Jao Tsung-i
Though scholarship was just one of the domains in which Jao excelled, then, it is this polymathic and polymorphic creativity that lies at the foundation of Jaoâs achievement as a scholar as well. As a scholar he combined a restless curiosity extending to more or less every domain of Chinese culture and beyond, with a depth of insight and fastidious attention to detail that led him to break new ground in each of the topics he addressed. His scholarly work is often fearsomely technical, as he is willing to devote page-long footnotes to clarifying distinctions among textual variants or different graphical forms of a single Chinese character. But it is also dazzlingly broad, as he surveys vast topics like the creation myths of all ancient cultures, or the relationship between morality and rhetoric. Despite his whole-hearted love of Chinaâs traditional culture, he is never content to rest with facile generalizations about that culture, but always pursuing a more nuanced understanding of its particular facets at different historical moments.
Jao was a scholarly prodigy who had already published an independent article under the editorship of one of the leading historians of the era, Gu Jiegang
By the year 2003, Jaoâs scholarly works were collected into a twenty-volume set encompassing well over 10,000 pages, the Rao Zongyi ershi shiji xueshu wenji
Indeed, Jaoâs scholarship is necessarily daunting even to many Chinese readers or to professional sinologists today, for three fundamental reasons: his oeuvre is composed in highly allusive and erudite prose; it comprises an extraordinary large quantity of publications in diverse domains; and finally, it employs extensive quotation of primary sources, many of them in themselves quite obscure for the modern reader. For these reasons, Jao scholarship has often been admired at a safe distance but not necessarily studied as closely as it deserves by other scholars, both in China and the West. Moreover, although the Rao Zongyi ershi shiji xueshu wenji has made his scholarship accessible to readers throughout greater China, there are relatively few works introducing or adapting his key insights into Western languages.
In light of the great value of Jaoâs scholarship and its relative lack of appreciation in the West, the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Hong Kong Baptist University has decided to produce a series of volumes translating key scholarly works by Jao into English, with annotation and explication making them accessible to 21st-century readers in the West. The first volumes will introduce major articles on Chinese musicology, Dunhuang studies, cosmology and origins of Chinese civilization, literature and religion, and oracle bone inscriptions. Future volumes will continue to highlight key areas of Jaoâs accomplishment. The translation series is by no means comprehensive; a complete translation of Jaoâs collected works would easily occupy fifty English tomes and is not conceivable at present. Instead, these volumes introduce key insights from Jaoâs scholarship and provide a gateway to his intellectual universe, showing the potential of a cosmopolitan vision that is never unfaithful to the demands of Chinese tradition.
First and foremost, the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and the project team would like to extend our sincere thanks to The Jao Studies Foundation for their generous support in funding this ambitious translation project and heroic efforts to make Professor Jaoâs lifelong scholarship accessible to a worldwide readership. From its outset, this project has received the full blessing of the Jao (rendered Yiu in Cantonese) family, most notably Professor Jaoâs daughters Ms Angeline Yiu and Ms Veronica Yiu, Permanent President and Permanent Administrative Director respectively of The Jao Studies Foundation.
Throughout the years, the Academy has been fortunate enough to be surrounded by like-minded people from all walks of life and benefited from their friendship and wisdom. A special mention goes to Dr and Mrs Simon Siu Man Suen, BBS, JP. Dr Suen is a remarkable entrepreneur, connoisseur of the arts, and champion of the humanities, whose generous support has enriched our work immeasurably.
The voluminous project that came to be known as Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: Xuantang Anthology was first set up under the aegis of Hong Kong Baptist University and the leadership of former President Professor Roland Tai-hong Chin, BBS, JP. It continues to thrive under the auspices of the research-led, liberal arts University under the Presidency of Professor Alexander Ping-kong Wai. We would like to express our gratitude to both Presidents and the University.
The Academic Advisory Committee of world-class Sinologists, namely Ronald Egan, Bernard Fuehrer, David R. Knechtges, William H. Nienhauser, Jr., Lauren Pfister, and Edward L. Shaughnessy, offered us timely advice at different stages of preparation and implementation. The Editorial Board, composed of leading academics in their own fields, has also served as a bank of expertise and experience for guidance and assistance.
It has been a delight to publish the Xuantang Anthology with the Leiden- based academic publisher Brill and to work side by side with Acquisitions Editor-cum-Managing Director Dr Shu Chunyan, whose professionalism and know-how were instrumental in making the process both smooth and efficient.
Last but not least, we have our professional team translators and proofreaders to thank. Since our team continues to grow with the addition of new volumes, full credit for individual contributions will be given in individual volumes, but special thanks go to the Senior Research Assistant of the project, Dr Linda Yuet Ngo Leung, for her meticulous work in post-editing and further proofreading for the entire series.
Nicholas M. Williams
Adam C. Schwartz
Chen Zhi
On Jaoâs life see Chen Zhi and Adam Schwartz, âJao Tsung-i (Rao Zongyi)
For a selection of these works in English, see Nicholas Morrow Williams, trans., The Residue of Dreams: Selected Poems of Jao Tsung-i (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell East Asia Series, 2016).