Prof. Shaughnessy received his bachelor’s degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame and obtained his M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. (1983) degrees both in Asian Languages from Stanford University. During the year 1974–1977, he studied under Aisin-gioro Yu-yun in Taipei, Taiwan. His professional career took off at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 1984. He was awarded the Lorraine J. and Herrlee G. Creel Distinguished Service Professor in Early Chinese Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago in 2006.

Prof. Shaughnessy has been devoted to the cultural and literary history of China’s Zhou dynasty (c. 1045–249 B.C.), the period that has served all subsequent Chinese intellectuals as the Golden Age of Chinese civilization. Much of his work has focused on archaeologically recovered textual materials from this period, from inscriptions on ritual bronze vessels cast during the first centuries of the first millennium B.C. through manuscripts written on bamboo and silk during the last centuries of the millennium. At the same time, he also works on the received literary tradition of the period, especially the three classics: Zhou Yi or Zhou Changes (better known in the West as the I Ching or Classic of Changes), Shang Shu or Exalted Scriptures (also known as the Shu Jing or Classic of History), and Shi Jing or Classic of Poetry. An important aspect of his scholarly work has been the attempt to bridge western and Chinese traditions of scholarship. He has written most of his technical scholarship in Chinese.

Prof. Shaughnessy will deliver two public lectures during his visit. The first lecture entitled “Translating the Shi Jing (Classic of Poetry): The Case of ‘Guan Ju’” was given on 14 September 2023 at Cho Yiu Hall of the University Administration Building of CUHK. ICS was honoured to invite Ms. Angeline Yiu, Permanent President of the Jao Studies Foundation, Ms. Penny Yeung, Director of Glorious Sun Charity Foundation Limited, Prof. Chan Kam Leung, Alan, Provost of CUHK, Prof. Mai-har Sham, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, Prof. Max Xiaobing Tang, Dean of Faculty of Arts, Director of ICS, Prof. Lai Chi Tim, Executive Associate Director of ICS, and other valuable guests to attend the lecture. The public lecture was conducted in English and drew an audience of over a hundred people.

The poem “Guan Ju” is the first poem in the Shi Jing, and thus perhaps the best-known poem in the entire Chinese poetic tradition. As such, it is an excellent case to test translation strategies, both for Shi Jing in particular and for all of Chinese poetry in general. In his first talk, Prof. Shaughnessy examined about twenty different English translations of this poem and discussed such features as word choice, meter, and rhyme, as well as the overall understanding of the poem’s intention. Finally, Prof. Shaughnessy presented his own translation which stresses word choice and meter and suggested that it is possible to use English iambic tetrameter to approximate the Shi Jing’s well-known fourcharacter lines. He also suggested that “Guan Ju” was originally a love song, and that the political turn in its interpretation fails to translate into proper Chinese the osprey’s call that opens the poem.