Huang Kan (1886 - 1935), courtesy name: Jigang (季剛), was a Chinese

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...

 philologist.

Biography

A native of Hubei

Hubei

' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

, he made the acquaintance of Zhang Binglin

Zhang Binglin

Zhang Binglin was a Chinese philologist, textual critic and anti-Manchu revolutionary.His philological works include Wen Shi , the first systematic work of Chinese etymology...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, who shared with him the same passion for revolution and philology. Huang became Zhang's comrade and student. Huang and Zhang were the last great masters in the Chinese philological tradition, and helped lay the foundation of modern Chinese linguistics. Huang was the first to propose a convincing initial systems of Old Chinese

Old Chinese

The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....

. He published very little during his lifetime, but his notebooks, published posthumously, are highly regarded for their philological value.

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