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March 8, 2014 |
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Wang Tao (Chinese language|Chinese: 王韬) (November 10, 1828 – April, 1897) was a Qing dynasty translator, reformer, political columnist, newspaper publisher, and fiction writer. He was born as Wang Libin in Puli Town fn|1 in Suzhou prefecture. In 1848, Wang Tao went to Shanghai to visit his father. During his stay in Shanghai, Wang Tao visited the London Missionary Society Press. He was warmly greeted by Walter Henry Medhurst and his daughters Mary and Ellen.fn|2 Wang Tao also met missionaries William Muirhead, Joseph Edkins, and William Charles Milne, all well versed in spoken and written Chinese language.fn|2a Work with the London Missionary Society In 1849 Wang Tao's father died. Wang Tao was looking for a job to support his family. He was offered a job by Walter Henry Medhurst at the London Missionary Society Press in Shanghai assisting in his translation of the New Testament into Chinese. Wang Tao worked at the London Missionary Society Press for the next 13 years. In this period, he also translated many English books into Chinese in collaboration with missionaries Alexander Wylie and Joseph Edkins. These included "Pictorial Optics", "An Elementary Introduction to Mechanics", "Concise History of Sino-British Trade", "A History of Astronomy of the Western Countries" Took Refuge in Hong Kong The middle of 19th century was a period of turmoil in China. In 1860, the Taiping Rebellion had captured Suzhou, Changzhou, and was threatening Shanghai. During this period, Wang Tao was in contact with the leaders of the Taiping Kingdom. In 1862, he even wrote a letter under the pseudonym Wang Wan to a leader of Taiping. He proposed tactics against the Qing military and suggested that westerners were not the enemy of Taiping. He stated that the real enemy was the Qing government, if the Taiping army could achieve victory overthe Qing army led by Zeng Guofan, then the westerners could take side with Taiping kingdom. When the Qing army captured Shanghai, this letter fell into the hands of the Qing government, Emperor Tongzhi ordered Wang Tao to be arrested. He took refuge in the British Consulate, remaining there for more than four months. In October 1862, a disguised Wang Tao, escorted by several people from the British Consulate, boarded a Ewo fn|3 ship for Hong Kong, This is how he left his homeland to which he was not to return for twenty-two years. In Hong Kong, he changed his name from Wang Libin to Wang Tao. In Hong Kong, James Legge, the principal of Anglo-Chinese College invited Wang Tao to assist on translation of "The Thirteen Chinese Classics". By 1865, James Legge and Wang Tao had completed the translation of "Shang Shu" and "Bamboo Book Annals". Move to Scotland Image:wtparis.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Paris In 1867, James Legge returned to his hometown of Dollar, Clackmannanshire|Dollar in Clackmannanshire Scotland. He wrote a letter to Wang Tao, inviting him to to come to Scotland to continue assisting in the translation of more Chinese classics. Wang Tao board a ship and departed from Hong Kong. The ship stopped over at Singapore, Ceylong, Penang, Aden, Messina, Cairo and reached Marseille.fn|4 The voyage from Hong Kong to Marseille took more than forty days. Wang Tao took the opportunity of sightseeing in all the ports of call. From Marseille, Wang Tao took a train to Lyon, then to Paris. He visited the Louvre, also visited sinologist Stanislas Julian at Sorbonne University. After a short stay of a little bit short of two weeks, Wang Tao crossed the Channel from Calais to Dover, rode a train to London. After sightseeing in London(The British Museum etc), he headed to Scotland and settled down in Dollar, Clackmannanshire|Dollar in Clackmannanshire. During his journey Wang Tao jotted down his impression of the places he visited, he later collected part of these material into his travel book, "Jottings from Carefree Travel", the very first travel book about Europe by a Chinese scholar. Image:britishmuseum.jpg|thumb|left|150px|The British Museum In 1867 Wang Tao was invited by the Chamberlain of Oxford University to deliver a speech in Chinese, the first ever speech delivered by a Chinese scholar in Oxford. He talked about the importance of cultural exchange between the east and the west, and that east and west all headed toward a common datong (great unity). fn|5 Image:Dunbiane.