Julia Ching, CM

RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...

() (1934 – October 26, 2001) was professor of

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and East Asian studies at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Biography

Born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

in 1934, Ching fled the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

as a refugee during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After completing high school at Sacred Heart Canossian College in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, Ching studied at the College of New Rochelle in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and then served as an Ursuline nun for two decades, completing a master's degree at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, before obtaining a doctorate in

Asian studies Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. She taught at Columbia and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

before joining the

faculty in 1978. Her younger brother is Frank Ching, (), a journalist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

,'' and the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

''. Ching rose to prominence as a world expert on the neo-Confucianism and religion of the

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

and

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

dynasties of 10th- through 17th-century

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She wrote or edited 15 books including her definitive studies of the leading

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

, Wang Yangming, and the leading

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...

. In 2000, she was named a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. For her scholarly achievement, Ching was named incumbent of the R.C. and E.Y. Lee Chair of Chinese Thought and Culture, elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

, and named to the Scholars' Council of the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. In 1994 she was named University Professor, the highest honour the university accords its faculty. Along with her colleague and husband, Professor Emeritus Willard Oxtoby of religion and South Asian studies, Ching was co-president and chief organizer of an international congress in Asian studies that brought over 1,000 scholars to the University of Toronto in 1990.

Personal life

Formerly private about her personal life, Ching shared many of her fears and sentiments in a personal literary memoir, ''The Butterfly Healing: A Life Between East and West'' (1998). In it she described her perceptions of being an Asian woman in male-dominated Western academia, of striving for spiritual discipline in the religious orders and of seeking healing and meaning in life as a three-time cancer survivor. Ching's interests were not limited to scholarship. She participated in movements for world responsibility such as the Inter-Action Council, Science for Peace, and the Canadian Pugwash. She was also a busy commentator, frequently called on to interpret breaking news from China for the Canadian news media. In response to the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, she published ''Probing China's Soul'' (1990), a book on protest and dissent in

. She and her husband Willard Oxtoby adopted a Chinese son. On October 26, 2001, she died at her Toronto home after a long battle with cancer.

Works

* Julia Ching. "'Authentic Selfhood': Wang Yang-Ming and Heidegger". ''The Monist'', Volume 61, Issue 1, 1 January 1978, Pages 3–27. * Julia Ching. ''Confucianism and Christianity: A Comparative Study.'' New York: Kodansha International. 1978. xxvi+234 pp. . * Hans Küng and Julia Ching. ''Christianity and Chinese Religions''. New York: Doubleday, 1989. 309 pp. * Julia Ching. ''Probing China's Soul: Religion, Politics, and Protest in the People's Republic''. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990. 269 pp. * Julia Ching. ''The Philosophical Letters of Wang Yang-ming''. Canberra, Australia: Australian National University Press, 1972. 142pp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ching, Julia 1934 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Chinese women writers 20th-century Chinese writers Women memoirists Educators from Shanghai Chinese people of World War II Chinese expatriates in Hong Kong College of New Rochelle alumni Catholic University of America alumni Australian National University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Members of the Order of Canada Columbia University faculty Yale University faculty University of Toronto faculty Ursulines Chinese sinologists Writers from Shanghai 20th-century Canadian nuns Women orientalists Chinese emigrants to Canada