Li Fanwen
Encyclopedia
Li Fanwen (born November 1932) is a Chinese
linguist
and Tangutologist.
, Shaanxi
in 1932. After leaving school, he worked for several years before going to Beijing
to study Tibetan
at the Central College for Nationalities, from which he graduated in 1956. He stayed on at the college as a research student in the History department until he graduated in 1959. By this time, he had become fascinated with the extinct and only semi-deciphered Tangut script
, and in 1960 he decided to move to Yinchuan in Ningxia
, the former capital of the Tangut Empire, to devote himself to Tangut studies, but his wife was unwilling to accompany him, so they divorced.
When Li Fanwen arrived at Ningxia, he was disappointed to find that there were no opportunities to study the Tangut script and language, and instead he was assigned to Ningxia Education College
to research the Hui people
. Two years later, he was reassigned to the Ningxia Museum and he was finally able to dedicate himself to the study of Tangut history and language. He was sent by the museum to participate in a minor capacity in the excavations of the Western Xia tombs
at the foot of the Helan Mountains, and whilst his new wife (Yang Shende 楊慎德) and children stayed behind at Yinchuan, he lived and worked at the excavations for seven years. The conditions were harsh, and the rations meagre, so that at the end of seven years, he had become emaciated and very ill, but his wife nursed him back to health.
Up to that time, Li Fanwen had been studying the Tangut script and language by himself from whatever books he could get hold of, and had no formal training in Tangut. Nevertheless, by the early 1970s he had already created more than 30,000 vocabulary cards for Tangut on his own initiative, with the intention of eventually compiling a Tangut-Chinese dictionary.
In January 1972, when Premier Zhou Enlai
visited the National Museum of Chinese History and was informed that only a handful of old scholars could read the Tangut script, he instructed Wang Yeqiu (王冶秋), director of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, to assign young scholars to study Tangut before all knowledge of Tangut died out. In response to this, Wang Yeqiu asked the Ningxia authorities to train people in the Tangut language, but there was nobody who could teach the language in Ningxia, so in May 1973, Li Fanwen was sent to Beijing to study under Luo Fuyi (羅福頤), the son of Luo Zhenyu
, the founding father of Chinese Tangut studies.
This opportunity gave Li Fanwen access to much new material, and he was able to complete the first draft of his dictionary in 1976. Although the dictionary was initially accepted for publication by the Cultural Relics Publishing House, it was eventually rejected after expert review of the manuscript concluded that it was not yet mature. For the next few years, Li Fanwen made detailed studies of primary Tangut sources such as Wen Hai (文海 "Sea of Characters") and Tong Yin (同音 "Homophones") in order to fill in the missing gaps in the dictionary coverage. In April 1984, on his way to visit the renowned Japanese Tangutologist, Nishida Tatsuo
, he was knocked off his bicycle in a traffic accident, and spent eighteen months in bed with a fractured thighbone. This gave him the opportunity to finish his study of the Tong Yin, which was published in 1986.
By late 1992, the new draft of Li Fanwen's Tangut-Chinese dictionary was almost complete, but he was not satisfied with the system of phonetic reconstruction that he was using, so after the Taiwan Tangutologist Gong Hwang cherng
came to see him, he decided to use Professor Gong's system of phonetic reconstruction instead. The dictionary was now complete, but technical and financial issues delayed its publication until 1997. Originally, Li Fanwen had hoped to computer typeset the Tangut text, but eventually he had to abandon this plan, and the Tangut text in the 1997 edition was laboriously inserted using photocomposition. The dictionary comprised exactly 6,000 Tangut characters, and these 6,000 characters were later used as the source for the Mojikyo
set of Tangut characters, which have since been widely used by Tangutologists for typesetting Tangut text. In 2002, the dictionary won the Wu Yuzhang
Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences.
In 2008, a revised and expanded edition of Li Fanwen's Tangut-Chinese dictionary, with 6,074 entries, was published. The new edition was computer typeset using a Tangut font developed by Jing Yongshi (景永時).
