Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t30: Jao Tsung-I (Rao Zongyi)
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t30
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Jao Tsung-I (Rao Zongyi)
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Jao Tsung-I (August 9, 1917 - present), Chinese historian, expert in paleography, classical litterateur, calligrapher and painter. His style name is Gu An and his alternative name is Xuan Tang. He was born in Chao’an, Guangdong Province. He was once a Professor and Director of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and now an Honorary Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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Jao Tsung-I was born in Chao’an County (present day Xiangqiao District, Chaozhou City), Guangdong Province. He graduated from Shanghai Law & Political Science College and returned to Chaozhou to serve as the Editor-in-Chief of ‘*Yuenan News*’ after graduation. He studied under his father since he was a child. In 1932, he started to compile his father, Rao E’s unfinished manuscript, ‘*A Record of Literature and Arts in Chaozhou*’, and finished it three years later. He published this in ‘*Lingnan Journal*’, which became a cornerstone for his academic career. In 1935, he became a probation teacher of the Chinese classes at Hanshan Normal University, and was offered to serve as an Editor of the History Compilation Bureau of Guangdong, Sun Yat-sen University. In
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*Jao Tsung- I (Rao Zongyi)*
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1938, Sun Yat-sen University relocated to Yunnan, but he stayed back in Hong Kong due to his illness and took part in the compilation of ‘*Zhongshan Dictionary*’ and ‘*Quan Qing Ci Chao*’. In 1943, he went to Guangxi and became a Professor of Wuxi Academy of the Traditional Chinese Culture. After the victory of the war against Japan, he took up the post of a Professor of Guangdong University of Arts and Sciences, and later returned to Shantou to chair the general compilation of ‘*Gazetteers of Chaozhou*’. In 1952, he began to study Dunhuang caves. From 1952 to 1968, he taught at the Department of Chinese, University of Hong Kong, during which he went to India for researches with Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune in 1963, learned Sanskrit from V. V. Paranjpe and his father, and studied Brahmanism classic, the ‘*Vedas*’. During his stay in India, he got acquainted with Indian researcher Xu Fancheng. After he returned from India, he became the first Chair Professor of the Department of Chinese, University of Singapore (present day National University of Singapore), during which he was also invited to be a visiting professor to Yale University and a research professor of the Institute of History and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. From 1973 to 1978, he was a Professor and Director of the Department of Chinese, University of Hong Kong. After retirement, he went to Paris, France to teach as a guest Professor of Ecole pratique des hautes études for a year. Later, he was appointed as an Honorary Professor of the Department of Chinese, University of Hong Kong and Honorary Professor of the Department of Art and the Institute of Chinese Culture. In 1982, he was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the University of Hong Kong. In 1983, he attended the First Symposium of China Dunhuang Turpan Society in China, and was invited to be an advisor of the society. In 1990, he became an Honorary Advisor of Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
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Jao Tsung-I engaged in a wide range of research areas, including Dunhuang studies, Oracle Bone studies, lexicology, historical science, bibliography, the Songs of Chu, archaeology, painting and calligraphy. His major works include ‘*An Investigative Study on the Geography of Chu-Ci*’ (The Songs of Chu) (1946), ‘*Oracle Bone Diviners of the Yin Dynasty*’ (1959), ‘*Analects of the History of Sino-Indian Cultural Relationships*’ (1990), ‘*Ci Ji Kao*’ (1992), ‘*Collection of Buddhism*’ (1993) and ‘*New Page of the History of Chinese Religious Thought*’ (2000). Most of his study results are featured by creativity. For example, he learned cuneiform and West Asian history from Jean Bottéro in Paris and translated ‘*Enûma Eliš*’ into Chinese with 10 years of effort, which is the first Creation Epic of the Near East translated by a Chinese scholar.
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When it comes to Indian studies, he once made comparative studies of the graphic text in the ancient Indus Valley and Chinese inscription on pottery and oracle bone inscriptions, and discovered many similarities and exposed the cultural exchanges between China and India in ancient times. Moreover, he discovered the widespread phenomenon of ‘questioning literature’ in different cultural contexts through comparing Qu Yuan’s ‘*Questions for Heaven*’ (Tian Wen) and Indian and Islamic ancient documents. He thus, put forward the new topics of text anthropology and literary anthropology. During his stay in India, he made comparative studies on Chinese and Indian literatures and cultures and believed that ‘Siddam’ had profound influence on Chinese phonology and literature. Han Yu was deeply influenced by the ‘*Buddhacarita*’ of Aśvaghoṣa. Beyond that, he also translated some of the most ancient collections of Indian poems ‘*Rigveda*’.
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(*Li Baolong*)
Linked texts (2)
- *Buddhacarita — Sanskrit
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit