---
title: "Chen Yinke"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Yinke"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:02:14.344893+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Chen was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution due to his previous connection with the out-of-favor Tao Zhu. He and his wife's salaries were frozen by the Red Guards. Several times he was forced to write statements to clarify his political standings: "I have never done anything harmful to Chinese people in my life. I have been a teacher for 40 years, only doing teaching and writing, but nothing practical (for Kuomintang)". Many of his book collections and manuscripts were stolen. Red Guards surrounded his home with loudspeakers, to force Chen, whom they viewed as a "reactionary academic" to listen to the revolutionary masses.
He died in Guangzhou on 7 October 1969 for heart failure and sudden bowel obstruction. 11 days later his obituary was published by the Southern Daily. The bone ashes of Chen and his wife was at first stored at Yinhe Revolutionary Cemetery, but moved to Lushan Botanical Garden in 2003. They are now buried near the "Tomb of the Three Elders"(Hu Xiansu, Ren-Chang Ching and Chen Fenghuai).

== Ideology ==

In 1952, Chen composed two poems, "The Female Impersonator" (男旦) and "Impromptu Verses on Watching the New Play of the Thirteenth Sister" (偶觀十三妹新劇戲作), in which he compared the Communist Thought Reform to theatrical cross-dressing, either transforming men into women or an old man into a young girl.
In 1953, Chen was invited to relocate from Guangzhou to Beijing to head the Second Institute of Historical Research (Institute of Medieval History) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In his "Reply to the Chinese Academy of Sciences" dated 1 December, he set out two conditions for accepting the post: that the institute be exempt from Marxist doctrine and compulsory political lectures, and that he be furnished with a written endorsement from either Mao Zedong or Liu Shaoqi as a guarantee. He explained that without consensus from the country's paramount political and party leaders, meaningful academic research would be impossible. Having effectively declined the position on these terms, Chen was instead invited by Guo Moruo to serve on the editorial board of Historical Research, the journal of the Institute of Historical Research (now Chinese Academy of History).
In the second half of 1954, the Chinese Academy of Sciences began electing its first cohort of academicians. Chen's nomination encountered resistance during deliberations, owing to his refusal to head the Second Institute of Historical Research and his public disavowal of Marxism. The matter was ultimately referred to Mao, who instructed that he be elected.
Chen opposed the simplification of Chinese characters. Before the PRC promulgated its simplification scheme in 1956, he attempted to convey his objections to Mao through Zhang Shizhao, who reported back that the matter was unnegotiable. Chen never wrote in simplified characters and left instructions that his works be published exclusively in traditional characters with vertical typesetting. Publishers in China honored this wish until October 2019, when his works entered the public domain fifty years after his death. In 2020, Yilin Press raised controversy by publishing the first simplified-character edition of Chen's works.

== Posthumous reception ==
Political and academic debate of Chen's legacy contributed to a surge of interest in Chen and his life in the Sinophone world beginning in the early 1980s and contributing to the 2000s. Public discussions, biographies, dramas, and documentaries characterized Chen as a "master of national learning" and intellectual of major significance.
In 1995, Lu Jiandong's book The Last Twenty Years of Chen Yinke prompted major debate about Chen in the Chinese public sphere. Similar melodramatic narratives of Chen were published in newspapers, magazines, and by the popular press. Chinese liberal intellectuals promoted these narratives. Critics contended that Lu's approach used hollow rhetoric to exaggerate Chen's psychological trauma and China's cultural despair. 
Chen's legacy has significantly shaped the self-conception of Chinese liberal intellectuals.
In his essay The Unfreedom of Literati, academic Ge Zhaoguang describes Chen as having been conflicted between two approaches, that of the traditional Chinese "scholar-official" seeking to save the nation and the modern scholar who adheres to neutral academic norms. Writing approvingly, Zhu Xueqin contends that Chen's refusal to commit to any ideological doctrine makes him a perfect embodiment of classic liberalism.

== List of works ==
《寒柳堂集》
《金明館叢稿初編》(Writings on Jin Ming Guan, Vol. 1)
《金明館叢稿二編》(Writings on Jin Ming Guan, Vol. 2)
《陈寅恪魏晋南北朝史讲演录》、萬繩楠整理，黃山書社1987年版 (Chen Yinke Lectures on History of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties),
《隋唐制度淵源略論稿》(A Brief Introduction to the Origins of Institutions of Sui and Tang Dynasties)
《唐代政治史述論稿》(A Brief Introduction to the Political History of Tang Dynasty)
《元白詩箋證稿》(On Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi's Poems), referring to the poets Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, famous in Chinese history
《柳如是別傳》(A Supplementary Biography of Liu Rushi)
《詩集 附唐篔詩存》
《書信集》
《讀書札記一集》
《讀書札記二集》
《讀書札記三集》
《講義及雜稿》
《陳寅恪史學論文選集》，上海古籍出版社1992年版，收文五十二篇。
《陳寅恪先生全集》，里仁書局1979年，收文九十四篇。(Chen Yinke Xiansheng Quanji, Chen Yinke's Entire Collection)
《论再生缘》Lun Zaishengyuan (On Reincarnation)
《陈寅恪学术文化随笔》Chen Yinke Xueshu Wenhua Suibi (Essays on Chen Yinke's Academy and Culture)
《陈寅恪文集》Chen Yinke Wenji (Collection of Chen Yin Ke)
《陈寅恪集》Chen Yinke Ji (Corpus of Chen Yin Ke)

