Huang Zunxian Riben zashi shi (Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects from Japan) (1879)

Abstract

Huang Zunxian was born in Guangdong Province in 1848. He learned Qian jia shi (Poems of 1000 Masters) from his great-grandmother at an early age. At the age of 3, he went to a private school, and from the age of 10, he learned to write poetry. In 1876, he passed the xiangshi (provincial exams) in Beijing and became a juren (successful candidate). In the same year, a distant relative, He Ruzhang, was appointed as Qing’s (China’s) first Minister, and Huang Zunxian went to Japan as secretary. In 1879, he completed Riben zashi shi (Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects from Japan). In 1882, he was appointed as Consul General in San Francisco, and in 1886, he returned to Japan to work on Riben guo zhi (Treatises on Japan), a full-fledged book on Japanese studies, which was completed in 1887. In 1890, he was appointed as Consul General in London, and 1 year later he was appointed Consul General in Singapore. He returned to China in 1894 to become Chief of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of Jiangning. In 1895, depressed over the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, he became one of the founders of the Society for the Enhancement of Learning, founded by Kang Youwei. In 1896, he published the journal Shiwu Bao (Chinese Progress) and invited Liang Qichao to Shanghai to be its chief editor. In 1897, he was appointed salt intendant of Hunan Province, where he opened a new-style school, the Current Affairs Academy, and published journals such as Xiang Bao (Hunan Newspaper) and Xiangxue Xinbao (Hunan Studies News). The Academy attracted such talents as Liang Qichao and Tang Caichang, making Hunan the most progressive province in China. After 1898, he was became sickly and so returned to his hometown to lead a more comfortable life while continuing to make efforts to promote elementary education and enlighten the public. He died in 1905 at the age of 57.