Wikipedia

Charles Hucker

Charles Oscar Hucker(June 21, 1919 – November 18, 1994) was an American historian andSinologistwho was a professor ofChinese languageandhistoryat theUniversity of Michigan.He was regarded as one of the foremost historians ofMing dynastyChina and a leading figure in the promotion of academic programs inAsian Studiesduring the 1950s and 1960s.

Charles O. Hucker
Born(1919-06-21)June 21, 1919
St. Louis,Missouri
DiedNovember 18, 1994(1994-11-18)(aged 75)
Odessa, Texas
SpouseMyrl Henderson
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
DisciplineSinology,Chinese history
Institutions
Chinese name
Traditional ChineseHạKhải
Simplified ChineseHạKhải
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHé Kǎi

Biography

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Before academia

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Born inSt. Louis,Hucker graduated from theUniversity of Texas,earning high honors despite working full-time in the university library.[1]After marrying Myrl Henderson in 1943, Hucker served in theUnited States Army Air Forcesfor the final two years of theSecond World War,where he rose to the rank of major and was awarded theBronze Star Medal.His primary duties were as a historical officer forV Fighter Commandof theFifth Air Force,in which capacity he claimed to have compiled a classified three-volume history of aircraft and aircraft warning systems used in the war.[2]

Academic career

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He completed a Ph.D. inChinese languagefrom theUniversity of Chicagoin 1950, and taught there, at theUniversity of Arizona,and then atOakland Universitybefore joining the University of Michigan in 1965 where he was the chair of the Department of Far Eastern Languages and Literatures. Throughout his teaching career, Hucker was an active member of many professional associations: he was a fellow of theRockefeller Foundation,a senior fellow of theNational Endowment for the Humanities,and a frequent consultant to the U.S. Office of Education, foundations, and various colleges and universities. During the 1950s and 1960s, he became a leading promoter of academic programs in Asian Studies in the U.S.[3]

Hucker was awarded an honorary doctorate ofhumanitiesfromOakland Universityin 1974, and in 1979 was among a small number of American scholars of Chinese history who visited scholarly centers in China under the joint auspices of the U.S.National Academy of Sciencesand theChinese Academy of Social Sciences.[4]

Ming dynasty specialist

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The subject of Hucker's Ph.D. dissertation had been thecensorateof theMing dynasty,[2]which he revised and expanded for separate publication in 1966 asThe Censorial System of Ming China.In 2021, the book was published in Chinese translation. Hucker saw the censorate as a third branch of government, on equal footing with the civil and military bureaucracies, beholden to the traditional state Confucian orthodoxy moreso than to any other component of the state apparatus.[5]He chaired the Committee for the Ming Biographical Dictionary Project until the publication in 1976 of its target work, theDictionary of Ming Biography,a two-volume English language reference work, to which he also contributed twelve biographies.[6]

Hucker also authoredChina's Imperial Past,a history of Imperial China intended for general readership.[7]He was a contributor toEncyclopedia Americana,Encyclopædia Britannica– where he was the primary contributor to the articles on "China" and "Yongle"[8]– andThe Cambridge History of China,for which he wrote the chapter "Ming Government" for volume eight of the series, published after his death.[9]HisChina to 1850: A Short History,published in 1975, was widely used as a college text.[4]

A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China

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In 1985, after nearly a decade in development, Hucker'sDictionary of Official Titles in Imperial Chinawas published.[10]Regarded as the most comprehensive guide to traditional Chinese government in a Western language, it translated and described the roles of every official title encountered in the historical texts ofImperial China,from legendary offices recorded in theRites of Zhouup through the mid-Qing dynasty.[11]Since the duties of an office evolved more rapidly than their titles changed, this involved multiple definitions for many entries, which numbered over 8,000.[12]: 144 Unofficial titles such as bespoke military commands or landless enfeoffments were not included.[13]

