements in contemporary Chinese history. This is me speculating but it would seem silly for Yuen Ren Chao to have had no involvement with this movement given his philosophical and academic background and his friendship with Hu Shi. So this is another area lacking research and information that I would have liked to see more about. His academia seems to me would have been something heavily political, too given its timing.

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List of possible subjects__Feb 16th

Liu Bannong(1891.5.27 -1934.7.14) biography on Liu by Zhu Hong

Liu Fu, courtesy name Bannong, was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province. He is a writer, linguist, poet, photographer and educator primarily celebrated for his poetry and involvement with the New Youth magazine during the May Fourth Movement and his research on Chinese tones. He participated in Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and started teaching Pre-Law at Peking University in 1917. Continuing with his work at New Youth magazine, he was among those who strongly opposed Classical Chinese and promoted the Written Vernacular Chinese. He went to London to study phonology in 1920 and subsequently went to University of Paris and received his P.h.D in phonology there. In 1925, Liu returned to China and taught phonology at Peking University. He then co-published Songyuan Yilai Suzi Pu (宋元以來俗字譜 "The vernacular characters used from the Song and Yuan dynasties onwards") with Li Jiarui in 1930, which was a key publication to the development of Standard Modern Chinese.

Life and education

Achievements and publications as a linguist

Publications as a poet

Achievements as a photographer

Achievements as an educator

Huang Kan (1886.4.3 - 1935.10.8) biography on Huang by Ye Xian'en and Huang Kan's Diary

Huang Kan, courtesy name Jigang, born into a family of Hubei ancestry in Chengdu, was a Chinese phonologist, philologist and revolutionary. He was student of one of the most important Chinese scholars Zhang Taiyan and together with Zhang and Liu Shipei, they were termed "國學大師 (masters of Chinese scholarship)". He studied abroad in Japan at age of twenty sponsored by Zhang Zhidong after his expulsion from Wuchang School for spreading anti-Qing sentiments. Huang was extremely knowledgeable but did not want to publish anything until he was fifty. He unfortunately passed away at the age of forty-nine so majority of his works were only published after his passing. Huang specifically contributed majorly to the reconstruction of the phonology of Classical Chinese, especially on theories of tones. His personal life was also quite dramatic with multiple conflicts with authorities and nine marriages.

Life and education

Achievements and publications as a linguist

Political involvements

- interested in the above two linguists for their specific time periods where written Chinese underwent the most dramatic change in contemporary Chinese history along with the political uprisings. Among scholars at that time, most were very active in reforming and revolutionizing China, especially those who were educated in the West. Curiously, Huang Kan was explicitly not good friends with Hu Shi, which was one of the most key figures for the May Fourth Movement, who was very good friends with Liu Bannong. However, Liu and Huang were both philologists and living roughly in the same period. I have not read anywhere that indicated their relationship but I'd be surprised if they did not know each other.

Chen Di (1541 - 1617) biography on Chen by Song Meiying Chinese Wikipedia entry

Chen Di was one of the most important phonologists in history of Chinese linguistics. He was also known for his giant book collection of over 10,000 items, among which 300 are considered extremely valuable. Chen also held various government positions in the Ming Dynasty, including serving as a General as well as later as an educator. His major work was also concerned with tone changing in Classical Chinese and his most famous work is Maoshi Guyin Kao (毛詩古音考) and Qusong Guyinyi (屈宋古音義) where he overturned an earlier tone analysis regarding earlier literatures and proposed a new system. He was also an official traveler, sent by the Ming government to the island of Taiwan and wrote the first text describing Taiwan and its indigenous communities, Dong Fan Ji.

Life and education

Achievements as a public official in Ming Dynasty

Achievements as a phonologist, philologist, and traveler

- interested in his work because of his time from the Ming Dynasty, which was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of China when it comes to literary advancements and documentations.

