Ding Fubao

Name in Chinese
丁福保
Name in Wade-Giles
Ting Fu-pao
Related People

Biography in English

Ting Fu-pao (4 August 1874-1952), a prominent Shanghai physician who also made important scholarly contributions in the fields of Buddhism, traditional Chinese literature, and philology.

Wusih, Kiangsu, was the birthplace of Ting Fu-pao. His grandfather, Ting Wen-ping, a minor official at Haiyen, Chekiang, had been killed during the Taiping Rebellion. His eldest son, Ting Chieh-an, was Ting Fu-pao's father. Although the family owned more than 100 mou of land, Ting Chieh-an had to teach school to supplement the family income, for the district had not yet recovered from the ravages of the Taipings. Ting Fu-pao began school at the age of seven and received additional instruction from his elder brother, Ting Pao-shu, who also taught Wu Chih-hui (q.v.). At first Ting Fu-pao progressed slowly in his studies, for he found kite-flying in winter and fishing in summer more congenial than the Chinese classics. In 1889 he entered the local academy at Wusih, and in 1895 he transferred to the Nanching Academy in nearby Chiangyin, then headed by the celebrated scholar Wang Hsien-ch'ien (q.v.). Wang advised Ting to work intensively on the Erh-ya, Shuo-wen chieh-tzu, Wen-hsuan, and Shui-ching-chu and to collate all the annotations to each text. Ting complied with his teacher's instructions, concentrating on the Shuo-wen chieh-tzu and thus laying the foundations for his later achievements as a compiler and editor.

Ting Fu-pao passed the sheng-yuan examinations in 1896, but failed the chü-jen examination the following year. His father died of consumption in September, and Ting decided to fulfill his filial obligation by . making no further attempts at competitive examinations. In 1898 he returned to the Nanching Academy, specializing in mathematics under the authoritative guidance of Hua Heng-fang and Hua's younger brother Hua Shih-fang. He also taught at another school to supplement the family income. In 1899 Ting's sister died, also of consumption, and Ting found himself without funds. It was at this point, he asserted later, that he set about studying the chapter on wealthy merchants in the Shih-chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. In 1900 he produced his first work of scholarship, Suan-hsueh shu-mu Vi-yao [an annotated bibliography of mathematical books]. From 1900 to 1902 he studied medicine and chemistry in Soochow. He then entered the Tung-wen hsueh-she, which had been established by Sheng Hsuan-huai (q.v.). He became fluent in Japanese and in 1902 published the Tung-wen-tien ta-wen [questions and answers on Japanese], which proved so popular that an edition of 5, 000 copies soon was exhausted. Later that year, he joined Li Yuan-i and Hua Wen-ch'i in founding the Wen-ming Book Company. Over the years this company published no fewer than 83 medical treatises translated and edited by Ting under the series title I-hsueh ts'ung-shu [the medical library].

In 1903 Ting Fu-pao went to Peking to teach mathematics and physiology at both Ching-shih ta-hsueh-t'ang [imperial university] and the I-hsueh-kuan [bureau of translation]. He returned to Wusih in 1906 and established the I-shu kung-hui [book translation company], which, however, failed within a year. Also in 1906 Ting published the first of a series of compilations, the Han Wei Liu-ch'ao ming-chia chi [collected writings of illustrious writers of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties]. He went to Shanghai in 1908 to practice medicine, and in 1909 he passed a medical qualifying examination in Nanking. Later in 1909 he was sent to Japan by Tuan-fang (ECCP, II, 780-82), who wanted him to study Japanese medical schools and hospitals, and by Sheng Hsuan-huai, who sought information about the organization of orphanages. After a month's stay in Japan, Ting returned to Shanghai and established the Chung-hsi i-hsueh yen-chiu hui [Sino-Western medical research society]. The organization enjoyed the official sanction of the local government and maintained a membership of several hundred medical men. About this time, Ting also began to publish a medical journal, the Chung-hsi i-hsueh pao [Sino-Western medical bulletin].

From his medical practice, publishing ventures, and writings, Ting Fu-pao soon accumulated the wealth he had desired as a young man. In 1916, after recovering from a serious illness, he began to turn his attention to Buddhist studies. That year saw the publication of his continuation of the standard Li-tai shih-hua [discussions of poetry through the ages] under the title Li-tai shih-hua hsü-pien, and of the Ch'uan Han San-kuo Chin Xan-pei-ch'ao shih [collected poetry of the Han, Three Kingdoms, Chin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods]. He adopted a vegetarian diet in 1918 and assumed the status of a chü-shih, or lay monk. In 1921 he published the Fo-hsueh ta-tz'u-tien [dictionary of Buddhism], based on the Bukkyo daijiten of Mochizuki Shinko. His preoccupation with Buddhism persisted until 1924 when his interest in compiling and editing revived.

In 1925 Ting completed and published his philological study of the Wen-hsuan, entitled Wen-hsuan lei-ku [philological notes on the Wen-hsuan categorically arranged], a rearrangement by stroke-order of the commentaries of Li Shan (658-718) and others. Two years later he produced his Ch'ing shih-hua [Giving dynasty discussions of poetry]. These two works were dwarfed, however, by Ting's monumental Shuo-wen chieh-tzu ku-lin [collected glosses on the Shuo-wen chieh-tzu], published in 1932. Basically a compilation of photolithographed clippings from 1 82 separate works of commentary on the first great Chinese dictionary of Hsu Shen (c.100), the Shuo-wen chieh-tzu ku-lin was over three decades in the compilation. In the field of numismatics, which began to absorb his interest in the early 1930s, Ting produced the Ku-ch/ien ta-tz'u-tien [dictionary of ancient coinage] in 1938, with a supplement in 1939.

Ting Fu-pao died in 1952 at Shanghai. Four of his works, edited by his disciple Chou Yünch'ing, appeared after his death. These were the Ssu-pu tsung-lu i-yao pien [medicine and remedies in the classics] of 1955, Ssu-pu tsung-lu Vien-wen pien [astronomy in the classics] of 1956, Ssu-pu tsung-lu man-fa pien [mathematics in the classics] of 1957, and Ssu-pu tsung-lu i-shu pien [the arts in the classics] of 1957.

Ting was also noted in his later years as a philanthropist. He made many donations of cash and books to public and private schools and libraries, particularly those in Wusih and Shanghai. Little is known about his personal life except that he married in 1897 and that his wife bore him seven children: five sons and two daughters. Ting's wife died in 1920.

Biography in Chinese

丁福保
字:仲祐

丁福保(1874.8.4—1952),上海的著名医生,他对佛教、中国古典文学,语言学的研究也作了重要贡献。

丁福保生在江苏无锡,祖父丁文炳在浙江海盐当过小官,被太平军杀死。长子丁洁庵就是丁福保的父亲。家有田地一百余亩,但丁洁庵还得以教书来补给家计,因他的家乡自太平军洗劫后迄未恢复。丁七岁上学,并由他的长兄丁宝书给予课外补习,丁宝书还教过吴稚晖。丁福保起先贪玩,冬天放风筝,夏天钓鱼,学业进步很慢。1889年他进了无锡当地的书院。1895年去江阴南菁书院,该书院由当时名学者先谦主持,他教丁勤读《尔雅》、《说文解字》、《文选》、《水经注》等书,并校阅各书注释。丁遵从老师教导,专心校注《说文解字》,这为他以后在编纂工作上的成就奠定了基础。

1896年,丁中秀才,翌年考举人未中,九月其父因肺病死去,丁守丧未再应试。1898年他又进了南菁书院,从华恒方(译音)兄弟专攻数学,同时又在另一个学校教书补助家计。1899年,丁的妹妹亦因肺病死去,丁一文莫名。他
以后说过,当时他攻读了司马迁《史记》的《货殖列传》。1900年写成第一部学术著作《算学书目提要》。1900—1902年去苏州学医学及化学,以后又进了盛宣怀办的东文学社。1902年他已能很流利的讲日语,编著《东文(即日文)典答问》,此书风行一时,五千册很快销售一空。同年年底,他和李元一(译音)、华文契(译音)合办文明书局,数年中出版了他编译的《医学丛书》不下八十三种。

1903年,丁去北京在京师大学堂,译学馆教算学和生理学。1906年回无锡创办译书公会,只办了一年就失败了。同年编印出版《汉魏六朝名家集》,1908年去上海行医。1909年在南京通过了医师资格考试。1909年底,由端方和
盛宣怀派去日本,前者要他考察医学校和医院,后者要他了解如何开办育婴堂。丁在日本一月后回上海,创办中西医学研究会,得到地方当局的批准,拥有会员数百人,大约在这时,丁开始出版医学杂志《中西医学报》。

丁福保行医、印书、写作,积蓄了相当资财,这是他青年时所企求的。1916年,他患重病恢复后,转而研究佛学,同年编印《历代诗话》这部佳作的续集《历代诗话续编》和《两汉三国晋南北朝诗》。1918年丁开始素食,成了佛教居士。1921年依据日本望月信亨的《佛学大辞典》编印出版《佛学大辞典》,他对佛学的兴趣持续至1924年,此后又恢复了从事编纂工作的兴趣。

1925年丁编著出版了他的语言学著作《文选类诂》将李善等人的评注以笔划顺序编列,两年后他出版了《清诗话》,但这两部书同他于1932年出版的纪念碑式的《说文解字诂林》相比,就相形见拙了。《说文解字诂林》是一部照
相平版印刷的剪辑,取材于对许慎所著第一部汉语大辞典进行评注的一百八十二种书籍,此书历经三十年始编纂成功。三十年代中,他对钱币也发生兴趣,1938年、1939年先后出版《古钱大辞典》及补编。

丁福保于1952年死在上海。他的学生周云青编印出版了他的四种著作:《四部总录医药编》(1955年),《四部总录天文编》(1956年),《四部总录算法编》(1957年),《四部总录艺术编》(1957年)。

丁福保晚年还从事慈善事业,给一些公、私立学校和图书馆捐款和赠书,尤其在无锡上海两地。他的个人生活不详,只知他在1897年结婚,有子五人,女二人,他的妻子死在1920年。

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