Homer H. Dubs
Encyclopedia
Homer Hasenpflug Dubs was a pioneering and prolific American Sinologist and polymath. Though best known for his masterful translation of sections of Ban Gu
's (AD 32–92) Han shu
(History of the Former Han Dynasty
), he published on a wide range of topics in ancient Chinese history, astronomy and philosophy. Raised in China as the son of missionaries, he returned to the United States and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy (1925). He taught at University of Minnesota and Marshall College before undertaking the Han shu translation project at the behest of the American Council of Learned Societies. Subsequently, Dubs taught at Duke University, Columbia University and Hartford Seminary, before taking up the Chair of Chinese at Oxford that had been held by James Legge. He retired in 1959 and remained on in Oxford until his death.
. He studied briefly at Oberlin College
and then graduated from Yale University
(1914) with a major in philosophy. Subsequently, he earned an A.M. in philosophy at Columbia University
and a B.D. at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
. He returned to China as a missionary, studying Chinese in Nanjing
before moving on to work in Hunan. Returning from China, Dubs earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in philosophy (1925) with a dissertation on the Chinese philosopher Xun Zi
(Hsün-tzu) that he would publish in two volumes. After receiving his degree, Dubs taught philosophy, first at University of Minnesota
(1925–27) and then at Marshall College (1927–34).
and history. In the mid-Thirties he was commissioned by the American Council of Learned Societies
to undertake the work for which he would become best known, a translation of Ban Gu
’s (AD 32–92; Wade Giles Pan Ku) Han shu
. During 1934-37, Dubs worked on the translation assiduously with three Chinese collaborators, Jen T’ai, C.H. Ts’ui, and P’an Lo-chi. They produced a copiously annotated three-volume translation of the "Annals" section of the Han shu (chapters 1-12) and the three chapters (99A,B&C) devoted to Wang Mang
, published under the title History of the Former Han Dynasty (Baltimore, 1938–55). The first two volumes were awarded the coveted Prix Stanislas Julien
of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
. Two companion volumes, including a prolegmena and a glossary were planned.
Dubs’ publications on China (he remained interested in philosophy throughout his life) were characterized by solid scholarship and an extraordinary breadth of interests. He did pioneering work on ancient Chinese astronomy
, in particular the observance of eclipses. But the breadth of his education and interests combined with a fertile mind to lead him into curious directions. One was his development of an idiosyncratic system of romanization
in which the Chinese characters were replaced by a system of letters and numbers that indicated the pronunciation, tone and constituent elements of the original Chinese graph. Thus, Qian Han shu (Wade Giles Ch'ien Han shu) 前漢書 was rendered Ts’ien2R Han4SU-shu1WE. Although he represented his system as a variation on the widely used Wade Giles romanization, the field declined to adopt his “Wade-Dubs” system. Indeed, it was his insistence on using the system for the remaining volumes of History of the Former Han Dynasty that prevented them from being published.
Another direction Dubs’ interests took him was the pursuit of contacts between Han China and the Roman empire
. He wrote several articles on the subject, culminating in the controversial A Roman City in Ancient China. This work purported to show that a Roman legion
that had been part of the army of Marcus Licinius Crassus
defeated at the Battle of Carrhae
in 53 B.C. had settled in Northwestern China
. The defeated legion, Dubs speculated, had been relocated further east by the victorious Parthians
, for whom they fought in a battle against the Han. Defeated again, they were settled at a place called Liqian located in modern Yongchang County
, Gansu
province. Although this story has been seized upon by enthusiastic Chinese of the area and non specialist Westerners, at least two eminent Chinese authorities have shown that the notion has serious shortcomings.
and its Divinity School, Columbia
and the Hartford Seminary
. He also worked on the Chinese History Project of the Institute of Pacific Relations
with Karl August Wittfogel
at Columbia University. Finally, in 1947 he was invited to join the faculty at Oxford University, where he took up the chair of Chinese that had been occupied by eminent pioneer Sinologists James Legge
and W.E. Soothill. He retired from Oxford in 1959 and subsequently spent the 1962-63 academic year at the University of Hawai’i and lecturing in Australia. He lived in Oxford until his passing in 1969.
As a person, Dubs was characterized by his generosity and his eccentricity. He was once described as a “Spinozan
saint who had missed some of the bigger academic plums because he wouldn't press his pants” and offended some of the Oxford dons by parking his motorcycle in the hallway. Like some others at Oxford, he also dabbled a bit in the occult. But he was an erudite and respected scholar, and his former student David Hawkes
remembered “was always able to relate what he studied as an academic with what he had lived through as a younger man and to remind us by anecdote or example that the ancient texts he taught formed part of a continuum with the living present.”
At Professor Dubs’ death, the material planned for the two companion volumes to the History of the Former Han Dynasty remained unpublished. A group of scholars reworked the manuscripts – said to total over 1000 pages – to replace the romanization
and render it acceptable to an academic press. Responsibility for it was taken over by the Han Dynasty History Project at the University of Washington
, where Wittfogel had gone after leaving Columbia. Unfortunately, at the death of the Han Project’s director, Jack L Dull
, the ms. still had not been published, and with the end of the project, the materials were scattered and some of them lost. Recently, however, the Glossary materials have been recovered and are gradually being made available on-line, as have been the three volumes of History of the Former Han Dynasty. Together with the already published materials, they constitute a nearly complete translation or paraphrase of the entire Han shu.
Ban Gu
Ban Gu , courtesy name Mengjian , was a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han. He also wrote in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu. Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of...
's (AD 32–92) Han shu
Book of Han
The Book of Han, Hanshu or History of the Former Han Dynasty |Fan Ye]] . Various scholars have estimated that the earliest material covered in the book dates back to between 206 and 202 BCE...
(History of the Former Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
), he published on a wide range of topics in ancient Chinese history, astronomy and philosophy. Raised in China as the son of missionaries, he returned to the United States and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy (1925). He taught at University of Minnesota and Marshall College before undertaking the Han shu translation project at the behest of the American Council of Learned Societies. Subsequently, Dubs taught at Duke University, Columbia University and Hartford Seminary, before taking up the Chair of Chinese at Oxford that had been held by James Legge. He retired in 1959 and remained on in Oxford until his death.
Early years
Homer H. Dubs, like many of the founders of American Sinology, had his introduction to the subject as the child of missionary parents in China. Born in Deerfield, Illinois, he spent his childhood in HunanHunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
. He studied briefly at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
and then graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1914) with a major in philosophy. Subsequently, he earned an A.M. in philosophy at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and a B.D. at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
. He returned to China as a missionary, studying Chinese in Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
before moving on to work in Hunan. Returning from China, Dubs earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in philosophy (1925) with a dissertation on the Chinese philosopher Xun Zi
Xun Zi
Xun Zi was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived during the Warring States Period and contributed to one of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Xun Zi believed man's inborn tendencies need to be curbed through education and ritual, counter to Mencius's view that man is innately good...
(Hsün-tzu) that he would publish in two volumes. After receiving his degree, Dubs taught philosophy, first at University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
(1925–27) and then at Marshall College (1927–34).
Research and Publishing
Throughout his life, Dubs researched and published on a wide range of topics in Chinese philosophyChinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...
and history. In the mid-Thirties he was commissioned by the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
to undertake the work for which he would become best known, a translation of Ban Gu
Ban Gu
Ban Gu , courtesy name Mengjian , was a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han. He also wrote in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu. Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of...
’s (AD 32–92; Wade Giles Pan Ku) Han shu
Book of Han
The Book of Han, Hanshu or History of the Former Han Dynasty |Fan Ye]] . Various scholars have estimated that the earliest material covered in the book dates back to between 206 and 202 BCE...
. During 1934-37, Dubs worked on the translation assiduously with three Chinese collaborators, Jen T’ai, C.H. Ts’ui, and P’an Lo-chi. They produced a copiously annotated three-volume translation of the "Annals" section of the Han shu (chapters 1-12) and the three chapters (99A,B&C) devoted to Wang Mang
Wang Mang
Wang Mang , courtesy name Jujun , was a Han Dynasty official who seized the throne from the Liu family and founded the Xin Dynasty , ruling AD 9–23. The Han dynasty was restored after his overthrow and his rule marks the separation between the Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty...
