Jin Guangping

Jin Guangping
Chinese name
Chinese 金光平
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 愛新覺羅·恆煦
Simplified Chinese 爱新觉罗·恒煦
Manchu name
Manchu ᠠᡳ᠌ᠰᡳᠨ ᡤᡳᠣᡵᠣ ᡥᡝᠩ ᠰᡳᠣᡳ

Jin Guangping or Aisin-Gioro Hengxu (1899–1966) was a Chinese linguist of Manchu ethnicity who is known for his studies of the Jurchen and Khitan languages and scripts.

Contents

Biography

Jin was a sixth generation descendant of Emperor Qianlong's fifth son, Prince Rongchun (Aisin-Gioro Yongqi).[1] In 1911, shortly before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he inherited the title Duke Defender of the Realm 鎮國公.[2] After the Republic of China was established he changed his name from Aisin-Gioro Hengxu to Jin Guangping. His son, Jin Qizong, and granddaughter, Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun, are both renowned scholars of Manchu and Jurchen.[3][4]

Jin died in 1966, during the Cultural Revolution.[5]

Khitan and Jurchen studies

Jin was a pioneer in the research on the Khitan scripts and Jurchen script. During the 1920s and 1930s a number of memorial inscriptions in unknown scripts had been discovered, but it was not clear what the relationship between these scripts was, and how the newly discovered scripts corresponded to the "large" and "small" Khitan and "large" and "small" Jurchen scripts that were mentioned in the histories of the Liao and Jin dynasties. In 1957 Jin determined that the memorials of Emperor Xingzong of Liao and his consort, and of Emperor Daozong of Liao and his consort, were written in a phonetic script influenced by the Old Uyghur alphabet, whereas the memorial of Xiao Xiaozhong which had been discovered in 1951 was written in a logographic script based on Chinese characters. He identified the former script as the Large Khitan script and the latter script as the Small Khitan script, an identification that is now widely accepted.[6][7]

In 1962 Jin further identified the script used in the Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters (Nǚzhēn Yìyǔ 女真譯語) and on a number of Jin Dynasty monuments as the "large" Jurchen script.[7]

He also collaborated with his son, Jin Qizong, on a comprehensive study of the Jurchen script which was published in 1964.[8]

Works

References

  1. ^ Stary, Giovanni (2005). "In Memoriam — Professor Jin Qicong (1918–2004)". Central Asiatic Journal 49 (2): 320. ISSN 0008-9192. 
  2. ^ Jiang Yuanwei 蔣芫葦; Sui Hongyao 隋鴻躍 (1997). 愛新覺羅氏的後裔們 [The descendants of the Aisin-Gioro clan]. Shanghai People's Press. p. 227. ISBN 9787208025844. 
  3. ^ Hoyt Cleveland Tillman; Stephen H. West (1995). China under Jurchen rule: essays on Chin intellectual and cultural history. SUNY Press. p. xv. ISBN 9780791422731. 
  4. ^ Li Dezhi 李德志 and Wang Tiejun 王铁军 (16 February 2009). "专家破译黑龙江800年前神秘女真大字石碑 [Experts decipher 800 year old sacred Tangut writing on a stele in Heilongjiang]". Xinhua News Agency. http://www.xinhuanet.com/chinanews/2009-02/16/content_15698503.htm. 
  5. ^ Aisin Gioro Ulhicun. "Mr. Jin Guang ping and His Study of Big and Small Script in Khitan and Jurchen Languages". http://www.apu.ac.jp/~yoshim/newpage2.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-09. 
  6. ^ Kane, Daniel (2009). The Kitan Language and Script. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16829-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=BnsZjpIa-cYC. 
  7. ^ a b Jin Shi 金適 (21 June 2006). "金光平先生與契丹大小字、女真大小字 [Mr Jin Guangping and Khitan big and little and Jurchen big and little script]". http://article.netor.com/m/jours/adindex.asp?boardid=42804&joursid=50825. Retrieved 2011-09-09. 
  8. ^ Léon Vandermeersch (1994). Études sinologiques. Presses universitaires de France. p. 311. ISBN 9782130457688.