Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: XuanTang Anthology

img-title img-title
Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: XuanTang Anthology Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: XuanTang Anthology
 
 
Agreement Signing Ceremony

Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) recently received a generous donation pledge of HK$2.5 million from The Jao Studies Foundation in support of this new project which will translate Professor Jao Tsung-i's important scholarly works into English. An agreement signing ceremony was held on 5 March 2019. It was officiated by Professor Lee Cheuk-fan, Chairman of the Management Board of The Jao Studies Foundation; Professor Roland Chin, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; and Professor Chen Zhi, Director of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology at HKBU.

Agreement Signing Ceremony photo 1 Agreement Signing Ceremony photo 1
Agreement Signing Ceremony photo 2 Agreement Signing Ceremony photo 2
Addendum Signing Ceremony

HKBU received an additional HK$1 million donation from The Jao Studies Foundation in support of the operation of the Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: XuanTang Anthology. An addendum signing ceremony was held on 16 April 2021. It was officiated by Professor Lee Cheuk-fan, Chairman of the Management Board of The Jao Studies Foundation; Professor Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU.

20210422150516_49166 20210422150516_49166
20210422150644_29453 20210422150644_29453

Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: Xuantang Anthology is a book series that has taken selected essays by Master Jao and translated their penetrating scholarly thought and elegant Chinese into modern English. Its intention is to furnish readers of the English-speaking world with a glimpse of the wisdom and workmanship of this cultural colossus who straddles both epoch and nationality. Through this book series, Master Jao’s thought, transcending linguistic and cultural boundaries, outlines his extraordinary attainments in many disciplines, including music, Dunhuang studies, religion, and philosophy. In so doing, readers can experience at first hand Master Jao's wide-ranging and profound system of knowledge and deeply individual scholarly understanding, notwithstanding his outstanding achievements, while at the same time, it lays out for its readers a resplendently brilliant intellectual exposition.

 

With the generous support of Jao family, the Jao Studies Foundation, and the Simon Suen Foundation, the Academy has pooled its efforts to translate and compile the Collected Works of Jao Tsung-i: Xuantang Anthology—a six-volume collection that brings together the finest of his lifelong scholarship. This groundbreaking publication offers readers a comprehensive view of Master Jao’s profound and far-reaching intellectual legacy. The contents are as follows:

Harmoniousness: Essays in Chinese Musicology
Translated and Edited by Colin Huehns

 

From prehistoric bone flutes to Confucian bell-sets, from ancient divination to his beloved qin, this book presents translations of thirteen seminal essays on musical subjects by Jao Tsung-i. In language as elegant and refined as the ancient texts he so admired, his journey takes readers through Buddhist incantation, the philosophy of musical instruments, acoustical numerology, lyric poetry, historical and sociological contexts, manuscript studies, dance choreography, repertoire formulation, and opera texts. His voice is authoritative and intimate, the expert crafting his arguments, both accessible and sophisticated, succinct and richly tapestried; and concealed within a deft modesty is a thinker privileging us with his most profound observation. The musician’s musician, the scholar’s scholar, bold yet cautious, flamboyant yet restrained, a man for all seasons, a harmoniousness of time and place.

Treasured Oases: A Selection of Jao Tsung-i’s Dunhuang Studies
Translated and Edited by David J. Lebovitz

 

Dunhuang: China’s traditional northwest frontier and overland conduit of exchange with the Old World. Jao Tsung-i: China’s last great traditional man of letters, polymath, and pioneer of comparative humanistic inquiry during Hong Kong’s global heyday. Jao and Dunhuang had a special relationship that this book makes accessible in English for the first time. Inside, Jao proposes an entirely new school of Chinese landscape painting, reconsiders Dunhuang’s oldest manuscripts as its newest research field, and explores topics ranging from comparative religion to medieval multimedia.

Space, Time, Myth and Morals. A Selection of Jao Tsung-i’s Studies on Cosmological Thought in Early China and Beyond
Translated and Edited by Joern Peter Grundmann

 

The articles assembled in this volume present an important selection of Professor Jao Tsung-i’s research in the field of the early Chinese intellectual tradition, especially as it concerns the human condition. Whether his focus is on myth, religion, philosophy or morals, Jao consistently aims to describe how the series of developments broadly associated with the Axial Age unfolded in China. He is particularly interested in showing how early China had developed its own notion of transcendence as well as a system of prediction and morals that enabled man to act autonomously, without recourse to divine providence.

Jade-Carving Chisel and Luminous Ocean
Translated and edited by Nicholas Morrow Williams

 

Eight interviews with and essays by Jao are translated faithfully into English in this book, giving a sampling of his diverse insights into literature and its broader significance. Topics range from the religious beliefs underpinning the earliest Chinese writings, to the influence of Chan Buddhism on Chinese poetics, to Gu Yanwu (1613-1682) poetic protest against the Manchu conquest. Collectively the essays demonstrate how literary art and spiritual beliefs have been intertwined throughout Chinese history.

A Collated and Critical Study of the Xiang’er Commentary
Translated and edited by David Chai

 

Differently from the earlier volumes of the series and their emphasis on translating specific essays by Master Jao, this book translates an entire monograph by him. In this way, it allows readers to understand more systematically and comprehensively the important contribution that he made to the field of Daoist studies. It is thus the first volume of Xuantang Anthology that presents Master Jao’s scholarly achievements in the form of a complete book by him in translation. 

Histories of Spiritual Traditions in China. A Selection of Jao Tsung-i's Essays in Religious Studies
Translated and edited by Frank P. Saunders Jr.
Co-edited by Richard Sage

 

This book first presents the English translation of Master Jao’s monumental works about China’s rich spiritual history. Throughout his far-reaching discussions of Chinese religious history ranging from prehistoric ancestor worship to Daoist immortality cultism and beyond, Jao’s studies draw upon an immense range of sources, including stele inscriptions, excavated manuscripts, and prehistoric artifacts. Engage with the very best of 20th-century Chinese-speaking sinology and gain new insights into China’s fascinating history of spiritual traditions. This tour de force in Chinese religious history is a must-read for anyone seeking to unravel the complexities of China's intersecting spiritual traditions.

The realization of this publication project is not only significant for the Western Sinology community but also a valuable opportunity to promote China's rich cultural heritage.