, published under the title History of the Former Han Dynasty (Baltimore, 1938–55). The first two volumes were awarded the coveted Prix Stanislas Julien
Stanislas Julien
Stanislas Aignan Julien was a French sinologist.-Biography:Born at Orléans, he studied the classics at the Collège de France, and in 1821 was appointed assistant professor of Greek. In the same year he published an edition of The Rape of Helen of Coluthus, with versions in French, Latin, English,...
of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...
. Two companion volumes, including a prolegmena and a glossary were planned.
Dubs’ publications on China (he remained interested in philosophy throughout his life) were characterized by solid scholarship and an extraordinary breadth of interests. He did pioneering work on ancient Chinese astronomy
Chinese astronomy
Astronomy in China has a very long history, with historians considering that "they [the Chinese] were the most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere in the world before the Arabs."...
, in particular the observance of eclipses. But the breadth of his education and interests combined with a fertile mind to lead him into curious directions. One was his development of an idiosyncratic system of romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
in which the Chinese characters were replaced by a system of letters and numbers that indicated the pronunciation, tone and constituent elements of the original Chinese graph. Thus, Qian Han shu (Wade Giles Ch'ien Han shu) 前漢書 was rendered Ts’ien2R Han4SU-shu1WE. Although he represented his system as a variation on the widely used Wade Giles romanization, the field declined to adopt his “Wade-Dubs” system. Indeed, it was his insistence on using the system for the remaining volumes of History of the Former Han Dynasty that prevented them from being published.
Another direction Dubs’ interests took him was the pursuit of contacts between Han China and the Roman empire
Sino-Roman relations
Romano-Chinese relations were essentially indirect throughout the existence of both empires. The Roman Empire and Han China progressively inched closer in the course of the Roman expansion into the Ancient Near East and simultaneous Chinese military incursions into Central Asia...
. He wrote several articles on the subject, culminating in the controversial A Roman City in Ancient China. This work purported to show that a Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
that had been part of the army of Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...
defeated at the Battle of Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae
The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
in 53 B.C. had settled in Northwestern China
Northwestern China
Northwestern China includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai.-Administrative divisions:ProvincesAutonomous Regions-Outer Northwest China:...
. The defeated legion, Dubs speculated, had been relocated further east by the victorious Parthians
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
, for whom they fought in a battle against the Han. Defeated again, they were settled at a place called Liqian located in modern Yongchang County
Yongchang County
Yongchang County is a county located in the province of Gansu in China. It belongs to the prefecture of Jinchang. The ancient North Silk Road passes through Yongchang County; numerous Han envoys were sent west along this trackway, some parties exceeding 100 members late in the first millennium BC...
, Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
province. Although this story has been seized upon by enthusiastic Chinese of the area and non specialist Westerners, at least two eminent Chinese authorities have shown that the notion has serious shortcomings.
Later Teaching and Activities
Following publication of the first volume of History of the Former Han Dynasty, Dubs taught at Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and its Divinity School, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and the Hartford Seminary
Hartford Seminary
Hartford Seminary is a theological college in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.-History:Seminaries in the city of Hartford date back to 1833. In 1913, the current Hartford Seminary came into existence through the combination of three Hartford-based schools affiliated with the city's Congregationalist...
. He also worked on the Chinese History Project of the Institute of Pacific Relations
Institute of Pacific Relations
The Institute of Pacific Relations was an international NGO established in 1925 to provide a forum for discussion of problems and relations between nations of the Pacific Rim. The International Secretariat, the center of most IPR activity over the years, consisted of professional staff members who...
with Karl August Wittfogel
Karl August Wittfogel
Karl August Wittfogel was a German-American playwright, historian, and sinologist. Originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany, after the Second World War Wittfogel was an equally fierce anticommunist.-Biography:...
at Columbia University. Finally, in 1947 he was invited to join the faculty at Oxford University, where he took up the chair of Chinese that had been occupied by eminent pioneer Sinologists James Legge
James Legge
James Legge was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong , and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University...
and W.E. Soothill. He retired from Oxford in 1959 and subsequently spent the 1962-63 academic year at the University of Hawai’i and lecturing in Australia. He lived in Oxford until his passing in 1969.
