James Legge

James Legge

James Legge (理雅各; December 20, 1815November 29, 1897) was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–1873), and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University (1876–1897). In association with Max Müller he prepared the monumental "Sacred Books of the East" series, published in 50 volumes between 1879 and 1891.

Life

James Legge was born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and then Kings College, Aberdeen. After studying at the Highbury Theological College, London, he went in 1839 as a missionary to China, but remained at Malacca three years, in charge of the Anglo-Chinese College there. The College was subsequently moved to Hong Kong, where Legge lived for nearly thirty years. A Chinese Christian, Keuh Agong accompanied Legge when he moved in 1844.

Legge married twice, first to Mary Isabella Morison (1816-1852) and after she died to a widow, Hannah Mary Willetts (d 1881, née Johnstone). Believing in the necessity of missionaries being able to comprehend the ideas and culture of the Chinese, he began in 1841 a translation in many volumes of the Chinese classics, a monumental task admirably executed and completed a few years before his death. During his residence in Hong Kong, he translated Chinese classic literature into English with the help of Wang Tao. He was the headmaster at Ying Wa College in Hong Kong in between 1839 and 1867.

In 1867, Legge returned to Dollar in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, where he invited Wang Tao to join him, and received his LLD from the University of Aberdeen in 1870. He was then pastor at Union Church, Hong Kong, 1870-1873, visited mission stations at Shanghai, Chefoo (Yantai) and Peking (Beijing), and returned to England via Japan and the USA in 1873. In 1875 he was named Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and in 1876 assumed the new Chair of Chinese Language and Literature at Oxford, where he attracted few students to his lectures but worked hard for some 20 years in his study at 3, Keble-terrace, over his translations of the Chinese classics. According to an anonymous contemporary obituary in the Pall Mall Gazette, Legge was in his study every morning at three o'clock, winter and summer, having retired to bed at ten. When he got up in the morning the first thing he did was to make himself a cup of tea over a spirit-lamp. Then he worked away at his translations while all the household slept.

In addition to his other work Legge wrote "The Life and Teaching of Confucius" (1867); "The Life and Teaching of Mencius" (1875); "The Religions of China" (1880); and other books on Chinese literature and religion.

Legge was given an honorary MA, University of Oxford, and LLD, University of Edinburgh, 1884. Legge died at Oxford in 1897 and is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery. Many of his manuscripts and letters are archived at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

elected works

* Legge, James, "The Texts of Taoism", 2 Vols, The Sacred Books of the East Vols. 39 & 40, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1891; reissued New York: Dover, 1962), pb. Contains, in a rather archaic English and with a distinct transcription scheme: the "Tao Te Ching"; the writings of Zhuangzi; and shorter works: the "T'ai Shang" [Tractate of Actions and Their Retributions] ; the "Ch'ing Chang Ching" [Classic of Purity] ; the "Yin Fu Ching" [or Classic of the Harmony of the Seen and Unseen] ; the "Yu Shu Ching" [Classic of the Pivot of Jade] ; and the "Hsia Yung Ching" [Classic of the Directory for the Day] .
* Legge, James, "The Chinese Classics : With A Translation, Critical And Exegetical Notes, prolegomena, and copious indexes", in five volumes, (Hong Kong : Legge ; London : Trubner, 1861–1872).
* Legge, James, "Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean" (New York: Dover Books, 1971; o.p. 1893), 503 pp. Translation of the Analects along with two other important Confucian texts. A little dated, but still worth consulting. Includes Chinese text and, as Legge himself observes, "Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, Copious Indexes, and Dictionary of All Characters."
* Legge, James, "The Works of Mencius", (New York: Dover Publications, 1970).

References

*1911
*Norman J. Girardot, "The Victorian Translation of China: James Legge's Oriental Pilgrimage" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002) is a major reassessment of Legge and his role in creating British Sinology and European study of world religion.
*Lauren F. Pfister, "Striving for 'The Whole Duty of Man': James Legge and the Scottish Protestant Encounter with China", 2 vols., published by The Scottish Studies Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz in Germersheim, 2004.

*Legge, Helen Edith (1905). [http://ebook.lib.hku.hk/CTWE/B36598859/ James Legge : Missionary & Scholar] London: Religious Tract Society. -University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, China Through Western Eyes

ee also

* Wang Tao (19th century)
* Legge romanization

External links

*
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/index.htm "Chinese Classics of the "Sacred Books of the East"] most of which translated by J. Legge

Persondata
NAME=Legge, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=理雅各
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Missionary in China
DATE OF BIRTH=December 20, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH=Huntly, Aberdeenshire
DATE OF DEATH=November 29, 1897
PLACE OF DEATH=Oxford, UK


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James Legge — (Aussprache: [dʒeɪmz lɛɡ]; * 20. Dezember 1815 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Schottland; † 29. November 1897 in Oxford) war ein britischer Sinologe und bede …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Legge romanization — is a transcription system for Mandarin Chinese, used by the prolific 19th century sinologist James Legge. It was replaced by the Wade Giles system, which itself has been mostly supplanted by Pinyin. The Legge system is still to be found in Legge… …   Wikipedia

  • Legge — ist der Name von: James Legge (1815–1897), britischer Sinologe und Übersetzer Katherine Legge (* 1980), britische Rennfahrerin in der DTM Petrus Legge (1882–1951), von 1932 bis 1951 Bischof von Meißen Wade Legge (* 1934), US amerikanischer Jazz… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Legge — There are several people surnamed Legge.*Anthony Legge, British archaeologist *George Legge (c. 1647 ndash;1691), First Baron of Dartmouth *George Legge (1755 ndash;1810), Third Earl of Dartmouth *Gerald Legge (1924 ndash;1997), Ninth Earl of… …   Wikipedia

  • Legge — /lɛg/ (say leg) noun 1. James Gordon, 1863–1947, Australian soldier and lawyer, born in England; commander of the 1st AIF in 1915 during World War I; briefly led the 2nd Division at Gallipoli. 2. William Vincent, 1841–1918, Australian… …  

  • James II of England — James II redirects here. For other uses, see James II (disambiguation). James II VII[1] King of England, Scotland a …   Wikipedia

  • James Whitmore — Born James Allen Whitmore, Jr. October 1, 1921(1921 10 01) White Plains, New York, U.S. Died …   Wikipedia

  • James Whitmore — Nombre real James Allen Whitmore, Jr. Nacimiento 1 de octubre de 1921 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Legge — (spr. legge), James, engl. Sinolog, geb. 20. Dez. 1815 in Huntly bei Aberdeen, gest. 29. Nov. 1897 in Oxford, studierte in London Theologie, ging 1839 als Missionar nach Ostasien, widmete sich am Morrison s College in Malakka noch sprachlichen… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • James Armand de Rothschild — James Armand Edmond de Rothschild, DCM, DL, (1878 ndash;1957) was a French born British politician and philanthropist, from the wealthy Rothschild international banking dynasty. Jimmy de Rothschild was the son of Edmond James de Rothschild of the …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”