The dictionary was composed by Hucker on his personal computer, without assistance from the publisher, an unusual and tedious process for the time.[14]: 1060 Several notable experts in the field wrote reviews of the book for scholarly journals, includingMichael Loewe,Beatrice Bartlett,Edwin Pulleyblank,andHans Bielenstein.Reviewers universally praised the scope of the dictionary and the ambition of Hucker's project. Period specialists noted how helpful the book was at outlining the bureaucratic developments across history, but stated it contained inaccuracies regarding their own period of expertise. Experts on theHan dynastyand Qing dynasty were the most critical, since published works about the government structure and definitions with translations of the government offices of the time were already available and more complete. However, even the most critical reviewer, Hans Bielenstein, who had published just such a work about the Han dynasty government andtranslation of Han dynasty titlesfive years previous, stated that the dictionary would be an invaluable resource for researches for many years to come.[15]: 618 

Retirement and death

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At the time of his retirement from the University of Michigan in 1983, Hucker was regarded as one of the foremost historians of imperial China. In his honor, the university established the Charles O. Hucker professorship of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures,[3]withLuis O. Gómezappointed as the first such named professor in 1986.[16]

In retirement, Hucker and his wife Myrl lived inTucson, Arizona,where did volunteer work in schools and hospitals. Hucker also wrote plays and short stories, several of which have been published or produced.[17]Hucker died on November 14, 1994, inOdessa, Texas,at the age of 75.[4]To pay tribute to his academic legacy, the University of Michigan Department of Asian Studies instituted a cash prize, the Charles and Myrl Hucker Undergraduate Essay Prize, to be awarded annually to a student in the department.[4]

Selected bibliography

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  • The Traditional Chinese State in Ming Times, 1368–1644.(1961). Tucson: University of Arizona Press.ISBN9781014054210
  • The Censorial System of Ming China.(1966). Stanford: Stanford University Press.ISBN9780804702898
  • China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History.(1975). Stanford: Stanford University Press.ISBN9780804723534
  • The Ming Dynasty: Its Origins and Evolving Institutions.(1978). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies.ISBN9780892640348
  • China to 1850: A Short History.(1978). Stanford: Stanford University Press.ISBN9780804709583
  • A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.(1985). Stanford: Stanford University Press.ISBN9789576382857

References

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Citations

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  1. ^Taylor (1998),p. 15.
  2. ^abTaylor (1998),p. 16.
  3. ^abJournal of Asian Studies1995.
  4. ^abcdLin (1995).
  5. ^Taylor (1998),pp. 19–22.
  6. ^Taylor (1998),pp. 17–19, 30.
  7. ^Taylor (1998),p. 26.
  8. ^"Charles O. Hucker – contributor".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved17 October2023.
  9. ^Hucker, Charles O. (1998). "Ming Government". InDenis C. Twitchett;Frederick W. Mote (eds.).The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, Part 2: 1368–1644.Cambridge University Press. pp. 9–105.doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521243339.003.ISBN9781139054768.
  10. ^Taylor (1998),p. 18.
  11. ^Pulleyblank, Edwin G.(1987). "Review:A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.by Charles O. Hucker ".Pacific Affairs.60(2): 325–327.doi:10.2307/2758156.JSTOR2758156.
  12. ^Loewe, Michael(1987). "Review:A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.By Charles O. Hucker. [Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985.] ".The China Quarterly.109:144–145.doi:10.1017/S0305741000017732.S2CID154526546.
  13. ^Baker, Hugh D. R. (1987). "Charles O. Hucker:A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.[Ix], 676 Pp. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985 ".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies(book review).50(2): 410.doi:10.1017/S0041977X00049624.S2CID162691850.
  14. ^Bartlett, Beatrice S.(1986). "A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.By Charles O. Hucker. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985. Viii, 676 Pp. Introduction, User's Guide, Index to Suggested English Renderings, Chinese Index, Pinyin to Wade-Giles Conversion Table. $49.50 ".The Journal of Asian Studies(book review).45(5): 1059–1061.doi:10.2307/2056614.JSTOR2056614.S2CID164649617.
  15. ^Bielenstein, Hans(December 1986). "Review:A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial Chinaby Charles O. Hucker ".Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.46(2): 611–618.doi:10.2307/2719144.JSTOR2719144.
  16. ^Richard L. Kennedy, ed. (1989)."May 1986 Meeting".Proceedings of the Board of Regents(years 1984–1987). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Board of Regents. p. 654.
  17. ^"Charles Hucker, retired U-M professor of Chinese, died at age 75".Michigan News.University of Michigan. 1 December 1994.

Sources

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