As a person, Dubs was characterized by his generosity and his eccentricity. He was once described as a “Spinozan
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...
saint who had missed some of the bigger academic plums because he wouldn't press his pants” and offended some of the Oxford dons by parking his motorcycle in the hallway. Like some others at Oxford, he also dabbled a bit in the occult. But he was an erudite and respected scholar, and his former student David Hawkes
David Hawkes (scholar)
David Hawkes was a British Sinologist. He studied Mandarin Chinese and Japanese at Oxford University between 1945 and 1947 and was a research student at the National Peking University from 1948 to 1951. During the later years of World War II he taught Japanese to military cryptolinguists and...
remembered “was always able to relate what he studied as an academic with what he had lived through as a younger man and to remind us by anecdote or example that the ancient texts he taught formed part of a continuum with the living present.”
At Professor Dubs’ death, the material planned for the two companion volumes to the History of the Former Han Dynasty remained unpublished. A group of scholars reworked the manuscripts – said to total over 1000 pages – to replace the romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
and render it acceptable to an academic press. Responsibility for it was taken over by the Han Dynasty History Project at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, where Wittfogel had gone after leaving Columbia. Unfortunately, at the death of the Han Project’s director, Jack L Dull
Jack Dull
Jack L. Dull was a U.S. scholar of the history of Han China and a professor at the University of Washington.-Biography:...
, the ms. still had not been published, and with the end of the project, the materials were scattered and some of them lost. Recently, however, the Glossary materials have been recovered and are gradually being made available on-line, as have been the three volumes of History of the Former Han Dynasty. Together with the already published materials, they constitute a nearly complete translation or paraphrase of the entire Han shu.
Publications
- Hsüntze: The Moulder of Ancient Confucianism. Probsthain’s Oriental Series 15. London, 1927.
- (trans.) The Works of Hsüntze. Probsthain’s Oriental Series 16. London,1927.
- Rational Induction: An Analysis of the Method of Science and Philosophy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1930.
- (trans.) The History of the Former Han Dynasty. 3 vols. Baltimore: Waverly, 1938–55. Digitized text. (Digitized text does not retain volume or page numbers and alters Dubs' footnote numbering.) Glossary.
- “Did Confucius Study the Book of Changes?” T’oung Pao 25 (1928): 82-90.
- “The Failure of the Chinese to Produce Philosophic Systems.” T’oung Pao 26 (1929): 96-109.
- “‘Nature’ in the Teaching of Confucius.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 50 (1930): 233-37.
- “A Comparison of Greek and Chinese Philosophy.” Chinese Social and Political Science Review 17.2 (1933): 307-27.
- “Solar Eclipses During the Former Han Period.” Osiris 5 (1938): 499-532.
- “The Victory of Han Confucianism.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 58 (1938): 435-39.
- “Wang Mang and His Economic Reforms.” T’oung Pao 35 (1940): 219-65.
- “An Ancient Military Contact Between Romans and Chinese.” American Journal of Philology 42 (1941): 322-30.
- “An Ancient Chinese Mystery Cult.” 'Harvard Theological Review' 35 (1942): 221-40.
- A Military Contact Between Chinese and Romans in 36 B.C.” T’oung Pao 36 (1942): 64-80.
- “The Political Career of Confucius.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 66 (1946): 273-82.
- “The Reliability of Chinese Histories.” Far Eastern Quarterly 6.1 (1946): 23-43.
- “Taoism.” In H. F. MacNair, ed. China. United Nations Series. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1946: 266-89.
- “The Beginnings of Alchemy.” Isis 38 (1947): 62-86.
- “The Date of Confucius’ Birth.” Asia Major (new series) 1.2 (1949): 139-46.
- “The Date of the Shang Period.” T’oung Pao 40.4-5 (1951): 323-35.
- “Mencius and Sun-dz on Human Nature.” Philosophy East and West 6 (1956): 213-22.
- A Roman City in Ancient China. China Society Sinological Series 5.London, 1957.
- “The Beginnings of Chinese Astronomy.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 78 (1958): 295-300.
- “The Archaic Royal Jou Religion.” T’oung Pao 46 (1958): 217-59.
- “Han ‘Hill Censers.’” In Søren Egerod, and Else Glahn. Studia Serica Bernhard Karlgren Dedicata. Sinological Studies Dedicated to Bernhard Karlgren on His Seventieth Birthday, October Fifth, 1959. Copenhagen: E. Munksgaard, 1959, 259-64.