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Thursday February 8, 2018

TRIBUTES poured in from Chinese per-sonalities and cultural elites across the globe Tuesday for Professor Jao Tsung-I, the world’s most distinguished sinologist, following his death at the age of 101.

Jao, who died peacefully at home in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, early Tuesday morning, was revered for his intellectual achievements spanning eight decades and considered irreplaceable in the study of Chinese and Oriental civilizations.

“My father passed away peacefully in his sleep,” said Tang Wai-hung, Jao’s son-in-law, adding that the celebrated scholar had pneumonia but that it was not the cause of death.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor led mourners in expressing sorrow at Jao’s death as she visited his family. “Professor Jao’s research, span-ning decades, covered areas including history, literature, language and religious

studies as well as philosophy, arts and Chinese and Western cultures,” she said. “Professor Jao, you have been a treasure of the academic and arts sectors in Hong Kong and across the world. You will be sorely missed.”

Jao was regarded as one of China’s two greatest sinologists, together with Ji Xian-lin on the mainland, who died in 2009.

Premier Li Keqiang hailed Jao as the “pride of Hong Kong” during a meeting

Tributes pour in to mourn 'the pride of HK'

between the two at Beijing’s Zhongnan-hai in 2015.

The Jao Tsung-I Academy in Kow-loon, at the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital complex, bears the professor’s name.

Born in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, in 1917, Jao was self-taught. After quitting school in Form One, he immersed himself in the extensive book collection of his banker father. From then on he excelled in the humani-ties, studying everything from Indian Sanskrit to the art of the Dunhuang grottoes.

The scope of Jao’s research spanned more than a dozen topics related to Chinese culture, including ancient his-tory, oracle bone inscriptions and Chu Ci — an anthology of Chinese poetry with roots in the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.).

A prolifi c writer, Jao is credited with producing more than 900 scholarly articles in addition to literary works, calligraphy, paintings, and pieces for the guqin, or Chinese zither, an ancient stringed instrument.

“It’s impossible to copy what I did as I built up my own knowledge out of nothing. Such a path to knowledge might be worth some consideration,” Jao once said in an interview.

He arrived in Hong Kong in 1949 and joined New Asia College in 1952 where he taught poetry classics, Chu Ci, and literary criticism. He also continued to dabble beyond the Chinese cultural realm, teaching everything from archae-ology to ancient philology in India, the United States, Singapore and France.

In 2000 he was given the Grand Bauhinia Medal, the highest award under Hong Kong’s honors system, and in 2013 he became the fi rst Asian sinologist to be named an associate for-eign member of the Institut de France since its founding in 1663.

His last major public outing was to Beijing in November for an exhibition displaying 126 of his lotus fl ower paint-ings, which he once said represented his sentiment towards Hong Kong.

Jao is survived by two daughters and a grandchild. His funeral is scheduled for Feb. 28. (SD-Agencies)

Distinguished sinologist Jao Tsung-I died at the age of 101 Tuesday morning in Hong Kong.

File photo

LATE renowned scholar, historian, poet, calligrapher and painter Jao Tsung-I had close ties with Shenzhen.

Adviser to Reading Month“Late Mr. Jao was a guest professor of

Shenzhen University and a special adviser to our Shenzhen Reading Month,” said Yin Changlong, Party chief of Shenzhen Publishing & Distribution Group.

“He was a real scholar, a master of guqin, chess, calligraphy and painting. Jao even penned his diary entries in the form of classical poems,” added Yin.

In 2001, Yin went to Hong Kong to invite Jao to deliver a speech for the launch of the Shenzhen Reading Forum, an important event during Shenzhen Reading Month, which Jao accepted happily. “Jao really liked this young city where people love reading. He was a rigorous scholar, though not very talkative. But when talking about Shenzhen, he didn’t hide his praise,” said Yin.

In the eyes of Jao, Shenzhen is a young city where reading is highly appreciated and a place full of hope for the future.

“Professor Jao had a deep academic relationship with Shenzhen which dated

back to the 1980s,” said Jing Haifeng, head of the School of Humanities of Shenzhen University.

“He was invited to speak at a sinology seminar jointly organized by Shenzhen University and a committee of State Education Commission colleges and universities about ancient book editing, giving lectures to young teachers from different universities countrywide who were working on literature, history and ancient books editing,” recalled Jing.

Jing fi rst learned about Jao as early as in the 1980s when Jao was already famous in the country’s literature and history fi elds. After coming to Shenzhen University for work in the 1980s, Jing met and communicated with Jao on different academic occasions.

“Jao was a very active thinker and well-informed about cutting-edge academic advancements. He was very energetic and productive even at an old age. He never stopped his academic work and created a great number of works even at the ages of 80 or 90,” said Jing.

For Jing, what impressed him most was Jao’s persistence and resilience throughout his academic life. “It was

not merely sudden enthusiasm that only lasted for a short time. It was per-sistence. He made it part of his life.”

A close friend of SZ Press Group In the late autumn of 2011, 96-year-old

Jao wrote down four Chinese characters — “Ren Wen Tian Di,” meaning “paradise of humanity” — on behalf of the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. On Dec. 7, 2011, the four characters were published as their masthead and is still in use today.

On the afternoon of Dec. 14, 2011, Chen

Yin, then editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, went to Hong Kong to visit Jao to congratulate him on his new post as president of Xi Ling Seal Club, thanking him for the inscription of the masthead, and consulting him on issues regarding running a newspaper and pursuing one’s studies.

The Daily Sunshine has also published several special reports on Jao, showing his concern about the public cultural undertakings of Shenzhen.

(Chen Xiaochun)

Jao Tsung-I, a close friend of Shenzhen

Late scholar Jao Tsung-I (R front) in an exhibition displaying his works at Shenzhen Art Museum in 2009. File photo