Biography

Yang was born in 1839, during the Qing dynasty, in Lucheng Town, Yidu County, Hubei Province. His courtesy name was Xingwu (惺吾). After passing the provincial examination and earning the juren degree in 1862 (first year of the Tongzhi reign), he lived for ten years in Beijing trying to pass the imperial examination for the highest jinshi degree, without success. Although he failed the examinations, he became friends with the prominent officials Pan Zuyin and Zhang Zhidong, who shared his passion for antiques. He attended Pan's lavish parties and shopped for antiques in Beijing's Liulichang with Zhang.

From a young age Yang was interested in geography, and spent much of his life annotating Li Daoyuan's 6th-century work Commentary on the Water Classic (Shui Jing Zhu). His knowledge in geography earned him a diplomatic post to Japan, despite his repeated examination failure. In Tokyo he worked under the career diplomat Li Shuchang, an abrasive superior who nevertheless appreciated Yang's knowledge in antiques. As Japan was quickly westernizing during the Meiji Restoration, traditional Chinese publications fell out of fashion and were sold cheaply. Working with Li as well as Japanese antiquarians, Yang purchased tens of thousands of old Chinese books preserved in Japanese collections, many of which had become rare or even lost in China. They were later published as Guyi congshu (古逸丛书). After Yang's death, the Republic of China government purchased his collection and preserved most of his books in the National Palace Museum.

Yang was posted in Japan from 1880 to 1884. After returning to China, he taught at the in Wuchang and then became dean of the Qincheng School (勤成学堂), later renamed as Cungu School (存古学堂). In 1909 he served as an advisory official of the Ministry of Rites. He died in Beijing on 9 January 1915, and was buried in his hometown Yidu.

Annotation of the Commentary on the Water Classic

Yang devoted most of his lifetime to the annotation of the Commentary on the Water Classic (Shui jing zhu). He wrote 40 volumes of annotation but died before completing the work. His disciple Xiong Huizhen carried on the project and wrote another 40 volumes of annotation. It was published in the 1950s as the Shui jing zhu shu (水经注疏). The influential historian Gu Jiegang remarked that the work "brought to a point of culmination the textual research of The Classic of Waterways of the previous three centuries." He greatly admired the authors' "single-minded devotion" to the task, and Xiong's devotion to his master.

Historical atlas of China

Another of Yang's important works is the Lidai yudi tu (历代舆地图), his historical atlas of China which is often simply called the Yangtu (Yang's atlas). Yang began the work in 1866 with the assistance of Deng Yongxiu, and was joined by Rao Dunzhi in the late 1870s. They plotted historical geographical data on a Qing dynasty map, but left out non-Han Chinese kingdoms such as Nanzhao and Dali. Published between 1906 and 1911, it was the most complete and scholarly historical atlas of China produced during the Qing dynasty. Based on Yang's atlas, historian Tan Qixiang compiled The Historical Atlas of China, which was published in the 1980s and is considered the most authoritative atlas of Chinese history ever published.

Calligraphy

With the encouragement of Pan Zuyin, Yang became an accomplished calligrapher of the Stele School of Chinese calligraphy. When he went to Japan, he introduced the style to Japanese calligraphers, offering them "virtually an unprecedented aesthetic style" and revolutionizing Japanese calligraphy. He was considered a talented artist by famous Japanese calligraphers such as Miyajima Seiichiro, Kusakabe Meikaku, Iwaya Osamu, and Matsuda Sekka. and others bought hundreds of sheets of Yang's works. Yang wrote many essays on the Stele School of calligraphy, which were published by Japanese scholars in two volumes, Ping bei ji (评碑记, "Record of stelae criticism") and Ping tie ji (评帖记, "Record of model-letters criticism").

Memorials

In September 1986, the government of Yidu city repaired Yang Shoujing's tomb and former residence, which was turned into the Yang Shoujing Museum. His residence and tomb are now protected as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site of China (designation 6-995).

生平

杨守敬1839年出生于 湖北省宜都市陆城镇，表字惺吾。同治元年（1862年）次参加乡试中举人后，1865年考取景山官学教习。以后他一共七次进京赶考，虽然没能考中，但结识了潘祖荫和张之洞等著名人物。

杨守敬很小就对地理感兴趣，一生中大部分时间用来注疏郦道元6世纪的《水经注》。因为他通晓理知识，1880年出使日本，在驻日钦使黎庶昌手下充任随员。因日本在明治维新后迅速西化，传统的中国出版物不再流行，变得十分便宜。因此，杨守敬和黎庶昌在日本购买了上万本中国古籍，有的在中国也很难找到，甚至是在中国绝版的。这些书在1884年以《古逸丛书》之名出版。杨守敬去世后，国民政府收购了他的收藏，将他的藏书大都保存在国立故宫博物院。

回国后，杨守敬先后在武昌任黄冈市教谕、两湖书院教习、勤成（后改名存古）学堂总教长，筑邻苏园，藏书甚丰，曾参加《荆州府志》的编纂。宣统元年（1909年）被举为礼部顾问官，次年兼聘为湖北省通志局纂修。武昌起义后，有歹徒持枪入屋，声言「借盘费。」避居上海。袁世凯任大总统，欲聘其为顾问，以「年老无意出山」拒绝赴任。晚年在上海卖字为生，自号邻苏老人。民国四年（1915年）1月9日，在北京逝世。逝世后，民国政府派专车护送灵柩回宜都，归葬宜茔龙窝。

成就

杨守敬二十五岁前往北京市，即好金石学，搜求汉、魏六朝金石文字，结交好友潘存。同治六年（1867年）著成《激素飞清阁评碑记》。

在日本期间，收集散佚在日本的中国古籍，写成《日本访书缘起条例》。在大阪市，有人见杨购书，「莫不窃笑癖而且痴，而余不顾也。」回国后黄公度鼓励他写成《日本访书缘起条例》。

其亦好研究《水经注》，光绪三年（1877年）《水经注疏·江水》的初稿写成。光绪三十年（1904年）与弟子熊会贞撰写《水经注疏》稿成，杨守敬每每点出：「此戴袭赵之确证。」宣统元年（1909年）十月，罗振玉给杨守敬信中，称赞其「舆地之学」与王念孙、段玉裁之「小学」、李善兰之「算学」为当时的「三绝学」。

工书法，宗欧阳询，撰有《楷法溯源》、《评碑记》、《评帖记》、《学书迩言》等。藏书40万卷。著有《历代舆地图》、《水经注图》、《水经注疏》、《隋书地理志考证》、《寰宇贞石图》、《日本访书志》等。民国八十年（1991年）王永瑞编审《杨守敬集》。

注释

参考书目

• 吴天任：《杨惺吾先生年谱（附水经注疏清写本与最后订本校记）》，艺文印书馆，1974。由著名诗人、历史学家、郦学家吴天任编撰。

• 杨世灿：《杨守敬学术年谱》，湖北人民出版社出版，2004年。