In addition to his work on Tangut language, Li Fanwen has also published a comprehensive history of the Western Xia
and a study of the Song dynasty Chinese dialect spoken in the north-west of China.
Li Fanwen currently holds professorships at Beijing University, Nanjing University
, People's University, Capital Normal University
, Shaanxi Normal University
and Fudan University
, and is the honorary head of the Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences.
With Luo Fuyi 羅福頤
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and Tangutologist.
Biography
Li Fanwen was born in Xixiang CountyXixiang County
Xixiang County is a county of Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China....
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
in 1932. After leaving school, he worked for several years before going to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
to study Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
at the Central College for Nationalities, from which he graduated in 1956. He stayed on at the college as a research student in the History department until he graduated in 1959. By this time, he had become fascinated with the extinct and only semi-deciphered Tangut script
Tangut script
The Tangut script was a logographic writing system, used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia Dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants...
, and in 1960 he decided to move to Yinchuan in Ningxia
Ningxia
Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary...
, the former capital of the Tangut Empire, to devote himself to Tangut studies, but his wife was unwilling to accompany him, so they divorced.
When Li Fanwen arrived at Ningxia, he was disappointed to find that there were no opportunities to study the Tangut script and language, and instead he was assigned to Ningxia Education College
Ningxia University
Ningxia University is a regional comprehensive university, co-administrated by Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China....
to research the Hui people
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
. Two years later, he was reassigned to the Ningxia Museum and he was finally able to dedicate himself to the study of Tangut history and language. He was sent by the museum to participate in a minor capacity in the excavations of the Western Xia tombs
Western Xia tombs
Occupying an area of some , the Western Xia tombs at the foot of the Helan Mountains in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwestern China includes nine imperial mausoleums and 250 tombs of imperial relatives and officials...
at the foot of the Helan Mountains, and whilst his new wife (Yang Shende 楊慎德) and children stayed behind at Yinchuan, he lived and worked at the excavations for seven years. The conditions were harsh, and the rations meagre, so that at the end of seven years, he had become emaciated and very ill, but his wife nursed him back to health.
Up to that time, Li Fanwen had been studying the Tangut script and language by himself from whatever books he could get hold of, and had no formal training in Tangut. Nevertheless, by the early 1970s he had already created more than 30,000 vocabulary cards for Tangut on his own initiative, with the intention of eventually compiling a Tangut-Chinese dictionary.
In January 1972, when Premier Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
visited the National Museum of Chinese History and was informed that only a handful of old scholars could read the Tangut script, he instructed Wang Yeqiu (王冶秋), director of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, to assign young scholars to study Tangut before all knowledge of Tangut died out. In response to this, Wang Yeqiu asked the Ningxia authorities to train people in the Tangut language, but there was nobody who could teach the language in Ningxia, so in May 1973, Li Fanwen was sent to Beijing to study under Luo Fuyi (羅福頤), the son of Luo Zhenyu
Luo Zhenyu
Luo Zhenyu , courtesy name: Shuyun was a Chinese classical scholar, philologist, epigrapher, antiquarian and Qing loyalist.-Biography:...
, the founding father of Chinese Tangut studies.
This opportunity gave Li Fanwen access to much new material, and he was able to complete the first draft of his dictionary in 1976. Although the dictionary was initially accepted for publication by the Cultural Relics Publishing House, it was eventually rejected after expert review of the manuscript concluded that it was not yet mature. For the next few years, Li Fanwen made detailed studies of primary Tangut sources such as Wen Hai (文海 "Sea of Characters") and Tong Yin (同音 "Homophones") in order to fill in the missing gaps in the dictionary coverage. In April 1984, on his way to visit the renowned Japanese Tangutologist, Nishida Tatsuo
Nishida Tatsuo
is a professor emeritus at Kyoto University. His work encompasses research on a variety of Tibeto-Burman languages, he made great contributions in particular to the deciphering of the Tangut Language....
, he was knocked off his bicycle in a traffic accident, and spent eighteen months in bed with a fractured thighbone. This gave him the opportunity to finish his study of the Tong Yin, which was published in 1986.
