Hsu Yun Tsiao was born in 1905 in Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, China. At the age of 26, he migrated to Malaya to make a living. He was a teacher, journal and magazine editor, professor at a university, director of a research institute and owned a business, until he passed away in 1981. He spent half a century pursuing scholarly research, specialising in Southeast Asian history and the history of overseas Chinese, devoted himself to academic and cultural endeavours, and had made remarkable achievements.
He had strong seeking spirit and was diligent in writing. He had translated more than 30 books and written about 400 research papers, leaving a precious legacy for the academic culture of Malaysia and Singapore. He was praised by the later generations as “a scholar of a generation” and “Dean of Southeast Asian studies,” enjoying a high reputation.
However, Hsu’s life was a rough and bumpy journey. He was suffering from both poverty and sickness, and had repeatedly encountered setbacks in life. It was a great pity that his more than 30 books had long been out of print. His lifelong research achievements and literatures scattered around the world after his passing, with their existence remained unknown, and it is not an easy task to find them.
In 2004, Prof. Tay Lian Soo, the world-renowned Sinologist who was then the Director of the Research Institute of Chinese Ethnicity and Culture at Southern College, lamented: “Scholars dedicated their whole life seeking none other than establishing theories and contributing knowledge; Hsu Yun Tsiao was an expert of Southeast Asian history. If his works are allowed to diffuse or submerge, it will be a loss, not only to the academic and cultural community, but also to our society and our country.”
Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) is truly fortunate to be highly regarded by Prof. Tay, and further, recommended SGM to publish The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao. I still remember he sent me a letter at that time, saying: “One of the important reasons why Chinese culture and education in Malaysia remain superficial and can hardly be deep-rooted is that, we are unable to accumulate our cultural heritage. We have our culture, but very often ‘when a man expires, his work will stop’; similarly, when people are gone, the cultures disappear and cannot be passed on to the future generations. In order to make up for this problem, we should try our best to preserve the cultures so that the next generation can continue from this point at any time without having to start all over again. Therefore, I would like to suggest your esteemed organisation to publish the complete works of this renowned scholar, so that his classics can be preserved and passed down forever for the reference of future generations.”
Prof. Tay also resolutely promised to take up the responsibility as the chief planner and chief editor of The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao, and invited Prof. Choi Kwai Keong, Dr. Lim Chooi Kwa, Dr. Hou Kok Chung, Dr. Ho Khai Leong and Dr. Lew Bon Hoi to join the editorial board and in charge of the editorial works. Later, Dr. Wang Xiao Mei and Dr. Liau Ping Leng were also invited to join the editorial board and work together.
As a religious organisation, SGM is committed to contributing to the society, the country and the world. Soka Gakkai International President Daisaku Ikeda once said: “Religion has no meaning unless it is ‘for humanity’ ‘for the people’ ‘for society’.” Upholding the tenets of “serving the society and fostering the future generation,” former General Director, Mr. Koe Teng Hong, accepted the noble mission of publishing The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao with great pleasure, contributing to the academic, cultural and educational undertakings in Malaysia.
After more than ten years of strenuous efforts in researching, reviewing and compilation, The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao has finally been published one volume after another. Looking back at arduous journey in the past decade, I cannot help but recall a line in Liu Yuxi’s poem titled, “Waves Scouring Sands.” The meaning of the line goes: gold panning requires painstaking efforts to go through tens of thousands of times of filtration to wash out the sand and finally obtain the shining gold.
We truly feel that The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao is an important heritage, not only for the Chinese community in Malaysia, but will also benefit countries in Southeast Asia and the world. We have done something of great value, and I believe, the late Mr. Hsu Yun Tsiao must be gratified by this!
Along the process of publication, Prof. Tay Lian Soo had personally involved from the initial stage to the final publication of The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao, including working on the label with the title of the book. In terms of manuscript compilation and editorial work, we also received kind assistance from Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations, Singapore Youth Book, Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, as well as from Prof. Guo Xiyuan, Mr. Wu Wei, Mr. Lin Zhilin, the late Mr. Tan Sei Kheng, Dr. Wang Yanghong, Mr. Ow Kok Heng, Ms. Cheah Mun Li and others. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all for your kind help and great support. There must be errors and omissions in The Complete Works of Hsu Yun Tsiao due to our lack of knowledge and experience. We, therefore, welcome constructive criticisms and corrections from all scholars, experts and readers. Thank you very much.
Koh Sia Feai
SGM General Director
October 2, 2015