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Huang Kan (1886.4.3 - 1935.10.8) biography on Huang by Ye Xian'en and Huang Kan's Diary

- I chose Huang Kan because of his tremendous contribution as a philologist as well as his involvement with the political revolution in his life time. As a philologist, he was the first person to have compiled and synthesized many more other past philologists' works like Zhang Taiyan and Wang Niansun and wrote the most refined theories about Chinese ancient phonetics. Furthermore, as an educator, he was the first to introduce scientific ways of categorization in the field of philology and to emphasize the significance of methodology in researching.

Huang Kan, courtesy name Jigang, born into a family of Hubei ancestry in Chengdu, was a Chinese phonologist, philologist and revolutionary. He was student of one of the most important Chinese scholars Zhang Taiyan and together with Zhang and Liu Shipei, they were termed "國學大師 (masters of Chinese scholarship)". He studied abroad in Japan at age of twenty sponsored by Zhang Zhidong after his expulsion from Wuchang School for spreading anti-Qing sentiments. Huang was extremely knowledgeable but did not want to publish anything until he was fifty. He unfortunately passed away at the age of forty-nine so majority of his works were only published after his passing. Huang specifically contributed majorly to the reconstruction of the phonology of Classical Chinese, especially on theories of tones. His personal life was also quite dramatic with multiple conflicts with authorities and nine marriages.

Early Life

Born in Hubei in 1886 and went abroad to study in Japan in 1905 under Zhang Taiyan.

Education Abroad and Career as Professor

Taught at a number of universities, including Peking University, Southeast University, etc.

There are many interesting anecdotes from his time as a professor that are very indicative of his strong personality (I am not sure how much to blend in this with his personal life, because much of his teaching career can be indicative of his personality)

Personal Life (I am not sure how to categorize or organize here; there is a lot of material/anecdotes on his strong and unique personality but I am afraid stacking them up would be almost too much "fun-fact" like)

Huang Kan has married 9 times and consider "alcohol, books and women" as his life passions.

Contributions

- As a linguist, philologist

There are many of his original works out there but I am waiting on them to come to read.

- As a political activist

Joined the revolution with Sun Yet-sen to overthrow the Qing government and strong proponent of the Xinhai Revolution.

Tentative Bibliography

白化文(Bai, Huawen). 中国近现代历史名人轶事集成. Di 1 ban. Jinan: Shandong ren min chu ban she, 2015. Print.

--- This is a compilation of anecdotes of historically significant figures in the early modern and contemporary history, which includes a chapter on Huang Kan.

Du, Ji-fang. “On Huang Kan’s Achievement of Traditional Philology--《Journal of Heze University》2007年06期.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

--- This article outlines the major contributions of Huang Kan both as a philologist and as an educator. It clearly states why and how his works are important. May be very biased but the author is an expert in history of Chinese linguistics.

Leng, Yu-fei. “On the Contribution of Huang Kan on Characteristics of Modern Exegesis of the Theory Construction--《Journal of Jiamusi Education Institute》2012年09期.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

--- Same as Du's article but more specific on one theory.

Li, Qian-ju. “Achievements in the Study for Interpretation by Huang Kan--《Journal of Hunan City University》2004年04期.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

--- Huang Kan also was a translator. I am not sure between what languages. He did study abroad in Japan.

韩三洲(Han, Sanzhou). 动荡历史下的中国文人情怀. Tai bei: Xiu wei zi xun ke ji gu fen you xian gong si, 2011. Print. Ren shi ta lu zuo jia xi lie; Yu yan wen xue lei, PG0614; Ren shi ta lu zuo jia xi lie; Yu yan wen xue lei, PG0614.

--- The title roughly translates to "the sentiment of literary figures in a tumultuous time". There is also information, most likely anecdotes of Huang Kan and his fellow scholars and friends around Xinhai Revolution and May Fourth Movement.

何九盈 (He, Jiuying). 中国现代语言学史. XIu ding ben di 1 ban. Beijing: Shang wu yin shu guan,2008. Print.

--- This was the only source the original Wikipedia page used. The title roughly translate to "history of contemporary Chinese Linguistics"

Hill, Michael. Lin Shu, Inc. : Translation and the Making of Modern Chinese Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Print. Global Asias; Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University; Global Asias; Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University.