== Notes ==

== References ==
Wu Mi and Chen Yinke, by Wu Xuezhao, Tsinghua University Press, ISBN 978-7-302-00974-0
On Memories of Chen Yinke, by Zhang Jie and Yang Yanli, Social Science Academy Press, ISBN 978-7-80149-158-9
Analysis of Chen Yinke, by Zhang Jie and Yang Yanli, Social Science Academy Press, ISBN 978-7-80149-159-6
Chronicles of Chen Yinke (revised), by Jiang Tianshu, Shanghai Ancient Book Press, 1997
The Last 20 Years of Chen Yinke, by Lu Jiandong, 陆键东，《陈寅恪的最后二十年》，Linking Press, 1997
Biography of Historian Chen Yinke, by Wong Young-tsu, Peking University Press
Who Wanted to Come to Taiwan? By Li Ao
On Chen Yinke, By Yu Dawei et al.
Explanation and Argumentations of Late Chen Yinke's Writings, by Yu Yingshi, 1998
Four Sirs in Late Qing Dynasty, by Gao Yang, Crown Press 1983
The Family History of Chen Yinke, by Zhang Qiu Hui, Guangdong Education Press, 2000
Yu, Ying-shih (1999), in Boyd, Kelly (ed.), Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing Vol 1, Chicago; London: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 198–199, ISBN 9781884964336

== Further reading (Chinese) ==
Chen Xiaocong 陈小从. 图说义宁陈氏. 山东画报出版社. 2004. ISBN 9787806037942.
Wang Zhenbang 王震邦. 獨立與自由：陳寅恪論學. 聯經出版. 2011. ISBN 9789570838343.
Zhang Qiuhui 张求会. 陈寅恪的家族史. 广东教育出版社. 2007. ISBN 9787540643768.
汪荣祖. 史家陈寅恪传. 北京大学出版社. 2005. ISBN 9787301077566.
蔣天樞. 陳寅恪先生編年事輯. 上海古籍出版社. 1997. ISBN 9787532521890.
陆键东. 陈寅恪的最后20年. 生活·读书·新知三联书店. 1995. ISBN 9787108008046.
张杰, 杨燕丽. 追忆陈寅恪. Social Sciences Literature Press. 1999. ISBN 9787801491589.
张杰, 杨燕丽. 解析陈寅恪. Social Sciences Literature Press. 1999. ISBN 9787801491596.
劉克敵. 陳寅恪和他的同時代人. 時英出版社. 2007. ISBN 9789867762832.
岳南. 陈寅恪与傅斯年. 陕西师范大学出版社. 2008. ISBN 9787561343326.
吴学昭. 吴宓与陈寅恪. 清华大学出版社. 1992. ISBN 9787302009740.
余英時. 陳寅恪晚年詩文釋證(二版). 東大圖書公司. 2011. ISBN 9789571930213.
纪念陈寅恪先生诞辰百年学术论文集. 北京大学出版社. 1989. ISBN 9787301008416.
罗志田. 陈寅恪的"不古不今之学". 近代史研究. 2008, (6).
項念東. 錢穆論陳寅恪：一場並未公開的學術論爭. 博覽群書. 2008, (3).
俞大維等. 談陳寅恪. 傳記文學.
李敖，《誰要來台灣？》，收在《笑傲五十年》
羅香林，《回憶陳寅恪師》
Chen Zhesan 陳哲三：《陳寅恪軼事》
罗志田：〈陈寅恪学术表述臆解〉。
羅志田：〈從歷史記憶看陳寅恪與乾嘉考據的關係〉。
陸揚：〈陈寅恪的文史之学——从1932年清华大学国文入学试题谈起〉。
王晴佳：〈陈寅恪、傅斯年之关系及其他——以台湾中研院所见档案为中心〉。
陳建華：〈从"以诗证史"到"以史证诗"——读陈寅恪《柳如是别传》札记〉。
程美宝：〈陈寅恪与牛津大学〉。
Chen Huaiyu 陈怀宇：〈陈寅恪《吾国学术之现状及清华之职责》疏证〉。
陈怀宇：〈陈寅恪留学哈佛史事钩沉及其相关问题〉。
陈怀宇：〈陈寅恪与赫尔德——以了解之同情为中心〉。
沈亞明：〈陳寅恪書信時序索引（初稿）〉。

== Portrait ==
Chen Yinke. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming at Portrait Gallery of Chinese Writers (Hong Kong Baptist University Library).

== External links ==
A Brief Biography of Chen Yinke
Chen Yinke: Professor of Professors
Guoxue Master in the 20th Century: Chen Yinque
The Two Scholars Who Haunt Tsinghua University (essay on Wang Guowei and Chen Yinque)