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Dollar town, Scotland Image:Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Edinburgh By the Spring of 1870 the translation of various classics such as "The Book of Songs" I Ching, The Book of Rites etc were completed. During 1867-1870, Wang Tao travelled to many places, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen,Huntly, Scotland|Huntly,Dundee and Glasgow，or took short trips to Rumbling BridgePark,Castle Campbell,Tillicoultry, Alva and Stirling Castle;sometimes accompanied by James Legge and his third daughter Mary. The travel notes about these places were also included in his book "Jottings of Carefree Travel" Return to Hong Kong Having finished his part in the translation of the Chinese Classics, Wang Tao returned to Hong Kong in the Winter of 1870. In Hong Kong, he wrote two influential books: A Brief Introduction to France and Report on the Franco-Prussian War. The latter was highly regarded by high mandarins of the Qing government, including Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, this paved the way for his final pardon by the Qing government later. In 1872, Wang Tao bought the printing press of London Mission in Hong Kong and founded Zhong Hua General Printing House. In 1874, Wang Tao founded Circular Daily (循环日报), the first Chinese daily newspaper in history. Lin Yutang called Wang Tao the Father of Chinese Newspaper. During his ten-year carreer as editor in chief of Circular Daily, Wang Tao wrote several hundred editorials calling for the reform of the Chinese political, by adopting British style monarchy-parlimentary system, he also called for reform of educational system by introducing western sciences; he called for the establishment of textile, mining, railway, machinery and mining industries. His reformist editorial articles reached a wide audience. He was the de-facto forerunner of the reformist movement in China. Many of his reformist articles were later published as a volume: "Collection of Essays from The Tao Garden". Visit to Japan In 1879, at the invitation of Japanese literati, Wang Tao travelled to Japan for over four months. He visited many cities such as Nagasaki, Nagoya and Tokyo, notes of this travel became one of his books: "Japan Travel".fn|6 In Japan, wherever he went, he was surrounded by literati, some times in sedan carried by eight people.fn|7 As a scholar who lived in Europe with in-depth understanding of European politics and culture, Wang Tao enjoyed very high esteem in Japan. Wang Tao's travel needs were also taken care of by the Qing Embassy in Japan. Wang Tao was apparently quite moved by his warm welcome in Japan. He wrote that when he left Japan, he was treated with a grand dinner party attended by more than one hundred celebrities, that he never thought he could became so famous and important, because during his youth at Puli township, he was a nobody. "How lucky I am to get such welcome by foreign scholars several thousand miles away", he wrote. Return to Shanghai The fame of Wang Tao enjoyed oversea must have an impact on the Qin government. In 1884, the influential Li Hongzang sent a letter to the governor of Shanghai, he wrote "That gentleman from Kunshanfn|8 is a rare genius with encyclopedic knowledge. It is a pity he took exile in Hong Kong, if it is possible to get his service for us, we don't mind a king's ransom". fn|9 In the spring of 1884, Wang Tao and his family returned to Shanghai, settled down in Wushong district, he also founded Tao Garden Publishing House. He nicknamed himself "The Recluse of Tao Garden". In 1886, Wang Tao became the head of Gezhi College in Shanghai, where he pushed for western style education. In 1890, Wang Tao published his travelog:Jottings from Carefree Travels. He also worked part time for Shen Pao and International Tribune as special columist; he wrote about two hundred short stories for Shen Pao. In April 1897 Wang Tao died in Shanghai at age 70. There were many literati before Wang Tao introduced western ideas, translated books into Chinese. Wang Tao was the first Chinese scholar participated in two way cultural exchange; on the one hand, Wang Tao worked with W.A. Medhurst A. Wylie, J. Edkins translated western religion books, western sciences into China, on the other hand, Wang Tao also played an important role in assisting James Legge in translation of large number important ancient Chinese classics into English. Wang Tao forged a bridge between China and the West. Wang Tao Memorial Hall is located in a Qing style house at No 6. Zhongshi Street, Luzhi township, Suzhou city, China. Translations by James Legge assisted by Wang Tao
Some of the above listed Translation by James Legge are available as ebooks for as low as $2 each, because no one holds copyright. However some of the original books are now rare collector's item, with prices as high as $4500 Wang Tao's work in English
Translations from English into Chinese
Books in Chinese
Cumbreland, Rhode Island, U.S.A.: Harvard Univ Pr, 1988 ISBN 0674068750
Wang T'ao. The Life and Writings of a Displaced Person. With a Translation of 'Mei-Li Hsiao Chuan', a Short Story by Wang T'ao，1953。 A lecture delivered at The China Society of London on 22 May 1952。
Category:1828 births|Wang Tao Category:1897 deaths|Wang Tao Category:Chinese people zh: 王韬 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wang Tao".
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