Hockx, Michel., and Kirk A. Denton. Literary Societies of Republican China. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. Print.

--- Huang Kan lived around the time Republican China was established and the language reflected the new waves of literature in representing the vernacular.

“黄侃 Huang Kan 1886-1936 [WorldCat Identities].” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

--- A list of publicans by and about Huang Kan by year

“黄侃 Huang Kan（辛亥革命先驱、著名语言文字学家）_百度百科.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

“黄侃 Huang Kan_黄侃[近代著名语言文字学家]_互动百科.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

--- The above two pages are the equivalence of Wikipedia pages in China. They are very extensively written but do not list any sources and references for any information.

黄侃 Huang Kan. 黃季剛詩文集. Di 1 ban. Beijing Shi: Zhonghua shu ju, 2016. Print. Huang Kan wen ji.

--- A poetry collection by Huang Kan

黄侃Huang Kan. 黄侃手批廣韻. Di 1 ban. Beijing Shi: Zhonghua shu ju, 2006. Print. Huang Kan wen ji.

黄侃Huang Kan, and 黄焯Huang Zhuo. 文字声韵训诂笔记. [ying yin ban ]. Wu han: Wu han ta xue chu ban she, 2013. Print. Wu han ta xue bai nian ming dian; Wu han ta xue bai nian ming dian.

--- Above two are Huang Kan's writings on tones

黄侃Huang Kan. 黄侃论学杂著. Wu han: Wu han ta xue chu ban she, 2013. Print. Wu han ta xue bai nian ming dian; Wu han ta xue bai nian ming dian.

--- Not entirely sure what is included in this book but seems to be a compilation of his studies and theories

黃侃Huang Kan, and 湖北省人民政府文史研究館. 黃季剛詩文鈔. Di 1 ban. Wuhan Shi: Hubei ren min chu ban she, 1985. Print.

--- Another poetry collection by Huang Kan

黃侃Huang Kan, and 黃焯Huang Zhuo. 爾雅音訓. 初版. 臺中市: 文听閣圖書公司, 2009. Print. 民國時期經學叢書. 第四輯, 59; 民國時期經學叢書, 第四輯 ; 59.

--- His most important work on philology

欧阳悟道 Ouyang, Wudao. 民国岁月 : 那些文人大师们 = Minguo Suiyue. Di 1 ban. Beijing Shi: Zhongguo yan shi chu ban she, 2015. Print.

--- Another anecdotal compilation of the writers and scholars during the period of Republican China

朱汉国 Zhu Hanguo., and 杨群 Yang Qun. 中華民國史. Di 1 ban. Chendu: Sichuan bu ban ji tuan, 2006. Print.

--- History of the Republican China

the lead section

File:Huangkan

Caption

Huang Kan (Chinese: 黃侃; 1886 – 8 October 1935), first named Qiaonai (乔鼐), then named Qiaoxin (乔馨), finally changed to Kan; courtesy name Jigang (季剛), also Jizi (季子); later in life gave himself the art name of "Liangshou Jushi" (量守居士), born into a family of Hubei ancestry in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was a Chinese phonologist, philologist and revolutionary. He studied abroad in Japan at age of twenty sponsored by Zhang Zhidong after his expulsion from Wuchang School for spreading anti-Qing sentiments and in Japan, became a student of one of the most important Chinese scholars Zhang Taiyan. Together with Zhang and Liu Shipei, they were later termed "國學大師 (masters of Chinese scholarship)" . He was regarded as the most important phonologist since the high Qing and gained recognition at first through his literary criticism of the sixth-century. Later on, he taught at a number of universities in mainland China.

Huang's major contribution lies in his research on ancient Chinese phonology. He was the first to question established theories on rhyme schemes in ancient literature and proposed twenty-eight variations instead of the older version of twenty-six variations established by his teacher Zhang. He also proposed a new way of categorization of the ancient consonantal system that separated the oldest nineteen sounds from the existing theory of forty-one sounds across history.

