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Hsu Ling-yun (許凌雲)

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Hsu Ling-yun (許凌雲)

Hsu Ling-yun (許凌雲; Tâi-lô: Khóo Lîng-hûn; given name 漢厚, courtesy name 凌雲 — he is known by the courtesy name — style 卓夫; 1862 – 14 September 1944) was a Qing shengyuan (秀才) from 下瓦硐 (瓦硐港下社), Baisha, Penghu; a Han-learning teacher; and an early Presbyterian elder. Locals call him the Watong xiucai (瓦硐秀才). The 續修澎湖縣志 treats him as Penghu’s last Qing xiucai. His former home at Watong Village No. 51 is the |Hsu Ling-yun Xiucai Memorial Hall.

Yang Shih-yang’s 信仰偉人列傳 once listed him as a jinshi in 1891; later work (Hsu Yu-ho, using Hsu’s own 1897 gentry-badge résumé) treats that as an error — he was a shengyuan, not a metropolitan graduate.

Identity Snapshot

  • Salutation: 許凌雲秀才 / Hsu Ling-yun
  • Chinese: 許凌雲（名漢厚，字凌雲，號卓夫）
  • Tâi-lô: Khóo Lîng-hûn
  • Born: 1862, Tongzhi 1, lunar 6/29, 下瓦硐
  • Died: 14 Sep 1944 (Shōwa 19; lunar 7/27), age 83; funeral October, attended by Baisha shōchō Miyamoto Chikuichi / Lü Zhu (宮本築一／呂築) and Tainan Seminary professor Rev. Kao Chin-sheng (高金聲)
  • Roles: last Penghu Qing xiucai; village sishu teacher; Tainan Presbyterian Han teacher (~18 years); Dingshan-ao deputy head (1897, one year)
  • Language: gazetteer says he never learned Japanese, kept old exam-essay style, was “拙於治生”
  • Geography: Watong ↔ Tongliang / Houliao / Magong ↔ Tainan ↔ Wufeng / Gangshan

Education

From his 1897 self-written résumé (quoted via Hsu Yu-ho / penghu.info):

AgePlace / teacherCurriculum
9Zhao Jie (趙階), 上瓦硐Sanzijing, Four Books
11–17same circleZhu Xi jizhu, Five Classics
18Hsu Kuo-ying (許國英), Houliao文章試帖
after 1880 examChen Xi-ming (陳錫命), Tongliang, 3 yearsdynastic history, Tang poetry, 詩賦

Gazetteer: strong in baguwen, recited Zhouyi and Maoshi; did not dabble in chuanqi / sanqu.

