Wang Rengan, a native of Huangshan Village, Ci Town, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, was born in a scholarly family. Late one-armed Weng, his great-grandson, was born in the "blessed land" of Huangshan Mountain in Cicheng. 1

Chinese name: Wang Rengan

Alias: one-armed Weng

Nationality: China.

Ethnic group: Han nationality

Place of Birth: Cicheng Town, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province

Date of birth: 1839

Date of death: 19 1 1 year.

Occupation: publisher

Main achievements: patriotic, homesick, innovative and respected old overseas Chinese living in Japan.

Masterpieces: Self-taught Quotations without a Teacher, Experience of One-armed Man.

biography

Establishing "Lingyun Pavilion" in Japan

1870, Wang Rengan went to Japan to do business. At that time, he was one of the only 13 Chinese who was allowed by the Japanese government to live in foreigners' houses. Later, Lingyun Pavilion was founded in Japan, mainly engaged in China books, Four Treasures of the Study, antiques, calligraphy and painting, silk and other China products. Although Mr. Wang Rengan is an old-school intellectual, he can accept new ideas in time and study labor skills seriously when he is in Japan. If the operation of printing machinery, from lithography machine to copperplate printing, is gradually updated, he can operate it. From writing books, editing books, typesetting, printing books, proofreading books, publishing and so on. He can bear it himself. At present, in the books published by Lingyun Museum, we have found a summary of the Japanese military system, a guide to Japanese language and writing, strange diagnosis of diseases, quotations from teachers in the East and so on.

The Messenger of Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchange

During their stay in Japan, Wang Rengan and his clan brother Wang Zongdi (1836— 1908) initiated a poetic exchange with modern Japanese literati, and the Wang brothers in Cicheng made important contributions in the history of Sino-Japanese folk cultural exchange. During the period from 1877 to 188 1, Wang Rengan had a close relationship with Takasaki's former vassal and poetry lover, and once gave him a book to hang in his study. He also had contact with Seiichiro Miyajima, Shinzhai Zhicun, Hu Jun Zenggen and Zhai Hongshichuan. 1884 set sail from yokohama with Japanese historian and sinologist gang Qian (1833- 19 14) on May 29th and arrived in Shanghai on June 6th. Wang Rengan accompanied Gang Qianqi to visit Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou, Lanting and Dayu Tomb in Shaoxing, and Yuyao, the hometown of Mr. Zhu Shunshui. At the invitation of Wang Tizhai, Gang Qianqi lived in his hometown of Huangshan in Cicheng for nearly half a month and was warmly received. A famous Japanese scholar and reformer once outlined the reasons in his travel book "Sightseeing Journey": "Tizhai and I take Yokohama and Yinghai Bay as examples. We have places to eat, rest and sleep, so we visit their homes and welcome them as brothers. This is also a word karma, not an accident. "

Introduce the Meiji Restoration to the people of China.

1892, Mr. Wang Rengan was unfortunately knocked down by a carriage in Japan and his left arm was shattered. Because of long-term treatment, he lost an arm and became severely disabled. Therefore, the late one-armed Weng wrote The Experience of One-armed Weng and so on. Sheng Xuanhuai, the pioneer and founder of China's modern national industry and Westernization Movement, once wrote a couplet for Wang Rengan: "A gentleman's old friend changed politics and wrote a new book with his left hand." Lianzhong's "regime change" refers to the Meiji Restoration in Japan at the end of 19. "New books" refer to Japanese learning pamphlets and notes of one-armed people. After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Wang Rengan enthusiastically introduced Japan's reform, put forward innovation suggestions to relevant parties, and accompanied visitors to Japan to visit modern Japanese industrial production. Mr. Wang Rengan was generous all his life and made extensive friends. He is a patriotic, homesick and respected old overseas Chinese living in Japan. 19 10, Mr. Wang Rengan returned to China to settle down. 1911On March 24th, this folk diplomat who actively promoted Sino-Japanese friendship activities died in Shanghai Hakka at the age of 73.

China's first Japanese reference book

Book Introduction

Self-taught Quotations is a Japanese learning reference book created by Wang Rengan. Professor Wang Baoping, Dean of the Japanese Language and Culture College of Zhejiang Gongshang University, commented on this book and said: "This is the earliest Japanese learning reference book found in China and the only one I have ever seen."

