Gu Hongming (1857-1928) in his old age.

The cover of the German translation of The Spirit of the Chinese People, published in Jena in 1917.

Gu Hongming (or Ku Hung-ming; Traditional Chinese: 辜鴻銘; Hongming is his courtesy name while his ordinary name is Tomson in English or 湯生 in Chinese) (1857-1928), is a Chinese man of letters, polyglot, and famous eccentric. Image File history File links Gu_hongming. ... Image File history File links Gu_hongming. ... Image File history File links Ku_Hungming. ... Image File history File links Ku_Hungming. ... Map of Germany showing Jena Jena is a town in central Germany on the River Saale. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Cha can also refer to a Latin American dance, also called the Cha-cha-cha. ... Polyglot has several meanings: Look up Polyglot on Wiktionary, the free dictionary The property of speaking multiple languages A polyglot is a person that can speak many languages A polyglot is a book that contains the same text in more than one language, usually a bible such as the first... Eccentric is from the Greek for out of the centre, as opposed to concentric, in the centre. ...

He was born in Penang, Malaysia as the second son of a superintendent of a rubber garden, his original hometown being Tong'an, Fujian Province of China. The owner of the garden was fond of Gu Hongming and took him to Scotland for study when the boy was 13. Known as Hong Beng (Hongming in the min-nan dialect) during his studies in Europe, Gu earned a degree in Literature in the University of Edinburgh, and is said to have also earned a diploma in Civil Engineering in the University of Leipzig. State motto: Penang Leads Capital George Town Governor Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon Area 1,056 km2 Population  - Est year 2000 1,225,501 State anthem Pulau Pinang State Anthem Penang (Malay: Pulau Pinang, Malay (Jawi script): بينانج) is a Malaysian state located on the... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ... Fujian (Chinese: 福建; pinyin: Fújiàn; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal System Pinyin: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. ... Royal motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (Latin: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within the UK Languages with Official Status1 English Scottish Gaelic Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Min Nan, Minnan, or Min-nan (Simplified Chinese: 闽南语; Traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân-lâm-gú; Southern Min or Southern Fujian language) is the language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China and neighboring areas, and descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora. ... World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon... The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... A diploma (from Greek diploma) is a document issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that is one of the following: A certificate testifying that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, A deed conferring an academic degree. ... In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. ... The University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig), located in Leipzig in the Free State and former Kingdom of Saxony, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. ...

He later worked in the then colonial Singapore government for some time; and went to China in 1885, to serve as an assistant for the ranking official Zhang Zhidong (張之洞) for 20 years. He occupied a variety of posts during his career, and was a professor at Peking University late in his life. In general, the word colonial means of or relating to a colony. In United States history, the term Colonial is used to refer to the period before US independence. ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... An assistant is a person or software tool that helps other people with their work. ... Zhang Zhidong (Chinese:张之洞; Wade-Giles: Chang Chih-Tung; Courtesy Xiaoda 孝达; Pseudonyms: Xiangtao 香涛, Xiangyan 香岩, Yigong 壹公, Wujing-Jushi 无竞居士, later Baobing 抱冰; Posthumous name: Wenxiang 文襄) (1837—1909) was an eminent Chinese politician during the late Qing Dynasty who advocated for controlled reform. ... Peking University 博学审问慎思明辨 Peking University or Beijing University (Simplified Chinese: 北京大学; Traditional Chinese: 北京大學; pinyin: ), colloquially known as Beida (Simplified Chinese: 北大; Pinyin: ), is one of the more prestigious universities in China. ...

His English works include:
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

• ET nunc, reges, intelligite! The Moral Cause of the Russia-Japanese War
• The Story of a Chinese Oxford Movement
• Papers from a Viceroy's Yaman: a Chinese Plea for the Cause of Good Government and True Civilization.
• The Spirit of the Chinese People

He acquired Chinese only after his studies in Europe, and was said to have a bad Chinese hand-writing. However, his command of the language is far above average. He penned several Chinese books, including a vivid memoir recollecting his days as an assistant for Zhang Zhidong. He translated some of the Confucian classics into English, notably The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius; and rendered William Cowper's narrative poem The Diverting History of John Gilpin (《癡漢騎馬歌》) into elegant classical Chinese. A memoir, as a literary genre, forms a sub-class of autobiography. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... Portrait of William Cowper attributed to Romney. ... Narrative is a term which has several and changing meanings. ... John Gilpin (18th century) was a real-life character whose exploits became legendary and featured in a well-known comic ballad by William Cowper of 1782, entitled, The Diverting History of John Gilpin. ... Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese (文言, pinyin: wényán, literal meaning: literary language or 古文, literal: ancient written language) is a traditional style of written Chinese prose using grammar and vocabulary very different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. ...

He was probably the most famous polyglot in China before Qian Zhongshu, and is said to have been familiar with French, Italian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Japanese and Malay, as well as Chinese, English and German. Qian Zhongshu (November 21, 1910 – December 19, 1998) was a Chinese writer and scholar. ... Ancient Greek refers to the stage in the history of the Greek language corresponding to Classical Antiquity, which normally applies on two ancient periods of Greek history: Archaic and Classic Greece. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who are native to the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ...

An advocate of monarchy and Confucian values, preserving his plait even after the overthrow of Qing Dynasty, Gu has become a kind of cultural curiosity late in his life. Many sayings and anecdotes have been attributed to him. It is said that literary figures as diverse as Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Somerset Maugham and Rabindranath Tagore were all drawn to visit him when they came to China. Today Gu is usually treated a "cultural oddity", and his works have not been studied very seriously by critics. No scholarly edition of his complete works is available. It has been suggested that Barrister#Advocates in Scotland be merged into this article or section. ... A monarchy, (from the Greek monos, one, and archein, to rule) is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. ... A plait is a knot usually tied from multiple lines and exhibiting a repeating pattern, often a braid and often referring to hair. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A commemoration of Akutagawa and Rashōmon Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介, March 1, 1892 - July 24, 1927) was a Japanese poet and writer. ... W. Somerset Maugham as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten. ... Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (Bangla: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Robindronath Ţhakur) (May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941) (in the Bangla Calendar, 25 Baishakh, 1268 – 22 Srabon, 1348), also called Gurudev, was a Bengali poet, Brahmo philosopher and nationalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, becoming the first Asian to win...