Xing Wen

Xing Wen was born in 1965. He attended the Nanjing College of Food Economy, current Nanjing University of Finance and Economics as an undergraduate student, graduating in 1986 with a B.A. in Economics, after which he taught planning and statistics courses at the college for a few years. He then went to Nanjing Normal University for graduate study and obtained his M.A. in Chinese art history in 1992. He did his Ph.D. work on the Mawangdui silk manuscripts both at the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences under the guidance of Professor Li Xueqin 李學勤 and in the Anthropology Department at Harvard University as a post-doctoral student of Professor Kwang-chih Chang 張光直. He received his Ph.D. in history from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1996 with a dissertation on the silk manuscript version of the Zhouyi 周易, i.e., I Ching.{{cite web |title=Xing Wen 邢文 (in Chinese) |url=http://www.zgsxs.net.cn/news_more.asp?lm2=124&lmname=0&open=1&n=30&tj=0&hot=0 |website=Chinese Intellectual History 中國思想史 (in Chinese) |publisher=Institute of Ancient History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences |access-date=31 July 2021}} This dissertation was awarded the 1st China National Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations in 1999.{{cite web |title=1999 List of All China's Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations 1999年全國優秀博士學位論文名單 (in Chinese) |url=http://www.cdgdc.edu.cn/xwyyjsjyxx/zlpj/yblwpm/yblwpxgs/rxlw/265424.shtml |website=China Academic Degrees & Graduate Education Information |publisher=China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center 教育部學位與研究生教育發展中心 |access-date=31 July 2021}}

Xing was Robert 1932 and Barbara Black Professor in Asian Studies at Dartmouth College and Distinguished Professor of Chinese Department and Philosophy and History Research Institute at Southwest Jiaotong University. He was Director of the Center for Research on Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts in the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University during 2000–2002, chaired the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures at Dartmouth College in 2014, held the directorship of The Dartmouth Institute for Calligraphy and Manuscript Culture in China since 2014, and served as Associate Dean for Disciplinary Development, Academic Research, and Internationalization of the School of Humanities at Southwest Jiaotong University from 2017 to 2020.{{cite web |title=Xing Wen |url=https://rwxy.swjtu.edu.cn/info/1237/9802.htm |website=Chinese Department, School of Humanities |publisher=Southwest Jiaotong University |access-date=31 July 2021}}

Xing was involved in several controversies regarding the authenticity of some purchased bamboo-slip manuscripts collected by top universities in China.

In 2012, Xing published a series of articles in China's foremost national newspaper Guangming Daily to argue that the so-called Warring States period (475-221 B.C.) bamboo slips collected by Zhejiang University were fake.{{cite journal |last1=Xing |first1=Wen |title=Disproving the authenticity of the bamboo slips collected at Zhejiang University (Part I) 浙大藏簡辨偽(上) (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=28 May 2012 |page=15 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2012-05/28/nw.D110000gmrb_20120528_1-15.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Xing |first1=Wen |title=Disproving the authenticity of the bamboo slips collected at Zhejiang University (Part II) 浙大藏簡辨偽(下) (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=4 June 2012 |page=15 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2012-06/04/nw.D110000gmrb_20120604_1-15.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}} Professor Cao Jingyan 曹錦炎 of Zhejiang University argued that Xing's articles were misleading since he never touched any real bamboo slips.{{cite journal |last1=Jingyan |first1=Cao |title=The authenticity of the Chu bamboo slips at Zhejiang University cannot be doubted 浙大楚簡毋庸置疑 (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=18 June 2012 |page=15 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2012-06/18/nw.D110000gmrb_20120618_1-15.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}} Liu Shaogang 劉紹剛, research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, also challenged Xing's approach of calligraphic examination.{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Shaogang |title=Considering the "Zhejiang University bamboo slips" from the perspectives of the character forms and calligraphy 從文字形體和書法看"浙大簡" (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=2 July 2012 |page=15 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2012-07/02/nw.D110000gmrb_20120702_1-15.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}}

