Joseph Rock
Encyclopedia
Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884–1962) was an Austria
n-American
explorer, geographer
, linguist
and botanist.
, Austria, but emigrated to the United States in 1905 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii
in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there. As the Territory of Hawaii
's first official botanist, he joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii
in 1911, established its first herbarium
, and served as its first curator from 1911 until 1920, when he left the university to spend the next few decades exploring the botany of Asia.
He began by hunting the Chaulmoogra tree in Burma, Thailand and Assam. From 1922 to 1949 he spent most of his time studying the flora, peoples and languages of southwest China
, mainly in Yunnan
, Sichuan
, southwest Gansu
and eastern Tibet
. Many Asian plants that he collected can be seen in the Arnold Arboretum.
He was based near Lijiang in the village of Nguluko (Yuhu
), and wrote many articles for the National Geographic magazine (see "Works and memory" below) about his expeditions to places such as Muli
, Minya Konka (Gongga Shan
), the three sacred peaks of Shenrezig, Jambeyang and Chanadorje in what is now known as Yading Nature Reserve, and the Salween
(Nujiang) river. These articles brought him modest fame, and were said to have inspired the novel Lost Horizon, by James Hilton
, about a fictional remote Himalayan community known as Shangri-La
.
Rock witnessed repeated battles by the Ma Clique
's Chinese Muslim
army against the Tibetans in Xiahe County
and Labrang Monastery
. The Ma muslim army left Tibetan skeletons scattered over a wide area, and the Labrang monastery was decorated with decapitated Tibetan heads. After the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, decapitated Tibetan heads were used as ornaments by Chinese muslim troops in their camp, 154 in total. Rock described "young girls and children"'s heads staked around the military encampment. Ten to fifteen heads were fastened to the saddle of every Muslim cavalryman. The heads were "strung about the walls of the Moslem garrison like a garland of flowers."
Rock was cherished for his eccentricities, as well as his knowledge of botany and of ethnic minorities. He always travelled with a complete set of silverware, which was laid out for him at mealtimes. He also travelled with an Abercrombie and Fitch canvas bathtub, which his servants filled with hot water so that he could enjoy that most European of luxuries: a good soak in the bath.
As a botanist, he had been preceded to Yunnan, one of the most interesting botanical hotspots in the world, by other, more accomplished botanists, in particular Jean Marie Delavay, George Forrest
and Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti, another Austrian, all of whom discovered and scientifically described many more plants than Rock did. Nevertheless, Rock's contributions to botanical knowledge were significant.
In 1949, shortly after the communist takeover, Rock left the city of Lijiang
, centre of the Nakhi
country, on a chartered plane together with the traveller and author Peter Goullart
. He then returned to Honolulu where he died in 1962.
In March 2009, the University of Hawaii
at Manoa named its herbarium after him.
Paeonia rockii is named after Rock.
Rock produced a 1,094-page dictionary
, numerous scholarly papers, and two histories
of the Nakhi
(Naxi) people and language of northwestern Yunnan
, which have been widely used for the study of Nakhi
culture, language and religion. These books are out-of-print and, consequently, command very high prices in the rare book markets.