Timeline

  • Chongzhen (clan) — Watong Hsu from Jinmen Zhupu (珠浦). Village founders include 許靖奕 (1618–1698), 許靖博, 許靖樂, 許靖六. Singer |Hsu Ching-chun (許景淳) is recorded as 靖樂 11th-generation — same village clan, not shown as Ling-yun’s child line.
  • 1862 — Born, lunar 6/29, 下瓦硐. Japanese-era household: 瓦硐港鄉47番戶.
  • 1880 (GX6) — Penghu ting exam, rank 32 (age 19). Then Tongliang with Chen Xi-ming.
  • 1883 (GX9) — With elder brother at Ruihe cloth firm (瑞和), Tainan 岩後／內宮後. Gazetteer: poor at the ledger, tore a page, scolded by his brother, went home to study for the exams.
  • 1884 — Teaching desk in Houliao; Tainan prefectural exam, failed.
  • 1885–1892 — Taught Watong, Dachikan, Magong; exams kept failing.
  • 1889 — Married Chen Yin (陳吟 / 陳拎), daughter of Zhenhai gentry Chen Liao. Daughter Hsu Yu born the next year.
  • 1892 (GX18) — Accepted Christianity with brother Hsu Han-dun (漢墩／漢敦, 字其仁).
  • 1893 (GX19) — Hsu Yu-ho (from the 1897 résumé): 1st on Penghu ting list in month 1; April Tainan, first on Gu Dao-xian’s (顧道憲) kejia red list, rupan age 32. 白沙鄉志 agrees 1893; 人物志 / Yang still print 1891.
  • 1893 — Son Hsu Shui-chin (許水錦) born.
  • 1894 — Invited by Yeh Chao-hsien; Magong teaching; part-time Wenshi Academy director. Surviving academy essays (first-place): 〈乘桴浮于海〉 (俞山長: 「文氣清爽機調亦圓」), 〈魯一變〉, 〈為湯武敺民者〉; also 〈求也藝至為費宰〉, 〈蘇武牧羊〉, 〈傳教新語利國益民〉, 〈瑤池戲瑞圖〉.
  • 1895 — Shimonoseki; Penghu under Japan.
  • 1897 (M30) — 臺灣紳章. 11 Jan: Dingshan-ao deputy head (履歷／許玉河). Gazetteer variant: “赤崁辦務署署長” — treat as a conflicting office title, not a second post.
  • 1898 — Ao offices abolished; left Penghu for Tainan church schools.
  • 1901-03-11 — Campbell, Handbook of the E.P. Mission in Formosa: appointed teacher at the Tainan Presbyterian middle school.
  • 1904-04-14 — same: “College Teacher.”
  • 1909-04-28 — same: girls’ school, Han literature. Pupils thought him deeply learned. ~18 years total. Named Tainan pupils: Lin Yen-chen (林燕臣), Lin Mosei (林茂生).
  • 1918 (T7) — Left seminary post; one year as xibin to Lin Lieh-tang (林烈堂), teaching son Lin Chui-chu (林垂珠) and the other children.
  • 1919 (T8) — jishi (記室 / secretary) to Dr. Kao Tsai-chu (高再祝), Gangshan — gazetteer wording, not only “tutor.”
  • 1920 — Home; Cunyangxuan (存養軒).
  • 1924 (T13) — Used Watong Presbyterian church as the sishu. Village Han teaching through 1928 (~8 years). Later village pupils: Ke Jen-yi (柯仁義), Hsu Nan-pu (許南浦), Fang Ssu-wen (方思溫), Lin Yu-chuang (林有闖).
  • 1933-10-05 — Lin Hsien-tang and Cai Peihuo, with Wu Qiu-wei (吳秋微), Kao Shun-hsien (高順賢), Hsu Yung-yuan (許永遠), meals at Hsu Chu (許助); call on the already-blind Hsu.
  • 1937 — Fourth son Hsu Hsi-chou’s Tainan business ordered closed; he returned to nurse his parents.
  • 1941 — Golden wedding with Chen Yin; Hsu Hsi-chou opened 精巧堂 (watches) on Magong Street.
  • 1944 — 精巧堂 destroyed in the Penghu air raid. Hsu died 14 Sep; funeral in October.

Faith works

Conversion path is medical-mission, then school and house-church:

  1. Gao Yao (高耀 / 德耀 / 「蕃仔耀」) of Tainan First Church — baptized 1869 by Hugh Ritchie; first local Western pharmacist (仁和堂). Cured Hsu Han-dun of opium disease; Han-dun converted. Lai Yung-hsiang (教會史話 321): Han-dun became the first Penghu deacon, Magong Church, 1908.
  2. Gao Yao gave 50 yen to Campbell’s 1886 Penghu mission drive (half a preacher’s half-year pay). When the mission reached 150 yen, the Mission Council sent Huang Shen-he (黃深河) and seminarian Huang Neng-jie (黃能傑) — Chikan → Jiangmei → Watong.
  3. Until the 1911 Watong church, worship borrowed rooms, including Hsu Han-dun’s house.
  4. Hsu Ling-yun taught Han inside the church after 1924. Door couplet still reads gospel + “holy teaching.”
  5. Fourth son Hsu Hsi-chou is listed as elder (長老, 1913–1980) on Lai’s 本土信徒 card, and as founder of 臺灣雅歌樂器 (Yage / “Song of Songs” instruments).
  6. Funeral (1944) included Rev. Kao Chin-sheng of Tainan Seminary.

Wikipedia’s Guangxu year-numbers next to some Penghu-mission AD dates do not match; prefer Campbell / Lai / Meiji dates above.

Family

RelationNameNotes
Elder brotherHsu Han-dun 許漢墩（漢敦，字其仁）Ruihe comprador; first convert; house-church; Magong deacon 1908
WifeChen Yin 陳吟（陳拎）m. 1889; golden wedding 1941
長女Hsu Yu 許玉b. ~1890
長子Hsu Shui-chin 許水錦1914 Taiwan Sōtokufu Kokugo Gakkō normal dept.; 15 years teaching: Magong kōgakkō, Presbyterian attached primary (主事), Tainan First, Xiluo
次子Hsu Shui-chen 許水琛d. age 5
三子Hsu Shui-tsung 許水聰
次女Hsu Kan 許柑
四子Hsu Hsi-chou 許西疇elder; 精巧堂; founder 臺灣雅歌樂器; 1913–1980 (Lai)
Later descendantHsu Ya-chin 許雅琴Applicant of record for the 2022/2023 commemorative-building listing; later hall programs (ukulele, 2025)

House rebuilt 1973 on the old coral-stone footprint; three-bay six-panel door kept.

