Gu Hongming
Encyclopedia
Gu Hongming (July 18, 1857 - April 30, 1928) was an Malaysian Chinese man of letters.He also used the pen name "Amoy Ku".
, Malaysia, the second son of a Chinese rubber plantation superintendent, whose ancestral hometown was Tong'an
, Fujian province, China
, and his Portuguese wife. The British plantation owner was fond of Gu and took him, at age ten, to Scotland
for his education. He was then known as Hong Beng (Hongming in Min Nan
dialect). In 1873 he began studying Literature at the University of Edinburgh
, graduating in the spring of 1877 with an M.A. He then earned a diploma in Civil Engineering
at the University of Leipzig
, and studied law in Paris
.
He returned to Penang in 1880, and soon joined the colonial Singapore
civil service, where he worked until 1883. He went to China in 1885, and served as an advisor to the ranking official Zhang Zhidong
for twenty years.
From 1905 to 1908, he was the director of the Huangpu River
Authority (上海浚治黄浦江河道局) in Shanghai
. He served in the Imperial Foreign Ministry from 1908 to 1910, then as the president of the Nanyang Public School, the forerunner of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
. He resigned the latter post in 1911 as a sign of his loyalty to the fallen imperial government. In 1915 became a professor at Peking University
. Beginning in 1924 he lived in Japan
for three years as a guest lecturer in Oriental cultures. Then he returned to live in Beijing
until his death.
He was fluent in English, Chinese, German
, and French
, and understood Italian
, Ancient Greek
, Latin
, Japanese
and Malay
.
An advocate of monarchy and Confucian values, preserving his queue
even after the overthrow of Qing Dynasty
, Gu became a kind of cultural curiosity late in his life. Many sayings and anecdotes have been attributed to him, few of which can be attested. Literary figures as diverse as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
, Somerset Maugham and Rabindranath Tagore
were all drawn to visit him when they were in China. No scholarly edition of his complete works is available.
He acquired Chinese only after his studies in Europe, and was said to have a bad Chinese hand-writing. However, his command of the language is far above average. He penned several Chinese books, including a vivid memoir recollecting his days as an assistant for Zhang Zhidong. He translated some of the Confucian classics into English, notably The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius and The Universal Order or Conduct of Life
; and rendered William Cowper
's narrative poem The Diverting History of John Gilpin
into classical Chinese verse (known as 癡漢騎馬歌).
Life
Gu Hongming was born in PenangPenang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia, the second son of a Chinese rubber plantation superintendent, whose ancestral hometown was Tong'an
Tong'an District
Tong'an District is a northern mainland district of Xiamen which faces Jinmen. Tong'an is located on the southeast of Fujian province. To the north is Anxi and Nan'an, to the south is Jimei. Tong'an is also east of Lianxiang and Changqin to the West...
, Fujian province, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and his Portuguese wife. The British plantation owner was fond of Gu and took him, at age ten, to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
for his education. He was then known as Hong Beng (Hongming in Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
dialect). In 1873 he began studying Literature at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, graduating in the spring of 1877 with an M.A. He then earned a diploma in Civil Engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, and studied law in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
He returned to Penang in 1880, and soon joined the colonial Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
civil service, where he worked until 1883. He went to China in 1885, and served as an advisor to the ranking official Zhang Zhidong
Zhang Zhidong
Zhang Zhidong ; Pseudonyms: Xiāngtāo , Xiāngyán , Yīgōng , Wújìng-Jūshì , later Bàobīng ; Posthumous name: Wénxiāng ) was an eminent Chinese politician during the late Qing Dynasty who advocated for controlled reform...
for twenty years.
From 1905 to 1908, he was the director of the Huangpu River
Huangpu River
The Huangpu River is a -long river in China flowing through Shanghai...
Authority (上海浚治黄浦江河道局) in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. He served in the Imperial Foreign Ministry from 1908 to 1910, then as the president of the Nanyang Public School, the forerunner of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University or SJTU), sometimes referred to as Shanghai Jiaotong University , is a top public research university located in Shanghai, China. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China...
. He resigned the latter post in 1911 as a sign of his loyalty to the fallen imperial government. In 1915 became a professor at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. Beginning in 1924 he lived in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for three years as a guest lecturer in Oriental cultures. Then he returned to live in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
until his death.
He was fluent in English, Chinese, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and understood Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
.
An advocate of monarchy and Confucian values, preserving his queue
Queue (hairstyle)
The queue or cue is a hairstyle in which the hair is worn long and gathered up into a ponytail. It was worn traditionally by certain Native American groups and the Manchu of Manchuria.-Manchu Queue:...
even after the overthrow of Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, Gu became a kind of cultural curiosity late in his life. Many sayings and anecdotes have been attributed to him, few of which can be attested. Literary figures as diverse as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Ryunosuke Akutagawa
was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He committed suicide at age of 35 through an overdose of barbital.-Early life:...
, Somerset Maugham and Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
were all drawn to visit him when they were in China. No scholarly edition of his complete works is available.
Works
His English works include:- Papers from a Viceroy's YamenYamenA yamen is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, office and residence of the Chinese Empire. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing Dynasty....
: a Chinese Plea for the Cause of Good Government and True Civilization (1901) - ET nunc, reges, intelligite! The Moral Cause of the Russia-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese WarThe Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
(1906) - The Story of a Chinese Oxford MovementOxford MovementThe Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
(1910) - The Spirit of the Chinese People (1915)
He acquired Chinese only after his studies in Europe, and was said to have a bad Chinese hand-writing. However, his command of the language is far above average. He penned several Chinese books, including a vivid memoir recollecting his days as an assistant for Zhang Zhidong. He translated some of the Confucian classics into English, notably The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius and The Universal Order or Conduct of Life
Doctrine of the Mean
The Doctrine of the Mean , is both a concept and one of the books of Confucian teachings. The composition of the text is attributed to Zisi the only grandson of Confucius, and it came from a chapter in the Classic of Rites...
; and rendered William Cowper
William Cowper
William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
's narrative poem The Diverting History of John Gilpin
The Diverting History of John Gilpin
The Diverting History of John Gilpin is a comic ballad by William Cowper, written in 1782. The ballad concerns a draper called John Gilpin who rides a runaway horse...
into classical Chinese verse (known as 癡漢騎馬歌).