余英時 - 激惱北京的歷史學家逝世 享年91歲

(Source: CUHK)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Yu Ying-shih, historian who irked Beijing, dies at 91

Thu., August 5, 2021, 5:31 a.m.

HONG KONG (AP) — Yu Ying-shih, a historian of China who taught at Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities and whose books were banned by the ruling Communist Party in 2014 after he expressed support for pro-democracy activism, has died. He was 91.

 Yu died Aug. 1 in the United States, according to an announcement by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he taught and was vice chancellor in the 1970s. It gave no cause of death.

 Yu “made lasting contributions to the study of Chinese history and culture,” the university’s acting vice chancellor, Alan K.L. Chan, said in a statement.

 Yu was born in Tianjin, east of Beijing, in 1930 and graduated in 1952 from Hong Kong’s New Asia College, which later became part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1962.

Yu also taught at the University of Michigan and was a member of Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s national academy of humanities and sciences. His books included “Trade and Expansion in Han China” in 1967.

In 2014, bookstores and publishers in China said authorities ordered Yu’s books removed from sale after he expressed support for pro-democracy movements in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Others hit by the ban included economist Mao Yushi and constitutional law professor Zhang Qianfan.

“If you keep following the orders (by the Communist Party), don’t you become 100% slaves eventually?” Yu said in a 2014 interview with the Taiwanese financial magazine CommonWealth.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong gave no details of survivors or funeral plans.

 

Translation

香港（美聯社）- 曾在哈佛、普林斯頓和耶魯大學任教的中國歷史學家余英時已去世, 享年91歲。當年在他表示支持民主活動後, 他的書於 2014 年被執政共產黨禁止。

根據香港中文大學的一份聲明，余英時於 8 月 1 日在美國去世，他曾在中大任教, 並在 70 年代擔任副校長。中大沒有說明死因。

大學署理校長陳金樑在一份聲明中說，余英時“為中國歷史和文化的研究做出了持久的貢獻”。

余英時於1930年出生於北京東部的天津，1952年畢業於香港新亞書院，該書院後成為香港中文大學的一部分。他在1962年獲得哈佛大學博士學位。

於還曾任教於密西根大學，也是台灣國立人文科學院中央研究院院士。他的著作包括1967年的《漢代貿易與擴張》。

2014年，中國的書店和出版商說，在余英時表示支持中國、台灣和香港的民主運動後，當局下令他的著作下架。其他受到禁令影響的人包括經濟學家毛玉石和憲法學教授張千帆.

“如果你繼續聽從（共產黨）的命令，你最終不會成為 100% 的奴隸嗎？” 余英時於 2014 年在接受台灣金融雜誌天下雜誌 的採訪時說。

香港中文大學沒有透露他的在世家人或葬禮計劃的細節。

              So, one of the best scholars on Chinese history has passed away. Academi Sinica commenting on the death of Yu says that he was good at interpreting traditional Chinese thoughts with modern academic methods. As the most influential Chinese intellectuals in the contemporary era, his research on Chinese history, especially the history of thought and cultural history, has played a pioneering role, and is highly respected by Western academic circles. He is the master of Chinese historiography in the 21st century. (https://www.sinica.edu.tw/ch/news/6919)

              Also, about the news on the death of Yu, BBC has a good report on the matter. For details, please see its web-site. (https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-58107149)