By late 1992, the new draft of Li Fanwen's Tangut-Chinese dictionary was almost complete, but he was not satisfied with the system of phonetic reconstruction that he was using, so after the Taiwan Tangutologist Gong Hwang cherng
Gong Hwang cherng
Gong Hwang-cherng was a Taiwan Chinese linguist who specialized in Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics and the phonetic reconstruction of Tangut and Old Chinese. He was born 10 December 1934 at Yunlin County in Taiwan, and graduated from National Taiwan Normal University in 1958 with a degree in...
came to see him, he decided to use Professor Gong's system of phonetic reconstruction instead. The dictionary was now complete, but technical and financial issues delayed its publication until 1997. Originally, Li Fanwen had hoped to computer typeset the Tangut text, but eventually he had to abandon this plan, and the Tangut text in the 1997 edition was laboriously inserted using photocomposition. The dictionary comprised exactly 6,000 Tangut characters, and these 6,000 characters were later used as the source for the Mojikyo
Mojikyo
is a set of computer software and fonts for enhanced logogram word-processing. , it collected 126,560/142,228 characters . Among them, 101,936/128,573 characters belong to the extended CJKV family...
set of Tangut characters, which have since been widely used by Tangutologists for typesetting Tangut text. In 2002, the dictionary won the Wu Yuzhang
Wu Yuzhang
Wu Yuzhang was a Chinese politician and educationist, President of Renmin University of China from 1950 to 1966.-Biography:...
Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences.
In 2008, a revised and expanded edition of Li Fanwen's Tangut-Chinese dictionary, with 6,074 entries, was published. The new edition was computer typeset using a Tangut font developed by Jing Yongshi (景永時).
In addition to his work on Tangut language, Li Fanwen has also published a comprehensive history of the Western Xia
Western Xia
The Western Xia Dynasty or the Tangut Empire, was known to the Tanguts and the Tibetans as Minyak.The state existed from 1038 to 1227 AD in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and...
and a study of the Song dynasty Chinese dialect spoken in the north-west of China.
Li Fanwen currently holds professorships at Beijing University, Nanjing University
Nanjing University
Nanjing University , or Nanking University, is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China...
, People's University, Capital Normal University
Capital Normal University
Capital Normal University is a university in Beijing, China. It is covered by Project 211, a policy to renew and modernize educational facilities in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
, Shaanxi Normal University
Shaanxi Normal University
The Shaanxi Normal University is one of the bottom educational universities in the People's Republic of China that are authorized to make the degrees available for the purchase in the educational of the training.- Overview :...
and Fudan University
Fudan University
Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...
, and is the honorary head of the Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences.
Works
- 1980. Xi Xia Yanjiu Lunji 西夏研究論集 (A Compilation of Xixia Studies). Ningxia.
- 1984. Xi Xia Lingmu Chutu Canbei Cuibian 西夏陵墓出土殘碑粹編 (A Collection of Fragments of Memorial Inscriptions from the Western Xia Tombs). Beijing.
- 1986. Tongyin Yanjiu 同音研究 (Study of the Homophones). Yinchuan.
- 1994. Songdai xibei fangyin: Fan han heshi zhang zhong zhu dui yin yanjiu 宋代西北方音——《番汉合时掌中珠》对音研究 [The Northwest Chinese Dialect at Song Times: Transliteration in Fan-Han Heshi Zhang-zhong-zhu]. Beijing.
- 1997. Xia Han Zidian 夏漢字典 (Tangut-Chinese Dictionary). Beijing.
- 2005. Xi Xia Tong Shi 西夏通史 (Comprehensive History of the Western Xia). Beijing and Yinchuan.
- 2008. Xia Han Zidian 夏漢字典 (Revised edition of Tangut-Chinese Dictionary). Beijing.
With Luo Fuyi 羅福頤
- 1982. Xixia Guanyin Huikao 西夏官印匯考 (Collected Study of Official Seals of the Western Xia). Yinchuan.