Qiu Xigui

Qiu Xigui (Chinese: 裘锡圭; Wade–Giles: Ch'iu Hsi-kuei; born 13 July 1935) is a Chinese historian, palaeographer, and professor of Fudan University. His book Chinese Writing is considered the "single most influential study of Chinese palaeography".

Early life and education

Qiu Xigui was born in July 1935 in Shanghai of Ningbo ancestry. In 1952 he was admitted to the history department of Fudan University, and was interested in pre-Qin dynasty Chinese history. Under the influence of the renowned oracle bones expert Hu Houxuan (胡厚宣), he took interest in the oracle bones and Chinese bronze inscriptions. After graduating in 1956, he became a graduate student of oracle bones and Shang dynasty history, studying under Professor Hu. The same year, Hu was transferred to the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and Qiu followed Hu to the institute.

Career

After finishing his graduate studies in 1960, Qiu was assigned to be a teaching assistant in the Department of Chinese of Peking University (PKU). From 1964 to 1966, Qiu, like many other intellectuals, was sent to the countryside to be "reeducated by peasants" as part of Chairman Mao Zedong's Socialist Education Movement. He was sent to Jiangling County, Hubei and Yanqing County, Beijing. During the subsequent Cultural Revolution, he worked as a labourer at a farm in Jiangxi province from 1969 to 1971.