As an educator, Huang was highly respected with innovative ways of teaching and he also held his political stance very firmly when in conflict with university administration. His personal life outside of academia was one with much drama as well, with multiple conflicts with authorities and allegedly nine marriages and none of the women ever hesitated speaking out against him. He eventually died from massive consumption of alcohol.

Early life

Childhood

Born in a large family, Huang Kan was the tenth child of Huang Yunhu (黄云鹄) and Zhou Ruren(周孺人) . Huang Yunhu was a governmental official of high rank in the late Qing Dynasty. Although politically influential and highly-respected as an academic, his family was quite frugal with no corruption practices, which were common at the time. As the second surviving son of the family, Huang Kan showed strong interest in literature and books in general since a very young age and reportedly could memorize everything verbatim upon first reading. His family decided to foster his talent and hired him a tutor at the young age of four, Jiang Shuhai, a retired government official, son of Huang Yuanhu's friend. Huang Kan, who not only read but also memorized the many books he read, was coined as a prodigy and well-known in the area.

Early education

In 1903, At the age of eighteen, Huang Kan tested into the Hubei Liberal School, Wuchang Xuetang (“湖北普通文学堂”, “武昌学堂“) During the three years Huang Kan spent at this school, he was highly influenced by the progressive scholars and thinkers around him, and was especially excited about the idea of revolution and rising up against the monarchy. He was very outspoken about his anti-monarchy and anti-Manchu (the Qing government was a Manchu state) sentiments. He was not afraid to challenge or embarrass authority and multiple “incidents” with a corrupt administrator had him expelled from school . Huang Kan's father was old friends with Zhang Zhidong (张之洞), the Viceroy of Huguang. Recognizing Huang Kan's talent and wanting to do a favor for his old friend, he pulled the strings to sponsor Huang Kan to study in Japan .

Huang Kan started studying at Waseda University in 1903, which was during the preparation period for Xinhai Revolution, the revolution that eventually overthrew the monarchy. He joined Tongmenghui ("Chinese United League"), a major resistance group against Qing Dynasty and Zhang Zhidong consequently pulled the funding. Huang Kan then continued on in Japan as a political refugee. He became Zhang Taiyan's student, learning philology and phonetics and together with Zhang Taiyan and Liu Shipei, they continued planning for the revolution and created The People Journal (“民报”). Huang, Zhang and Liu, aside from their political involvements, are also highly praised for their academic achievements, honored as "国学大师" (literally, "masters of knowledge of the country").

Contributions

As a linguist

From 1911 to 1914, Huang Kan lived in Shanghai after taking care of his mother who passed away in Hubei.Huang focused his study in Erya, Shuowen and Guangyun and reset the parameters of 汉语音韵学 (phonetic develpment of the Chinese language) to nineteen consonants and twenty-eight vowels.Zhang Taiyan once said that no other work in history of Chinese linguistics, Xiaoxue ("小学") has ever reached the depth of Huang Kan. He was the first scholar in history to have systematically studied Erya, comprehensively summarized the ancient dictionary and critically analyzed past works about it. This was very important to the history of Chinese linguistics in that Xiaoxue was starting to be transformed from the study of ancient Chinese dictionary or literature to the discipline of linguistics as we know it today with Huang's scientific model of categorization and analysis. Huang Kan was amongst the classicists scholars in Republican China, which employed "rigorous historicism" as method of analysis in philology giving great attention to old texts and data.The difference in approaching philology divided up the scholarly world and the value of individual's contributions was also intimately tied with their lineage. Huang Kan, in this case, as the student of Zhang Taiyan, came from a prestigious line of scholarship along with other students of Zhang and together, they practically dominated the field of phonology.

Huang famously said “年五十，当著书”("I shall only write books when I reach fifty years old"). Unfortunately, Huang passed away right at the age of fifty so majority of his works were only published after his passing. A compilation of his major works were compiled and published in 《黄季刚先生遗著专号》 ("Special Edition of Works by the Late Mr. Huang Jigang") after his death which included nineteen of his writings. Specifically, it included Erya Lue Shuo (尔雅略说, "General remarks on Erya"), which defined and explained the importance of Erya and included a comprehensive summary of past analyses of Erya, including that of Guo Pu; Shuowen Lue Shuo (说文略说, "General remarks on Shuowen"), which studied the etymology of Chinese characters and analyzed the rationale of Chinese orthography; Shengyun Lue Shuo (声韵略说, "General remarks on Shengyun(phonetics)"), which elaborated on the importance of phonetics and the historical change of Chinese phonetics through looking at ancient rhyme patterns.