The most important of his written works are:
"Hunting the Chaulmoogra tree" (1922) 3:242-276
"Banishing the Devil of Disease Among the Nashi: Weird Ceremonies Performed by an Aboriginal Tribe in the Heart of Yunnan Province" (1924) 46:473-499
"Land of the Yellow Lama: National Geographic Society Explorer Visits the Strange Kingdom of Muli, Beyond the Likiang Snow Range of Yunnan, China" (1924) 47: 447-491
"Experiences of a Lone Geographer: An American Agricultural Explorer Makes His Way through Brigand-Infested Central China En Route to the Amne Machin Range, Tibet" (1925) 48: 331-347
"Through the Great River Trenches of Asia: National Geographic Society Explorer Follows the Yangtze, Mekong, and Salwin Through Mighty Gorges" (1926) 50: 133-186
"Life among the Lamas of Choni: Describing the Mystery Plays and Butter Festival in the Monastery of an Almost Unknown Tibetan Principality in Kansu Province, China" (1928): 569-619
"Seeking the Mountains of Mystery: An Expedition on the China-Tibet Frontier to the Unexplored Amnyi Machen range, One of Whole Peaks Rivals Everest" (1930) 57:131-185
"Glories of the Minya Konka: Magnificent Snow Peaks of the China-Tibetan Border are Photographed at Close Range by a National Geographic Society Expedition" (1930) 58:385-437
"Konka Risumgongba, Holy Mountain of the Outlaws" (1931) 60:1-65
"Sungmas, the Living Oracles of the Tibetan Church" (1935) 68:475-486
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
explorer, geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
, linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and botanist.
Life
He was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria, but emigrated to the United States in 1905 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there. As the Territory of Hawaii
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
's first official botanist, he joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
in 1911, established its first herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
, and served as its first curator from 1911 until 1920, when he left the university to spend the next few decades exploring the botany of Asia.
He began by hunting the Chaulmoogra tree in Burma, Thailand and Assam. From 1922 to 1949 he spent most of his time studying the flora, peoples and languages of southwest China
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...
, mainly in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, southwest 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...
and eastern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. Many Asian plants that he collected can be seen in the Arnold Arboretum.
He was based near Lijiang in the village of Nguluko (Yuhu
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
), and wrote many articles for the National Geographic magazine (see "Works and memory" below) about his expeditions to places such as Muli
Muli
Muli may refer to:Places:*Mili Tibetan Autonomous County, or Muli from its Chinese name, of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China*Muli, Gaoqing County , town in Gaoqing County, Shandong, China...
, Minya Konka (Gongga Shan
Gongga Shan
Mount Gongga , also known as Minya Konka, is the highest mountain in Sichuan, China. It is situated in the Daxue Shan mountain range, part of the Hengduan mountainous region...
), the three sacred peaks of Shenrezig, Jambeyang and Chanadorje in what is now known as Yading Nature Reserve, and the Salween
Salween River
The Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the...
(Nujiang) river. These articles brought him modest fame, and were said to have inspired the novel Lost Horizon, by James Hilton
James Hilton
James Hilton was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.-Biography:...
, about a fictional remote Himalayan community known as Shangri-La
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains...
.
Rock witnessed repeated battles by the Ma Clique
Ma clique
The Ma clique or Ma family warlords is a collective name for a group of Muslim warlords in Northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia from the 1910s until 1949. There were 3 families in the Ma clique , each of them respectively controlled 3 areas, Gansu,...
's Chinese Muslim
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
army against the Tibetans in Xiahe County
Xiahe County
Xiahe is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, the People's Republic of China. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is populated largely by ethnic...
and Labrang Monastery
Labrang Monastery
Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism...
. The Ma muslim army left Tibetan skeletons scattered over a wide area, and the Labrang monastery was decorated with decapitated Tibetan heads. After the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, decapitated Tibetan heads were used as ornaments by Chinese muslim troops in their camp, 154 in total. Rock described "young girls and children"'s heads staked around the military encampment. Ten to fifteen heads were fastened to the saddle of every Muslim cavalryman. The heads were "strung about the walls of the Moslem garrison like a garland of flowers."
Rock was cherished for his eccentricities, as well as his knowledge of botany and of ethnic minorities. He always travelled with a complete set of silverware, which was laid out for him at mealtimes. He also travelled with an Abercrombie and Fitch canvas bathtub, which his servants filled with hot water so that he could enjoy that most European of luxuries: a good soak in the bath.
As a botanist, he had been preceded to Yunnan, one of the most interesting botanical hotspots in the world, by other, more accomplished botanists, in particular Jean Marie Delavay, George Forrest
George Forrest (botanist)
George Forrest was a Scottish botanist, who was one of the first explorers of China's then remote southwestern province of Yunnan, generally regarded as the most biodiverse province in the country....
and Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti, another Austrian, all of whom discovered and scientifically described many more plants than Rock did. Nevertheless, Rock's contributions to botanical knowledge were significant.
