Ji Xianlin

Infobox Writer
name = Ji Xianlin


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birthdate = birth date and age|1911|8|6
birthplace = Linqing, Shandong, China
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occupation = linguist, paleographer, historian, writer
nationality = Chinese
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Ji Xianlin (季羡林; born August 6, 1911) is a Chinese linguist, paleographer, historian, and writer who has been honored by the governments of both India and China. He was born in Qingping County, now Linqing.

Biography

Ji attended Sanhejie Primary School and the No.1 Middle School in Jinan, then Shandong University. In 1930, he was admitted to Tsinghua University as a major in Western literature. In 1935, he went to Gottingen University as an exchange student, choosing in 1936 to major in Sanskrit and less well known ancient languages, such as Pali and Tocharian," [http://english.sina.com/life/1/2008/0127/143676.html India gives Indologist Ji Xianlin top award] ", "China Daily", January 27, 2008] with Emil Sieg, receiving his Ph.D. in 1941. In 1946, he returned to China, becoming a professor in Peking University under the recommendation of Chen Yanluo, and began a long career as one of China's greatest scholars of ancient Indian languages and culture, during the course of which he made discoveries about not only such things as Buddhism's migration from India to China, but also more mundane cultural items, such as the spread of paper and silk making from China to India.

Ji founded the Department of Eastern Languages in Peking University soon after his arrival, becoming dean of the department and pioneering the field of Eastern studies in China, and authoring 40 articles and 13 academic papers within the next three years. In 1956, he was elected commissioner of the Chinese Academy of Science's Department of Social Science.

During the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1977, he secretly translated "Ramayana" from Sanskrit into Chinese retaining the poetry format, risking the punishment which befell those convicted as "intellectuals". , In 1998 he published "Memoirs from the Cowshed", his account of his life during that period, which attained great popularity in China.

In 1978, Ji became vice president of Peking University and director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Research Institute on South Asia. He also served as chairman of various professional organizations, including the Chinese Foreign Literature Association, the Chinese South Asian Association, and the Chinese Language Society. During this period of his career, Ji published 11 academic books and over 200 papers in more than ten academic fields, including Chinese cultural research, comparative literature, and Sanskrit.

In 1998, he published a translation and analysis of fragments of a Tocharian Maitreyasamiti-Nataka discovered in 1974 in Yanqi." [http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/01/29/fragments_of_the_tocharian/index.html Fragments of the Tocharian] ", Andrew Leonard, "How the World Works", Salon.com, January 29, 2008] , [" [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-977X%281999%2962%3A2%3C367%3AFOTTAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage Review of 'Fragments of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Xinjiang Museum, China. In Collaboration with Werner Winter and Georges-Jean Pinault by Ji Xianlin'] ", J. C. Wright, "Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies", University of London, Vol. 62, No. 2 (1999), pp. 367-370] , [" [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/3110149044 Fragments of the Tocharian a Maitreyasamiti-Nataka of the Zinjiang Museum, China] ", Ji Xianlin, Werner Winter, Georges-Jean Pinault, "Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs"]

In addition to his translation of "Ramayana", Ji wrote seven books including a short history of India. His Ji Xianlin Collection consists of 24 volumes containing articles on ancient Indian languages, Sino-Indian cultural relations, Buddhism, comparative and folk literature, essays, translations of literary works, etc.

Despite deteriorating health and eyesight, Ji has continued to work. In the summer of 2002, he was hospitalized for a dermatological condition. He currently lives in semi-seclusion in a military hospital.

Fundamental beliefs

Ji maintains that "Cultural exchange is the main drive for humankind's progress. Only by learning from each other's strong points to make up for shortcomings can people constantly progress, the ultimate target of which is to achieve a kind of Great Harmony."

Ji's philosophy divides human culture into four parts: an Eastern group consisting of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic-Islamic culture, and Western culture, consisting of European-American culture. He advocates a greater degree of cultural exchange between East and West, in order to rejuvenate both cultures, and over the past ten years, he has actively participated in discussions on the cultural problems between the East and West, based on the same ideology. This differs from the Eurocentrism predominant in China, as elsewhere.

He is quoted as saying, :"The river of Chinese civilization has kept alternating between rising and falling, but it has never dried up, because there was always fresh water flowing into it. It has over history been joined by fresh water many times, the two largest inflows coming from India and the West, both of which owed their success to translation. It is translation that has preserved the perpetual youth of Chinese civilization. Translation is hugely useful!"

Awards

On Ji's 94th birthday, August 6, 2005, the China Confucius Foundation opened the Ji Xianlin Research Institute in Beijing, as a special institution for the research on "The Studies of Ji Xianlin", with notable scholars such as Tang Yijie, Le Daiyun, and Liu Mengxi as senior consultants." [http://www.china.org.cn/english/NM-e/139052.htm Ji Xianlin: A Gentle Academic Giant] ", china.org, August 19, 2005]

In 2006, Ji received a lifetime achievement award from the government of China for his contributions to the field of translation; accepting the award, he stated, "The reason our Chinese culture has been able to remain consistent and rich throughout its 5,000 years of history is closely linked to translation. Translations from other cultures have helped infuse new blood into our culture".

On January 26, 2008, the government of India announced that Ji had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the first time it was awarded to a Chinese person. According to Xu Ke Qiao, an expert on Sino-Indian cultural communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "A lot of what Chinese know about India's tradition and culture has come from Ji. He translated from the original Sanskrit and rendered them in poetry in Chinese. It is a tremendous achievement covering most of his life." This has been cited as an example of growing friendship between the two nations." [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Padma_Bhushan_for_a_Chinese_Sanskrit_expert/articleshow/2734382.cms Padma Bhushan for a Chinese Sanskrit expert] ", Saibal Dasgupta, "The Times of India", 27 Jan 2008 ] ,Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee personally presented the Padma Bhushan to Ji on 6 June 2008. Mukherjee paid a visit to the ailing 97-year-old Ji, who is the first Chinese to receive the honour, at a military hospital where he has been staying and presented the medallion and award certificate.

Exemplary personal life

Ji is also highly regarded for his moral values, character, and personality. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is reported to have told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Ji was his mentor.

Ji is an unabashed patriot, saying, "Even when I am burned down to ashes, my love for China will not change." As a student at Tsinghua University, he signed a petition to Chiang Kai-shek to oppose the Japanese invaders in Nanjing. As an impoverished but brilliant student, he said, "I haven't disgraced my country; my scores are the only comfort that I can give to my motherland."

Ji cultivates the unassuming appearance of a farmer or worker rather than a prestigious scholar, wearing bleached khaki suits and cloth shoes, and carrying an old leather schoolbag; he is also similarly reputed as treating people of all walks of life with equal respect and sincerity. He has opined that the meaning of life lies in work, and he avoids distractions which would detract from his working time; in order to do one's work, however, he believes that one must stay healthy, so he exercises for his health. He is reported as getting up at 4:30 AM，breakfasting at 5:00 AM, and then beginning to write. He once said that he often felt compelled to get up at this early hour to work. Nevertheless, he writes with great speed and efficiency, completing his famous essay "Forever Regret" within a few hours.

He is also often cited as fearless in his pursuit of academic truth, as shown not only by his daring to translate "Ramayana" during the Cultural Revolution, but also by his 1986 article, written against the advice of his friends, "A Few Words for Hu Shi", who at that time was in disrepute and whose work was shunned by most scholars. Ji, however, felt that academic progress required acknowledging not only Hu Shi's mistakes, but also his contributions to modern Chinese literature. His article was sufficiently convincing to many scholars that it caused a re-evaluation of the development of modern Chinese literature and the role of Hu Shi.

References