Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Huang Shao-chi
HUANG Shao-chi 黃紹箕 (T. 仲弢, H. 鮮庵), 1854–1908, Jan., official and educationalist, a native of Jui-an, Chekiang, was a son of Huang T'i-fang [q. v.]. In youth he studied Sung philosophy and the methods of the School of Han Learning (see under Ku Yen-wu), but later was much influenced by the pragmatic ideas of Chang Chih-tung [q. v.]. Graduated as chü-jên in 1879 and as chin-shih in 1880, he served until 1895 in the Hanlin Academy, first as a bachelor and then as a compiler, absenting himself only once (1885) when he went to Szechwan as assistant examiner in that province. After spending about a year (1895–96) at his native place, he returned in 1896 to Peking where he participated in the compilation of the fifth edition of the Ta-Ch'ing hui-tien (see under Wang An-kuo). In 1897 he served as chief examiner in the Hupeh provincial examination. In the meantime the idea of modernizing China, as advocated by K'ang Yu-wei (see under T'an Ssŭ-t'ung), was gaining ground among officials in Peking. As one of K'ang's supporters, Huang Shao-chi often contended with his conservative opponents. In the summer of 1898, when the Peking Imperial University was established (see under Sun Chia-nai), he was made Chancellor and formulated its policy and curriculum after the model of Western universities. In September of the same year, when the Empress Dowager, Hsiao-ch'in [q. v.], carried her policy against the radical progressives, Huang secretly helped K'ang Yu-wei to escape from Peking. In the spring of the following year Huang's rank was raised to that of reader in the Hanlin Academy, but shortly afterward he was forced to retire to his native place to observe the customary mourning for the death of his father. In 1900 he was made superintendent of the Liang-Hu Shu-yuan 兩湖書院 at Wuchang, an Academy which had been established by Chang Chih-tung in 1890. During the ensuing three years he devoted himself to organizing educational institutes in Hupeh and to sending able students to Japan.
Huang Shao-chi went in 1904 to Peking where he was appointed superintendent of the Book Compilation Office and soon after held the additional post of superintendent of the Translation Office. During his term there he directed the compilation of modern text-books and the translation of works on education, chiefly from the Japanese language. His history of Chinese education, 中國教育史 Chung-huo chiao-yü shih, was written during this period. In July 1905 he presented to the throne a memorial recommending the construction of seven railway lines in his native province (Chekiang) but his program was too ambitious to be put into effect. In May of the following year, when educational reorganization took place, he was made commissioner of education (T'i-hsüeh-shih 提學使) in Hupeh, a post which had previously been known as Hsüeh-chêng 學政. Before he proceeded to this new post, however, he made a tour of inspection of the educational institutions of Japan where he became acquainted with such modernist educators as Katō Hiroyuki 加藤弘之 (1826–1916), Kikuchi Dairoku 菊池大麓 (1855–1917), Tsuji Shinji 辻新次 (1842–1915), and Kanō Jigorō 嘉能治五郎 (1860–1938). Early in 1907 he assumed his post in Hupeh—a province where Governor-general Chang Chih-tung had established several modern schools. Under the latter's direction Huang established two schools there, but died a year later of consumption. Among other commissioners of education who after 1906 established schools and libraries, or who introduced educational reforms in the provinces where they served, may be mentioned: Lo Chêng-chün (see under Wang Fu-chih), in Shantung; Fu Tsêng-hsiang 傅增湘 (T. 叔和, 潤沅, H. 沅叔, b. 1872), in Chihli; Tu T'ung 杜彤 (T. 子丹, H. 仰滋, 1864–1929), in Sinkiang; and K'ung Hsiang-lin 孔祥霖 (T. 少霑, H. 話琴, chin-shih of 1877), in Honan.
Huang Shao-chi had an excellent library, styled Shên-sui Ko 蔘綏閣, of which a catalog, listing some 1,100 items, appears in the 圖書館學季刊 T'u-shu kuan hsüeh chi-k'an (vol. IV, no. 2, June 1930, pp. 267–309). A collection of his verse, entitled 鮮庵遺詩 Hsien-an i-shih, and that of his cousin, Huang Shao-ti 黃紹第 (T. 叔頌, H. 繩庵, chin-shih of 1890), entitled Shêng-an (繩庵) i-shih, were printed in 1915 by Huang Shao-ti's son-in-law, Mao Kuang-shêng (see under Mao Hsiang), as an appendix to Mao's 永嘉詩人祠堂叢刻 Yung-chia shih-jên tz'ŭ-t'ang ts'ung-k'o. These two works bear the collective title, 二黃先生集 Êr-Huang hsien-shêng chi. A collection of Huang Shaochi's prose, entitled Hsien-an i-wên ( 遺文), was printed in the Hsi-yen lou ts'ung-k'an (see under Huang T'i-fang); and a collection of his verse in rhythmic prose (tz'ŭ), entitled 潞舸詞 Lu-k'o tz'ŭ, was printed in the Ou-fêng tsa-chih hui-k'an (see under Huang T'i-fang), second series (1935).
[1/450/2a; Appendix to the Hsien-an i-wên; 文瀾學報 Wên-lan hsüeh-pao, vol. II, no. 3–4 (1936) p. 348; Hsü Shih-ch'ang 徐世昌, 晚清簃詩匯 Wan-ch'ing-i shih-hui (1929) 172/42a, 177/21a; Hupeh t'ung-chih (1921), chüan 60.]
Hiromu Momose