Expert of Tagore Studies and Folk Poetry Society

I got a cell phone call while doing a field study in Shaoxing on November 7， 2009. The caller’s id showed it was Professor Hua Yuqing， but it was not his voice. In the noisy bus， I was not able to catch every word， but I was shocked to hear the words that his funeral had just been held that day. I dreaded I did not get the whole thing right， so I dared not ask a question. My world suddenly became empty. That evening at home， I checked the website of Zhejiang University and found the obituary.

The professor died of cerebral hemorrhage on November 2， 2009 at the age of 72.

I became acquainted with him at 1984 when I was a part-time teacher at a middle school in my hometown Cixi. I tried to compile two books about my hometown， one about Cixi and the other about local celebrities. After learning that Professor Hua Yuqing at Hangzhou University， which is now part of Zhejiang University， I took the liberty of writing to him. My ecstasy knew no bounds when he wrote back. At 20， I thought university professors were incarnations of knowledge and truth. The professor was most modest and his handwriting was noble and graceful. He addressed me respectfully. Receiving his letter and reading it was a very rare and unforgettable experience. The way he addressed me touched me so much that it forever changed my way of addressing people and handling my personal affairs.

In 1985， six poets and I in Cixi founded Seven-Leave Poetry Society and began to publish a poetry pamphlet regularly. We invited Yuan Kejia (1921-2008)， Lu Gong (1920-1996) and Hua Yuqing (1937-2009)， all natives of Cixi， to be honorary directors and advisors. Professor Hua wrote me letters， encouraging us to seek beauty in poetry. As an expert on Tagore， the professor quoted Tagore in his letters frequently. I still feel regretful that the society did not last and the pamphlet came to end after 11 issues in about a year. We were young and naiuml;ve.

Professor Hua Yuqing is well remembered for “Golden Fruits and Little Twigs”， a collection of more than 500 poems by about 100 international poets from 33 countries. Hua put the book together and published it in December 1982. The reprint in 1985 came along with a hardback edition.

Whenever I came to Hangzhou and visited the professor， Hua talked about Tagore enthusiastically. Over years， I received from him books on Tagore， all compiled by Hua.

Although an authority on Tagore， Professor Hua Yuqing kept a low profile. In a letter dated December 9， 1994， he explained why he would like to keep a low profile. It was hard to become an authority in the field of Tagore. Some predecessors were great and scholars like him would not have a chance to compare with these great scholars in achievements. He said it was why he needed to work hard.

In June 2002， the professor came back to Cixi to supervise a house-building project for his 89-year-old mother. He agreed rather reluctantly to be interviewed by a journalist from Cixi Daily. He did not talk about his academic research at all. He talked about changes of his hometown， his childhood years， friendship and his mother. In order to put together a background story， the journalist went out of his way searching materials.