Taiwanese American / diaspora (sourced)

This is the evidence stack — not a résumé. Hsu Ling-yun died in 1944 in Penghu. Anything “Taiwanese American” is later kin, clan, or a pupil’s afterlife in U.S. commemoration.

1. Hsu Ling-yun himself — no U.S. / TAA / TAHS record

Searched and not found: U.S. residence, TAA chapter office, TAHS membership, taiwaneseamericanhistory.org who’s-who, taiwaneseamerican.org, or a Taiwan Justice byline.

What does exist is Taiwan/Penghu/PCT only:

Negative result is the finding. Do not invent a TA biography.

2. Hsu Ya-chin (許雅琴) — verified descendant; NY only in social copy

Official / news (no New York):

SourceWhat it actually says
澎湖通訊社 2023-03「由其後人許雅琴女士代表申請」紀念建築
澎湖日報 2025-02-08112年登錄；「獲得許凌雲後代許雅琴女士全力配合」；烏克麗麗營
觸mii / 中時 2025-08-15「許凌雲秀才後人許雅琴女士促成」寒假烏克麗麗營
Threads @saltnlight307 2024-12「後代之一許雅琴」訪館； she hopes the hall can be revived. No NY

Oral / social (the only NY sentence):

Singer |許景淳 posted a Watong “家族記憶行走” at the hall (Facebook / christineccmusic). Public snippet: she is led through the lane by 「自紐約回來的雅琴姑婆」, who talks about how her grandfather named her.

Treat as family oral on a personal post, not a TAA/NYT/gazetteer fact. It does imply (a) 許雅琴 spent time in New York, (b) 許景淳 addresses her as gupo (father’s sister / same-generation aunt) — i.e. 許景淳 is claiming kinship, not only same-village surname.

Still missing: a TAA roster, a U.S. address, or 許雅琴’s own statement.

3. Pupil Lin Mosei (林茂生) — teacher–pupil, then TA 228 memory

This is commemoration of a student, not Hsu family in America.

4. Hsu Ching-chun (許景淳) — clan + her own “家族” post

So: same 瓦硐許／靖樂 line in the clan note; she narrates the hall as family memory; no published pedigree that 許凌雲 is her direct ancestor (he could be a collateral xiucai in the same village Hsu). Do not write “granddaughter of 許凌雲.”

What would close the TA node

Need one of: 許雅琴 in a TAA/NY church directory; her own bio with borough/years; or a genealogy chart 許凌雲 → 許雅琴 / 許景淳. Until then the page keeps NY as oral.

Works

  • Village sishu (Houliao, Watong, Dachikan, Magong)
  • Wenshi Academy director (1894) + surviving exam essays (see 1894)
  • Tainan Presbyterian middle / college / girls’ Han faculty (Campbell dates 1901–1909+)
  • Cunyangxuan and church school (1920–1928)
  • Dingshan-ao deputy head (1897)

Network

Quotes

Lin Hsien-tang, 灌園先生日記 (1933-10-05), via Wikipedia / penghu.info:

「許凌雲廿年前曾為二哥之家庭教師，眼已失明，聞余至，亦來談問舊事。」

Wenshi first-place comment on 〈乘桴浮于海〉: 「文氣清爽機調亦圓」.

Hall couplet: 「聖道教人時雨化」／「福音牖世春風生」.

From the record

  • 2022 — the penghu.info knowledge-service hub records 「許凌雲秀才 紀念建築 (2022 澎湖縣)」 among its Tier1 historical anchors, alongside the 許凌雲 biography entry OB8D7D9C164FCF102ED7 (1862–1944; 許玉河 text + 《續修澎湖縣志．人物志》) and the 瓦硐許姓 clan note OB9B088F09F89D8B7F9E — see source. Date held, not merged: the hub prints 2022 while the news record says 112年登錄 (= 2023) — kept as 2022/2023 per the existing Family-table note.

Sources

  1. 維基百科：許凌雲 (refs followed below)
  2. 許雪姬、許玉河：〈許凌雲〉，澎湖知識服務平台（含《續修澎湖縣志．人物志》摘文）
  3. 蔡光庭：〈瓦硐許姓〉
  4. 賴永祥：許凌雲秀才（楊）；教會史話 321 府城教會高耀長老
  5. Campbell, Handbook of the E.P. Mission in Formosa (appointment dates via 縣志 / penghu.info)
  6. 澎湖通訊社 (2023-03)：許雅琴申請登錄
  7. 澎湖日報 2025-02-08；觸mii 2025-08-15
  8. Threads @saltnlight307；許景淳 FB 家族行走（oral NY / 姑婆）
  9. 林蓮華／楊嘉猷：台灣公論報 2025-02-24 台館228
  10. 維基百科：許景淳
  11. Maps: 瓦硐村51號

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