Tang Yongtong (; 4 August 1893 – 1 May 1964) was a Chinese educator, philosopher and scholar best known for studying

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...

. Tang was proficient in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

, English and Japanese. Tang attended the

Tsinghua School Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

and Shuntian School before he pursued advanced studies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. While studying at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, he became known as "one of the three Outstanding Persons of Harvard" along with

Chen Yinke Chen Yinke, or Chen Yinque (3 July 18907 October 1969), was a Chinese historian, linguist, orientalist, politician, and writer. He was a fellow of Academia Sinica, considered one of the most original and creative historians in 20th century China ...

and

Wu Mi Wu Mi () (August 20, 1894 – January 17, 1978) (once using the name Wu Yuheng () was one of the founders of Chinese comparative literature, a critic, redologist (one who studies the Chinese classic book ''Dream of the Red Chamber''), educa ...

. He was an academician of the

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

. He was a member of the 1st National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

. He was also a delegate to the 1st,

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

and

3rd National People's Congress The 3rd National People's Congress () was in session from 1964 to 1975. It held only one session in the ten years. The session was held from December 21, 1964, till January 4, 1965. The Congress elected the state leaders: *President of the Peop ...

Biography

Tang was born in Weiyuan County,

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

on August 4, 1893, while his ancestral home in Huangmei County,

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

. His father Tang Lin () was a scholar in the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. In 1908 he attended the Shuntian School. In 1911, he enrolled at the

, where he graduated in 1916. Tang arrived in the

in 1918 at the age of 25 to begin his education at

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. He returned to China after graduation in 1922 and that same year became professor of National Southeast University. After a short period of teaching students in

Nankai University Nankai University (NKU or Nankai; ) is a national public research university located in Tianjin, China. It is a prestigious Chinese state Class A Double First Class University approved by the central government of China, and a member of the fo ...

, he returned to

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, where he was a professor at National Central University. In 1931, he moved to

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

as a professor at the Department of Philosophy, where he was promoted to dean of College of Liberal Arts in 1946. In the following 1947 he went to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he lectured the History of Chinese Buddhism. In 1948 he was elected a fellow of the

. In December 1948 he refused to go to

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, while

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

invited him to follow the Nationalists. In January 1949 he was proposed as the new chairman of Peking University. In 1949, the year of the defeat of the Communists over the Nationalists in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, Tang stayed on Peking University in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. He was appointed vice-president of Peking University in 1951. Two years later, he was elected a member of the newly established Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1954, he was diagnosed with

intracerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into Intraparenchymal hemorrhage, the tissues of the brain, into its Intraventricular hemor ...

and then stayed in bed for a long time. Tang died in Beijing on May 1, 1964.

Personal life

Tang married Zhang Jingping (). The couple had two sons and two daughters, in order of birth: Tang Yimei (; died young), Tang Yijie (), Tang Yixuan () and Tang Yiping (). Their elder son,

Tang Yijie Tang Yijie (; 16 February 1927 − 9 September 2014) was a Chinese scholar and professor at Peking University, who has been described as China's top scholar on philosophy and Chinese studies. He spearheaded the Confucian Canon project, seeking to ...

(1927–2014), was a Peking University professor, who had been described as China's top scholar on philosophy and Chinese studies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Yongtong 1893 births People from Dingxi 1964 deaths Beijing No. 4 High School alumni Harvard University alumni Academic staff of Peking University Academic staff of Nankai University Educators from Gansu Writers from Gansu Philosophers from Gansu Members of Academia Sinica Republic of China philosophers People's Republic of China philosophers Delegates to the 1st National People's Congress Delegates to the 2nd National People's Congress Delegates to the 3rd National People's Congress Members of the 1st Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery