Sir Vincent Ying, K.S.G
6o6 THE COMMONWEAL April 7, 1926 SIR VINCENT YING, K.S.G. THE Catholic University of Peking has suffered a severe loss in the death of its dean of Chinese studies, Mr. Vincent Ying (Ying...
...He likewise reedited and published more than 70,000 copies of the famous works of the learned Jesuit Fathers of the seventeenth century...
...Ying's health began to fail very rapidly...
...It was during this period that Mr...
...It was subsequently known as the Children's Philanthropic Home...
...Especially noteworthy was the large number of streamers or scrolls carried, according to Chinese custom, in the funeral procession...
...for the man who had shed such bright lustre upon the Church, whose doctrine he had embraced amid trials and storms so dark and forbidding that they might well have deterred a spirit less resolute and courageous...
...Lack of funds and other difficulties obliged him to close this academy in 1918...
...It now became a matter of duty and respect to pay the last honors to the cherished departed...
...of Chun Tsan Chi, his reminiscences, besides numerous treatises, articles, and pamphlets...
...of Yen Shan Lu, a philosophical and ethical work considered to be his masterpiece...
...Ying inaugurated many movements and reforms...
...Ying, accordingly, in the year 1918, established at Hsiang Shan the largest orphanage in China...
...Though a pagan in his youth, he had singularly clear notions regarding the Deity and the supremacy of the moral law...
...Ying to help him in this capacity, and he committed to the latter the task of providing a permanent home for the several thousand orphans who were victims of the flood...
...Ying, but the latter refused to accept the appointment...
...of Yiin Mo, a series of stories and anecdotes...
...Ying placed his pen at the disposal of the new institution and gave invaluable assistance by producing the literature needed for advertising, publicity, etc...
...He was a man of high genius, a profound thinker and an incomparable writer, but, above all else, he was a man of untarnished honor, a devoted and, conscientious Catholic...
...of Pi Chou Ch'ien Ching (twenty-four volumes) a collection of editorials in Pai Hua...
...Vincent Ying (Ying Lien Chih) honored by the Holy Father with the Knighthood of Saint Gregory...
...The first step in the chain of events which led to the foundation of the Catholic University of Peking by Saint Vincent Archabbey (in association with the other Abbeys of the American-Cassinese congregation) was the letter written by Mr...
...After having held several minor posts in the Chinese government, he founded a Chinese journal at Tientsin, known as The Impartial...
...Ying to His Holiness Pope Pius X in the year 1912...
...He established at Peking the first modern school for girls, i.e., the P'ei Ken Nii Hsiieh Hsiao, and wrote a book in Pai Hua denouncing the practice of foot-binding...
...As a final resort, his teacher advised him to try the Catholic religion, and in this at last he found rest for his soul...
...Yuan Shih K'ai, the first president of the Chinese Republic, offered a seat in the state council to Mr...
...There he founded a free school for girls, and there, likewise, in 1913 he established the Fu Jen She, which has been recently revived by the Catholic University as the MacManus Academy of Chinese Studies...
...He began at an early age to investigate the various religions of pagan China, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism...
...When, however, the Catholic University of Peking was started in 1925, Mr...
...This park, located in the district known as Hsiang Shan, was called the Ch'ing-I-Yuan...
...The best physicians of the city," writes Father Ildephonse, "were consulted and the prayers and blessings of the Church resorted to, but it soon became apparent that Divine Providence, so inscrutable in its designs, had ordained otherwise...
...This work he undertook in 1901 at the request of the intellectuals of the aforesaid city...
...He was the first to introduce the use of the Pai Hua or spoken language as a vehicle of literary expression...
...Later on he retired to the western hills where he obtained from the imperial family the grant of one of their huntingparks for charitable and educational purposes...
...Catholics, he discovered, not only possessed a beautiful doctrine, but, in many instances, proved by their unconquerable faith and lives of sacrifice that this doctrine was for them a vital reality...
...On January 10 he passed out of life, well-prepared by the reception of the Sacraments...
...After the great flood of 1917, Hsiung Hsi Ling, the ex-premier of China, who had been made director of the relief-work, called upon Mr...
...of Ts'uen Ts'an Kae, a collection of poems...
...So closed the career of the great Catholic scholar of China...
...Not being satisfied with their doctrines, he sought the advice of his teacher, likewise a pagan...
...Vincent Ying was a lineal descendant of K'ang Hsi, the second emperor of the Ch'ing or Manchu dynasty...
...He organized the first famine-relief drive for the benefit of the flood victims in Kiang-Su...
...He did so, but found that while their Bible contained a very beautiful doctrine, they themselves did not seem to view it seriously...
...The ecclesiastical authorities and his admiring friends cooperated, in order to show their love and esteem for him who had done so much for the betterment of the masses...
...In November, 1925, Mr...
...In 1924 he was offered the post of director of education for the metropolitan province, but declined the honor...
...Never before had so many (more than eighty in all) been counted at any funeral...
...Speaking of the original Fu Jen She, he says: "My sole aim in undertaking this work was to educate and train Catholic young men in such wise as to turn out some who would compare favorably with the members of other groups and religions, and whose public and private conduct would redound to the glory of God and the honor of Holy Mother Church...
...He was a voluminous writer, and only the more important of his works can be mentioned here...
...Than this no higher praise can be given...
...He was the author of Yeh Shih Chi (two volumes) a collection of essays...
...He died on January 10, and was buried from the Pei T'ang (the Cathedral of Peking) on January 14...
...The paper won wide popularity by reason of its fearless criticism of the decadent imperial court and the corrupt officials of the day...
...This man advised him to approach the Protestants...
...Moreover, so prudent was his advice in all things, that it is hard to exaggerate the great debt which the University owes to its first dean of Chinese studies...
...Such scrolls generally extol some high and noble quality cultivated during life by the deceased, and this was likewise the case at Mr...
...Ying's funeral...
...By December he was at death's door, but even then his pen was busy on a program o'f courses for the University's school of Chinese studies...
...Ying accepted the deanship of Chinese studies in the summer of 1925, and he was the one who planned the various courses and organized the faculty of the MacManus Academy—refusing any compensation...
...By 1915 it had the largest circulation of any paper in North China...
...He was born at Peking about the year 1862...
...Chiefly, however, did they refer to the profound learning of the man...
...His childhood was spent in literary studies, in which he became very proficient...
...Ying soon rose to eminence as a poet, an essayist and caligraphist...
Vol. 3 • April 1926 • No. 22
