Daniel Bryant, Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria, passed away Thursday September 25th, 2014, with his wife Yixi Zhang at his bedside. He was 72 years old.
Following the study of music composition at Berkeley, Daniel came to Canada, studying first at McGill, and completing his BA in Chinese and a Ph.D in classical Chinese poetry at UBC, where he was a student of Professors Edwin Pulleyblank and Yeh Chia-ying. As a graduate student, he lived in Kyoto and spoke Japanese fluently in addition to Chinese.
An internationally respected scholar of Chinese poetry, Daniel was well-published both in English and Chinese. His final book, the monumental (750 page) The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483-1521) and his World, published by Brill in 2008, was the crowning achievement of a distinguished academic career. He also translated from Chinese, both classical poetry and modern fiction, with precision and elegance.
Daniel taught at the University of Victoria for 32 years before his retirement in 2008. He came to what was then the Department of Slavonic and Oriental Studies, which became the Centre for Pacific and Oriental Studies, and subsequently the current Department, of which he was the first Chair. He taught modern and classical Chinese languages and directed graduate students in his field. He remained active in his scholarly field and involved with the University after his retirement, and was an admired and respected member of the Department. He was the current head of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, and was an organizer of their conference in Victoria in 2013.
In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Daniel had a wide range of interests: the mediaeval world, classical music, bird-watching, and gardening were among his passions.
Being both a gentle soul and a man of integrity, Daniel was rigorous and punctilious as a scholar, teacher, and academic administrator, and he was always generous and supportive to whoever needed help. Daniel will be remembered for his passions, keen intellect, his high standards, great sense of humor and his big warm heart. He will be greatly missed.
A memorial service will be held at the Uvic’s Interfaith Chapel, at 4pm October 17th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Emily Carr String Quartet Society.
漢學學者,加拿大維多利亞大學亞太學系退休教授白潤德於2014年9月25日逝世。白教授曾於1991年獲本中心「外籍學人來臺研究漢學獎助」,以「The Ming Dynasty Poet Ho Ching-ming (1483-1521)」來臺研究。他亦為維多利亞大學東方學研究計畫(Oriental Studies program)的創始成員之一。直到2008年退休為止,白教授都是亞太學系研究古代中國的窗口。