As an educator

Upon returning to China after his political refuge in Japan, he slowly withdrew from his political involvements and focused his energy in research and teaching. He had been a professor at Peking University, National Central University, Jinling University, Shanxi University and more for collectively more than twenty years. In contrast to most of the leading intellectuals and revolutionaries at his time, he was firm with his classicist orientation and opposed the New Culture Movement, namely employing a new system that proposed writing and teaching vernacular in academia and scholarship.

Huang Kan was a very famous academic during his time for both his teaching as well as his uncompromising attitude when it comes to political stances. He was highly respected by his students and at one point was the only professor in the Chinese Studies department at Wuchang Higher Normal. His lectures were often so popular that the lecture halls were often filled and admirers stood by the doors and windows to listen.At Peking University, he taught "study of poetry and prose" and "history of Chinese literature". He was known to have prepared his lessons extremely extensively, not restricted to textbooks or formats but taught in an interdisciplinary and personal manner. Furthermore, for students he thought as particularly talented with great potential, he held extra smaller lectures outside of class time to discuss contemporary matters and literature. As a classicist, he was very strict about the list of twenty-five books from classic Chinese literature that his students were required to read. He taught in a very hands-on manner and directly transferred many of his personal methods and philosophy in studying to his students that although his guidelines were so strict, all of his students were very grateful for him. Outside of classroom, he often spent time drinking and writing poetry with his students as well.

Personal life and anecdotes

In 1903, Huang Kan was first married to Wang Caiheng (王采蘅) arranged by his parents. Although Huang went abroad to Japan two years after the marriage, within the fourteen years of their marriage, Wang bore seven children. Only three boys and two girls were still living when Wang passed away in 1916. She unequivocally supported Huang's political stance and teaching career and took care of their children. She was praised as a great partner.However, during the long distance marriage, Huang went to Shanghai in pursuit of Huang Shaolan (黄绍兰), who was also a student of Zhang Taiyan. He convinced her to marry him using a fake name because he could not have gotten married with the same identity twice. She regretted the decision once Huang went back to Beijing and got together with another student of his, Peng (彭, this is only a last name) and her father disowned her. Eventually Huang Shaolan suffered greatly from mental illness and hung herself.Zhang Taiyan's wife, Tang Guoli, expressed great sympathy for Huang Shaolan and publically detested Huang Kan's "immoral conduct" in her writings. Zhang Taiyan, on the other hand, excused his favourite student for such behavior for any great scholar or artist cannot be perfect.

In 1923, Huang Kan married one of his own students who graduated that year Huang Juying (黄菊英) in Wuhan. He allegedly had nine marriages.

In 1916, when Zhang Taiyan was jailed by Yuan Shikai , Huang Kan arrived at his teaching position in Peking University and despite the risk of being jailed and executed himself, he moved into Zhang's house arrest. His students and peers thought him as someone who had the utmost integrity and dedication to truth and justice.

In 1925, when he was the only professor in the Chinese department at Wuchang Higher Normal, he refused to teach any classes as a protest to the school's proposal to hire left-wing poet Guo Moruo as a faculty member . As the New Cultural Movement was seen as being a direct challenge to established intellectual authorities, although Huang himself revolutionized the theories in his own field, he was a fierce opponent to the new way and held his ground as a "cultural traditionalist".

Legacy

List of works by Huang Kan

He had ten kids by different wives. His eight sons were Nianhua (念华), Nianchu (念楚, died very early), Niantian (念田), Nianxiang (念祥), Nianci (念慈), Nianqin (念勤), Nianning (念宁), Nianping (念平). He had two daughters, oldest being Shipan(适潘).