Complete Works of Huang Zunxian

Author: Chen Zheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: March 1, 2005
Features: Huang Zunxian, styled Gongdu, was a patriotic poet of the late Qing Dynasty, as well as an outstanding diplomat, politician, and educator. He was born in Jiying Prefecture (now East Meicheng, Xiashijiao) in 1848 and died in 1905. His life can be divided into four stages: the study and examination stage (1863–1876); the diplomatic stage (1877–1894); the reform stage (1895–1898); and the hometown residence stage (1899–1905).
In October 1877 (the third year of the Guangxu reign), Huang Zunxian was invited to serve as a counselor and accompanied He Ruizhang on a mission to Japan. In the eighth year of the Guangxu reign, he was transferred to serve as the Consular General in San Francisco, California, USA. In the thirteenth year of the Guangxu reign, he completed A Record of Japan, in which he extensively described the Meiji Restoration in Japan and criticized the autocracy after the Qin and Han dynasties, while praising the legislative system of the West and proposing a series of ideas for learning from the West. In the twenty-first year of the Guangxu reign, he joined the Strong Society and became an active participant in the reform movement. In the twenty-second year of the Guangxu reign, he invited Liang Qichao to Shanghai to establish Shiwu Bao (The Journal of Current Affairs), advocating for reform. In October of the same year, he went to the capital and was received by Emperor Guangxu and the factional officials. The following year, he was appointed to positions such as the Director of Salt Administration in Hunan, where he actively assisted Hunan Governor Chen Baozhen in implementing new policies. In August of the twenty-fourth year of the Guangxu reign, Emperor Guangxu appointed Huang Zunxian as the Envoy to Japan. After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform, the Qing government listed Huang Zunxian as one of the "strictly punished" reformers, but due to interference from foreign envoys in China, the Qing government allowed him to resign and return to his hometown.
After returning to his hometown, Huang Zunxian remained dedicated to promoting constitutionalism, revolution, and other causes, while also devoted to composing new-style poetry, earning him the title of "Great Giant of the Poetry Revolution." At the same time, he was deeply committed to education in his hometown, establishing the Jiying Xingxue Conference Hall and serving as its president, actively promoting the establishment of new schools.
Huang Zunxian's self-selected works include Poems of Miscellaneous Events in Japan, A Record of Japan, and Poems of Renjilu. This book collects Huang Zunxian's works as comprehensively as possible. The entire book includes 1.5 million words of his collected works, divided into six sections: Poetry, Prose, Correspondence, Official Documents, Notes, and Monographs. It includes: 1,135 poems, 11 ci poems, 2 qu and fu poems, and 19 couplets; 55 prose pieces; 226 letters and telegrams; 64 official documents; 5 types of notes; and the monograph A Record of Japan. There are 16 illustrations at the beginning of the book, and an appendix with selected biographical materials on Huang Zunxian.