Quoted from "No Teacher in the East" * * page 78, without indicating the year of publication. According to Wang Rengan's grandson Wang, his grandfather Wang Rengan often returned to China. The quotation "Self-learning without a Teacher" is mainly used to talk with Japanese refined people. The publication time was about 1886 before the Sino-Japanese War.

The book also introduces the names of countries and cities, as well as common words and sentences in astronomy, geography, seasons and appellations. Daily expression 78 1, daily sentence 479. In the book, common Japanese words and sentences are annotated in Mandarin and Ningbo dialect one by one. The annotations are quite interesting, and they can all be numbered in Japanese pronunciation.

For example, for the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Myanmar, Wang Rengan's labels are Amelia, British Ku, Fu chili pepper, Luopao, Duan Yizhi and Balumei Road respectively. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Shanghai and Ningbo are marked as Tuojiao, Yaojia Hengmai, Kebei, Naie Mountain, Kaiju and Nanha.

In Japanese, the appellations from 1 to 12 include filial piety, mud, three forehead, happy forehead, old forehead, deer forehead, happy forehead, ha forehead, wealth forehead, begging forehead, begging forehead and begging forehead.

Mother, brother, sister, son, businessman and doctor are called Hayun (Kazan), Woduoduo, Yimudu, Moxi custom, Dwarf Jintang and tailoring respectively.

Interesting and memorable phonetic symbols

1. (Japanese) Bet on Zhongzhou Rhyme (Zhongzhou Rhyme is the rhyme department on which the modern Han opera in China is based. "Zhongzhou" refers to the present Henan area, and "Zhongzhou Rhyme" is based on the northern dialect, and the rhyming methods in different places are not exactly the same, which is very similar to the "Thirteen Points" of Pihuang Opera. There is a postscript that "local sound" is Cixi sound. For example, in Japanese, the word "bridge" is translated into "hash" and "Japanese bridge" is translated into "Han Ni brand". For example, there are several different pronunciations of a word in Japanese, depending on the context in which the word is used. There are also examples in the book.

2. The homepage has 48 Japanese letters and the rhyme of Zhongzhou, which is convenient for learners.

This book points out that anyone who studies Japanese should always listen carefully to the elegant local people. There are many auxiliary words in Japanese, just like the word "Lian Ren" used in ancient Chinese. If the words are used improperly, the listener (Japanese) will be "puzzled and bored".

Remind beginners of Japanese that it is necessary to learn Japanese, such as Kunqu opera of classmates. This book has transliteration and detailed annotations. With this book, you can use it to ask the Japanese when you encounter problems, which makes it easier to get their dictation and is convenient for learning and remembering.

Beginners can learn Japanese without teachers.

1In the summer of 894, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 was defeated; The following year, treaty of shimonoseki, which humiliated the country, was signed, which shocked China's ruling and opposition parties. "Why did Japan become so powerful" became a problem that China's intellectual, business and bureaucratic circles were eager to explore. The rational awakening and response is to learn from Japan and revitalize China with determination.

Based on the extensive use of Chinese characters in Japanese, many people think that Japanese is relatively easy to learn, and the cost of studying abroad is low. Therefore, in those days, people regarded studying in Japan as a fashion of loving the motherland and seeking new knowledge. The book History of Studying Abroad in Qing Dynasty once mentioned that 190 1 year,1September 902, 1903, 1654381October, there were 280 Japanese students studying in China. According to the survey records of Zhejiang students studying in Japan, such as the Third Report of Overseas Students' Clubhouse in Qing Dynasty, there were 50 students studying in Japan in Nanjing from March (1903) to October (1904).

In this context, Wang Rengan's self-edited and printed Quotations from the East without Teachers is concise and practical, such as its title is like a cloud. Beginners can really learn by themselves through careful reading and repeated practice. Therefore, it is greatly convenient for Japanese students and businessmen who have just arrived in Japan to learn Japanese by themselves, and it also plays an important role in promoting cultural exchanges and economic and trade activities between the Chinese and Japanese people.

Old photos of Wang Rengan