Career
A versatile scholar, he contributes to every field of humanities, including archaeology, literature, philology, musicology and history. Currently he lives in Hong Kong. He has two daughters.
Born into a wealthy family in Chaozhou of Hakka Mei County, Guangdong ancestry, Jao is largely an autodidact.
He began to publish scholarly works at a young age. Later he was invited to work as lecturer and researcher at different colleges in the mainland.
He moved to Hong Kong in 1949. During the following years, he taught in the University of Hong Kong, while learning Sanskrit from the Indian diplomat and China expert V. V. Paranjpe, who in turn learnt ancient Chinese from Jao.
From 1963 onwards, he travelled to different countries to research and teach, including India, France, Singapore, United States and Japan.
Currently he is the Wei Lun Honorary Professor of Fine Arts and Emeritus Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
