Early life

Ye was born in 1864 in Changsha, Hunan. He was the son of a government official in Hebei. After passing his entry-level imperial examinations, Ye briefly pursued a career in business, becoming a successful trader with interests in rice, salt, and textiles. In 1892, he obtained the jinshi degree. The same year, he became a secretary at the Board of Civil Office but found the job unsatisfying and quit after a few months.

Career

As an editor and publisher, Ye is known for his Shuangmei jing』an congshu (; literally Shadow of the Double Plum Tree Anthology), which collects four Chinese medical classics on sexual cultivation that had been partially preserved in the Ishinpō: the Sunü jing; Yufang mijue; Yufang zhiyao; and Dongxuan zi. First published in 1907, Ye's anthology "outraged" the Chinese public, although it was later described in the 1950s by Joseph Needham as "the greatest Chinese sexological collection".

Ye was one of the most prolific collectors of rare books and manuscripts in China. In 1910, he published a guide to book-collecting and in 1915, he released a catalogue of the 350,000-odd volumes in his personal collection. Ye also occasionally tried his hand at prose and poetry.

Views

Unlike his contemporaries Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, Ye was vehemently opposed to Western intellectualism and opined that the decline of modern China was due to the people's "deviation from tradition". Ye also found Christianity to be inferior to Confucianism; he believed that there was "much absurdity" in the Old Testament and that "the religion of Jesus ... cowed people into submission." In 1900, Ye was arrested and briefly imprisoned for his suspected involvement in the anti-foreign and anti-Christian Boxer Rebellion.

Death

Ye was a staunch anti-communist. Upon the arrival of the Chinese Communist Party in Changsha in 1927, Ye composed a derogatory couplet that referred to the communists as "beasts" and "half-breeds". He was brought to trial by the Chinese Communist Party on 1 April 1927. Ten days later, on 11 April 1927, Ye and several other alleged counter-revolutionaries were executed by shooting. A "definitive" collection of his works was posthumously published by his son in 1935.

生平

葉德輝的父親葉雨村於太平天國時從江蘇吳縣遷居湖南長沙經商，為了應考科舉，葉家捐銀200兩取得湘潭縣籍。葉家世居於坡子街，具有很大的影響力。據《申報》在1913年報導，坡子街為葉氏父子營業的地方，葉父任本街團總。父歿，族人推舉葉德輝接替，並任全城商團團長。

葉德輝八歲入學，學習《四書》、《說文解字》、《資治通鑑》等古學。十七歲就讀嶽麓書院，光緒十一年（1885年）中舉人，光緒十八年（1892年）中進士，同年五月，以主事分部學習，授吏部主事，但他到任不久，便以乞養為名，要求開缺回籍，從此不再任官。葉德輝曾與他的太老師王先謙一起反對維新變法，贊成復闢君主制。1915年8月，當籌安會發起討論改變國體，葉德輝即在湖南長沙組織籌安會分會，鼓吹恢復帝制。

1927年4月11日，湖南農工商學各界團體在長沙召開「農民協會公審大會」，以「封建餘孽、豪紳領袖」的罪名，將葉在瀏城橋門外的識字嶺槍決。然認為，葉德輝是由受共產黨控制的國民黨湖南省黨部授權成立特別法庭判處死刑的。其子葉尚農寫給日人松崎柔甫的信（刊橋川時雄編「文字同盟」第5號）道出其父死因：

成就與評價

• 葉德輝精於版本目錄學、喜藏書、編書，以刻書聞名，他的名言是「老婆不借、書不借」，他在書裡都放春宮畫，據說可以避祝融，以防火災。曾編纂了《觀古堂書目叢刻》、《書林清話》、《古今夏時表》，並校刊《元朝秘史》，《書林清話》算是中國第一部真正有系統的書籍史，用筆記體寫成，敘述唐宋以來刻板、活板、套色各種印刷方法。梁啟超曾評價《書林清話》「論刻書源流及掌故甚好。」

• 史學家謝國楨在《叢書刊刻源流考》一文評價：「葉氏為湖南土豪，出入公門，魚肉鄉里，……論其人實無可取，然精於目錄之學，能於正經正史之外，別具獨裁，旁取史料，開後人治學之門徑。」

• 毛澤東在中共八屆十二中全會閉幕會(1968年10月)上，就德輝之死，說道：「這個保孔夫子、反對康有為的，此人叫葉德輝。後頭顧孟餘問我，有這件事嗎？我說有這件事，但是情況我不大清楚，因為我不在湖南。對于這種大知識分子不宜于殺。那個時候把葉德輝殺掉，我看是不那麼妥當。」

相關人物

• 鹽谷溫

• 松崎鶴雄

• 楊樹達

著作

• 《雙梅影闇叢書》