Ying-shih Yu, a renowned scholar of Chinese traditional thought who used his mastery of classical texts to trace China’s evolution across thousands of years, died on Aug. 1 at his home in Princeton, N.J. Professor Yu’s encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese thought, literature and history was grounded in a traditional education in rural China. His early life was shaped by war, revolution and repeated dislocation. There his teachers introduced him to the rigors of reading and writing classical Chinese, far removed from the Western-inspired modern curriculum that had gained hold in cities. That instruction and his immersion in village life, he said, set him apart from many of his contemporaries.

Source: New York Times August 10, 2021 20:48 UTC