Chinese-American scholar wins prestigious prize

A well-known Chinese-American scholar has been chosen as one of the two winners for the 2006 John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime contributions to the study of the humanities, the U.S. Library of Congress announced on Wednesday.

Yu Ying-Shih, 76, a historian specializing in China, and 91-year-old John Hope Franklin, a historian specializing in the African-American experience and an emeritus professor of history at Duke University, each would receive a gift of 500,000 U.S. dollars at the library on Dec. 5.

Yu, an emeritus professor of East Asian studies and history at Princeton University, has written more than 30 books, which span more than 2,000 years of history, the library said in a statement.

"Dr. Yu's scholarship has been remarkably deep and widespread. His impact on the study of Chinese history, thought and culture has reached across many disciplines, time periods and issues, examining in a profound way major questions and deeper truths about human nature," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

During his academic career that began in 1962, Yu taught at three Ivy League universities, including Princeton, Harvard and Yale, and the University of Michigan.

His work examines major topics over two millennia of Chinese civilization, and Franklin's work covers three centuries of the U.S. history, it said.

"Franklin and Yu have each played a pioneering role in bringing previously neglected, major aspects of American and Chinese history into the mainstream of the scholarship and public consciousness of their respective native lands," the statement said.

First awarded in 2003, the Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity is international, and the recipient may be of any nationality, writing in any language, according to the library.

The prize, endowed by Library of Congress benefactor John W. Kluge, rewards lifetime achievement in the wide range of disciplines not covered by the Nobel prizes, including history, philosophy, politics, anthropology, sociology, religion, criticism in arts and humanities, and linguistics.

Source: Xinhua