In 2016, Xing published several articles in Guangming Daily again to challenge the authenticity of the bamboo-slip version of the Laozi, i.e., the Tao Te Ching, collected by Peking University.{{cite journal |last1=Xing |first1=Wen |title=Disproving the authenticity of the bamboo-slip version of the Laozi in the collection at Peking University 北大簡老子辨偽 (in Chinese)) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=8 August 2016 |page=16 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2016-08/08/nw.D110000gmrb_20160808_1-16.htm |access-date=31 July 2021}} Professor Alan Chan of The Chinese University of Hong Kong included Xing's argument in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.{{cite web |last1=Chan |first1=Alan |title=Laozi |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/ |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University |access-date=31 July 2021}} Chinese professors Li Kai 李開 and Yao Xiaoou 姚小鷗 and Western scholars Christopher Foster and Thies Staack all challenged Xing's argument from various perspectives.{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Kai |title=Regarding the authenticity issue of the Peking University bamboo-slip version of the Laozi 關於北大簡《老子》的辨偽 (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日报 |date=12 September 2016 |page=16 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2016-09/12/nw.D110000gmrb_20160912_1-16.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Yao |first1=Xiaoou |title=To authenticate from the perspectives of piecing up the bamboo slips and its calligraphy 由拼接與書法看真偽 (in Chinese) |journal=Guangming Daily 光明日報 |date=12 December 2016 |page=16 |url=https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2016-12/12/nw.D110000gmrb_20161212_1-16.htm?div=-1 |access-date=31 July 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Foster |first1=Christopher J. |title=Introduction to the Peking University Han bamboo strips: on the authentication and study of purchased manuscripts |journal=Early China |date=12 April 2017 |volume=40 |pages=167–239 |doi=10.1017/eac.2017.2 |s2cid=232155289 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/early-china/article/introduction-to-the-peking-university-han-bamboo-strips-on-the-authentication-and-study-of-purchased-manuscripts/0CFFFE9DCB366886481848438E895431 |access-date=31 July 2021|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Staack |first1=Thies |title=Could the Peking University Laozi 老子 really be a forgery? Some skeptical remarks |journal=HeiDOK, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (Online) |date=10 January 2017 |doi=10.11588/heidok.00022453 |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/22453/ |access-date=31 July 2021}}

Xing is known for his initiative and expertise in Mathematical Art History 數理美術史 and Mathematical Humanities 數理人文學. In 1999, he formally proposed to establish a new field of study, "The Study of Bamboo-slip and Silk Manuscripts" 中國簡帛學, at a Wuhan University international conference. In recent years, he proposed several new interdisciplinary fields, such as the Chinese Mathematical Philosophy 中國數理哲學 (2017), the Authentication Studies of Excavated Manuscripts 簡帛辨偽學 (2018), Cognitive Manuscriptology 認知手稿學 (2018), Cognitive Bamboo-and-Silk Manuscriptology 認知簡帛學 (2018), Cognitive Paleography 認知古文字學 (2019), and Cognitive Oracle-bone Studies 認知甲骨學 (2019).{{cite web |title=Xing Wen |url=https://rwxy.swjtu.edu.cn/info/1237/9802.htm |website=Chinese Department |publisher=School of Humanities, Southwest Jiaotong University |access-date=25 August 2021}} His new book on mathematical art history is also informed by artificial intelligence and data science.{{cite web |last1=Silverstein |first1=Hannah |title=Celebrating the Careers of Faculty Retirees |url=https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2021/08/celebrating-careers-faculty-retirees |website=Dartmouth News |publisher=Dartmouth College |access-date=25 August 2021}}

• Xing, Wen (2014). Dao, Neo-Confucian Principle, and Chan Buddhism in Chinese Calligraphy and Painting 道理禪與中國書畫 (in Chinese). Beijing: Academy Press. {{ISBN|978-7-5077-4540-5}} Awarded the 2nd China Fine Arts Award.{{cite web |title=XING Wen 邢文 |url=https://www.harvard-yenching.org/person/xing-wen/ |website=Harvard-Yenching Institute |access-date=4 August 2021}}
• {{cite book | first = Wen | last = Xing | author-mask=3 | title=Research in the Silk Manuscript Zhouyi 帛書周易研究 (in Chinese) | location = Beijing | publisher = People's Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 7-01-002683-1}}{{cite web |title=Xing, Wen, 1965- |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2004057168.html |website=Library of Congress |access-date=4 August 2021}}
• {{cite book | first = Wen | last = Xing | author-mask=3 | title=Initial Explorations on the Chu Bamboo-Slip Calligraphy 楚簡書法探論 (in Chinese) | location = Shanghai | publisher = Zhongxi Book Company | year = 2015 | isbn = 9787547509296 }}{{cite book |title=Chu jian shu fa tan lun |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/946487270 |publisher=WorldCat |oclc=946487270 |access-date=4 August 2021}}
• {{cite book | first = Wen | last = Xing | author-mask=3 | title="Graph-book" and Layout Design in Ancient China | location = DNB}}{{cite web |title=Xing, Wen, 1965- |url=https://viaf.org/viaf/188203624/ |website=Virtual International Authority File |publisher=VIAF |access-date=4 August 2021}} and more books{{cite web |title=邢文 1965- |url=https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2004057168/ |website=WorldCat Identities |publisher=WorldCat |access-date=4 August 2021}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://sites.dartmouth.edu/xing/ Professor Xing Wen's Site], Dartmouth College website.
• [https://sites.dartmouth.edu/calligraphy/about-us-关于我们/ Calligraphy and Manuscript Culture], Dartmouth College website.
• [https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2017/07/yin-and-yang-chinese-calligraphy/ Dartmouth News], Dartmouth College website.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20210729072335/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140405-chinese-oldest-multiplication-table-decimal National Geographic], National Geographic Magazine website.

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Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:Chinese art historians

Category:Chinese epigraphers

Category:Chinese sinologists

Category:21st-century Chinese calligraphers

Category:Nanjing Normal University alumni

Category:Chinese Academy of Social Sciences alumni

Category:Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Category:Academic staff of Peking University

Category:Dartmouth College faculty