In 1949, shortly after the communist takeover, Rock left the city of Lijiang
Lijiang
Lijiang may refer to:*Lijiang, Yunnan , prefecture-level city in Yunnan Province, China*Old Town of Lijiang, World Heritage Site, in Lijiang City*Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County, formerly a county in Lijiang, Yunnan, China before 2002...
, centre of the Nakhi
Nakhi
The Nakhi are an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China....
country, on a chartered plane together with the traveller and author Peter Goullart
Peter Goullart
Peter Goullart was a Russian-born traveler, explorer and author, who is best known for a number of books describing the life and customs of various peoples living in remote parts of East and Southeast Asia.-Life:...
. He then returned to Honolulu where he died in 1962.
In March 2009, the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
at Manoa named its herbarium after him.
Works and memory
The spectacular Rock's PeonyRock's Peony
Rock's peony or Rock's tree peony is a woody species of peony that was named after Joseph Rock. It is one of several species given the vernacular name tree peony, and is native to the mountains of midwestern China, mainly in Gansu and adjoining provinces...
Paeonia rockii is named after Rock.
Rock produced a 1,094-page dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
, numerous scholarly papers, and two histories
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of the Nakhi
Nakhi
The Nakhi are an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China....
(Naxi) people and language of northwestern Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, which have been widely used for the study of Nakhi
Nakhi
The Nakhi are an ethnic group inhabiting the foothills of the Himalayas in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, as well as the southwestern part of Sichuan Province in China....
culture, language and religion. These books are out-of-print and, consequently, command very high prices in the rare book markets.
The most important of his written works are:
- The Ancient Nakhi Kingdom of Southwest China. 2 vols., illustrated. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1948.
- A Nakhi-English encyclopedic dictionary. Rome: I.M.E.O., 1963.
- His National Geographic magazine articles:
"Hunting the Chaulmoogra tree" (1922) 3:242-276
"Banishing the Devil of Disease Among the Nashi: Weird Ceremonies Performed by an Aboriginal Tribe in the Heart of Yunnan Province" (1924) 46:473-499
"Land of the Yellow Lama: National Geographic Society Explorer Visits the Strange Kingdom of Muli, Beyond the Likiang Snow Range of Yunnan, China" (1924) 47: 447-491
"Experiences of a Lone Geographer: An American Agricultural Explorer Makes His Way through Brigand-Infested Central China En Route to the Amne Machin Range, Tibet" (1925) 48: 331-347
"Through the Great River Trenches of Asia: National Geographic Society Explorer Follows the Yangtze, Mekong, and Salwin Through Mighty Gorges" (1926) 50: 133-186
"Life among the Lamas of Choni: Describing the Mystery Plays and Butter Festival in the Monastery of an Almost Unknown Tibetan Principality in Kansu Province, China" (1928): 569-619
"Seeking the Mountains of Mystery: An Expedition on the China-Tibet Frontier to the Unexplored Amnyi Machen range, One of Whole Peaks Rivals Everest" (1930) 57:131-185
"Glories of the Minya Konka: Magnificent Snow Peaks of the China-Tibetan Border are Photographed at Close Range by a National Geographic Society Expedition" (1930) 58:385-437
"Konka Risumgongba, Holy Mountain of the Outlaws" (1931) 60:1-65
"Sungmas, the Living Oracles of the Tibetan Church" (1935) 68:475-486
See also
- Gongga ShanGongga ShanMount Gongga , also known as Minya Konka, is the highest mountain in Sichuan, China. It is situated in the Daxue Shan mountain range, part of the Hengduan mountainous region...
, a mountainMountainImage:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in Sichuan which (due to poor measuring equipment) Rock erroneously thought for a time to be the highest in the world.