Jao Tsung-I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1917-08-09)9 August 1917 Xiangqiao, Chaoshan, China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 6 February 2018(2018-02-06) (aged 100) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | Rao Gu'an (饒固庵) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Sinologist, historian, palaeographer, calligrapher, painter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title | Professor of theUniversity of Hong Kong,University of Singapore,Yale University,Academia Sinica,Chinese University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Chen Ruonong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | Rao E (饒鍔) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards | 1982:D.Litt (HKU) 1997: Life Achievement Award (HKADC) 2000:GBM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 饒宗頤 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 饶宗颐 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jao Tsung-I orRao Zongyi (Chinese:饒宗頤; 9 August 1917 – 6 February 2018)[1] was aHong Kongsinologist,calligrapher, historian and painter. A versatile and prolific scholar, he contributed to many fields ofhumanities, including history,archaeology,epigraphy, folklore, religion, art history, musicology, literature, andNear Eastern Studies. He published more than 100 books and about 1,000 academic articles over a career spanning more than 80 years.
Jao andJi Xianlin were considered China's two greatest humanities academics by their contemporaries. Called the "pride of Hong Kong" by Chinese PremierLi Keqiang,[2] Jao has won many awards including theGrand Bauhinia Medal, the highest honour bestowed by the Hong Kong government. The Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole of theUniversity of Hong Kong, the Jao Studies Foundation, and the Jao Tsung-I Academy inKowloon have been founded in his name.[3]
Jao was born in 1917 in Chao'an (nowXiangqiao)[4][3] into a scholarly Teochew family of Hakka ancestry.[5]
He also used thecourtesy names Gu'an and Bolian, and theart name Xuantang.[4] Largely home-schooled and self-taught, he wroteThe Scholastic Journals ofGu Tinglin at the age of 14.[3]
Jao taught at several Chinese mainland colleges before moving to Hong Kong in 1949. In the following years, he taught at theUniversity of Hong Kong, theNational University of Singapore, Institute of History and Philology ofAcademia Sinica inTaiwan, theChinese University of Hong Kong,École française d'Extrême-Orient,École pratique des hautes études of Paris, andYale University in the US. He was also honorary professor at several prestigious Chinese universities includingPeking University,Fudan University,Nanjing University, andZhejiang University.[3]
Jao was a highly versatile and prolific scholar. His research covered a vast range of humanities, includingoracle bones,archaeology,epigraphy, folklores, religion, art history,musicology, literature, andNear Eastern Studies.[3] Over his 80-year-long career, he published more than 100 books and about 1,000 scholarly papers. Under the influence of the French AssyriologistJean Bottéro,[6] he learntcuneiform and spent ten years translating theAkkadian epicEnūma Eliš into Chinese, filling a major gap in Chinese knowledge of ancient Babylon.[3]
In 1959, he publishedYindai zhenbu renwu tongkao (殷代貞卜人物通考; 'Oracle Bone Diviners of the Yin Dynasty'), which earned him thePrix Stanislas Julien from theAcadémie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1962.[7] In 2000, he was awarded theGrand Bauhinia Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the Hong Kong government.[3]
In addition to his academic pursuits, Jao was also a renownedcalligrapher,painter, andmusician. He created his own calligraphic style called Jao's Clerical Script. His calligraphicart installation, "The Wisdom Path", has become a landmark inNgong Ping, Hong Kong. He was a master performer of the ancient Chinese instrumentguqin.[3]
In August 2017, theHongkong Post issued a set of six special stamps featuring Jao's paintings and calligraphy.[8]
He died on 6 February 2018, at the age of 100 (101 byEast Asian age reckoning).[1]
