Mei Chuncai: Why is Bhikkhulin opposed to "Chinese civilization in the West"?
China News Service Moscow, April 17 Title: Why does the bhikshurin oppose the "Chinese civilization to the west"?
Author Mei Chuncai Director and Professor, Institute of Northeast Asian Studies, Jilin Normal University
Throughout the history of the development of Sino-Russian relations, Russian sinologists have played an important role in disseminating Chinese culture and made significant contributions to promoting and strengthening Sino-Russian exchanges. Nikita Yakovlevich Bhikchulin was one of the outstanding and epoch-making sinologists. He was the founder of Russian Sinology and Orientalism, and is known as the "Father of Russian Sinology".
Portrait of Bhikkhulin
Born on 29 August 1777 in the village of Akurevo in the Cheboksarye District of Kazan Governorate (now Cheboksary District, Chuvash Republic), Bhikkhurin moved with his family to Bhikchurin in 1779, whereby he received the surname of Bhikchurin. His father, Yakov Danilov, served as an ordinary cleric in the earliest Orthodox churches in the region. Under the influence of his family, Bhikchurin entered Kazan Theological Seminary at the age of 9 and was known for his diligence and studiousness. After graduating from kazan theological seminary in 1799, he stayed as a monk to teach French, took the french title Yakinfu, and served as a priest of monks at the Kazan Nevsky Monastery. In 1801 Bhikshurin became abbot of the Yoganovsky Monastery in Kazan, became High Priest of Monasticism in 1802, and was appointed abbot of the Missionary School of the Main Ascension Monastery of Irkutsk. In 1807, Bhikchurin served as the head of the Ninth Russian Orthodox Missionary Corps in Beijing, and from january 1808, when he arrived in Beijing until his return in 1821, he spent 13 years in China. He has compiled a number of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, Chinese grammar, compiled a large number of scriptures and documents, and studied the social and historical conditions in China and neighboring regions.
From the beginning of the 18th century, the sinology activity of the bhikchurin lasted for half a century and achieved excellence in many respects. When he first arrived in China, he devoted himself to learning Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, Latin, Greek, and French, which enabled him to quickly master Chinese. In his daily life, he wears traditional Chinese costumes and visits guests in the streets and alleys to learn the real situation in China.
In November 1816, Bhikshurin wrote a long letter to the General Directorate of Orthodox Affairs, criticizing the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing for more than 100 years without bringing any benefit to scientific research and the state. He noted that books translated from Chinese or Mongolian were of poor quality and that some information was unreliable.
Bhikchulin wrote and translated more than 100 works in his lifetime, in addition to publishing many articles. While in Beijing, he wrote and translated 17 books. Until his death in 1853 at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, Bhikchurin devoted himself to the study of Chinese and Oriental studies, and his tombstone was inscribed with 8 Chinese characters of "Everlasting Diligence and Illumination".
Bhikchulin's research on China is very extensive, covering various aspects of Chinese and Chinese, history, geography, ethnicity, politics, economy, military, and customs. For his outstanding achievements, Bhikchulin was elected in 1828 as a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences for Oriental Literature and Antiquities. His academic activities set a precedent for the comprehensive study of Chinese culture. He always adhered to the principle of taking Chinese historical materials as the basis in his research, and established the unique scientific status of "Russian Sinology", and his research results and writings still have important academic significance.
Using important Chinese texts, Bhikchulin conducted a meticulous and in-depth study of China. He opposed the popular "Chinese civilization in the west" in Europe at that time and insisted on "the native theory of Chinese civilization".
As a historian and ethnologist, Bhikchurin discarded the intellectual understanding that was popular in the West at that time, based on Egypt and Babylon. Bhikchulin criticized and refute the attempts of European missionaries to find non-existent similarities between Chinese mythology and biblical stories, as well as the view by German scientists that the Tianshan tribe was of German descent. In his writings, he pointed out that there were errors in the historical materials in the Chinese history works that were popular in Europe at that time.
Based on the Chinese history books he possessed, Bhikchulin introduced the Russian people to the Chinese nation and its long history in his writings. He pointed out that Chinese culture was born and developed in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and Chinese have its own culture, and described in detail the clan society in the Yellow River Basin, elucidating the national social situation and cultural characteristics of early China, and further refuting the Chinese civilization in the west.
"Why China" exhibition. Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu
As an economist and geographer, Bhikchulin studied China's economy, including agriculture, the land system, handicrafts, trade, taxation, and finance. In the book "China and Its Inhabitants, Customs, Habits and Education", he introduced China's national administrative structure, educational status, traditional customs and daily life, and explained in depth the circulation of commodity money in China. In particular, his book, Political Survey of the Chinese Empire, is considered a very important economic work, although it also contains content about Chinese politics and state organization.
As a linguist and translator, Bhikchurin attaches great importance to the quality of translations of Chinese grammar and classic books, as well as to the accuracy of translations of place names. In his view, people usually think that the errors in transliteration are insignificant, but in fact this can cause great historical and geographical confusion. Bhikshurin attaches great importance to Chinese and Mongolian, believing that this will help him overcome language barriers, learn The rich history and culture of China, and create good conditions for in-depth study of China.
Through research, it was found that the sinological study of bhikkhulin has distinct characteristics.
First, there was no religion, ethnic discrimination, or prejudice in his sinology research. Instead, he tried to objectively show Chinese life and ancient splendid culture. In his writings, he extolled Chinese culture and refuted the claims of Catholic missionaries, Western scholars, and writers calling China a "barbaric state" as a sophistry of plundering and colonizing China.
Shang Dynasty bronze cymbals. China News Service reporter Jia Tianyong photographed
Second, his sinology research made extensive use of Chinese historical materials. In terms of the completeness and quantity of citations and translations of Chinese historical materials (such as the eight-volume Zizhi Tongjian), he far surpassed the sinologists of Western Europe in his contemporaries. Bhikchulin said, "Many things in China are presented very clearly, completely and clearly in the works published in China."
With the deepening of his research on China, he introduced Chinese books to the world, arousing people's interest in China and the East. Many sinologists give high marks to the information cited by Bhichurin. In their view, Bhikchulin's works are not based on biased materials collected by other travelers, but are written through the reality they have seen with their own eyes, pointing out many errors in western writings, correcting the erroneous views of Western sinologists, and defending the scientific nature of Oriental studies.
Third, bhikshurin has a unique way of studying China. In his view, it is necessary to start from the mastery of the language, and then begin to read and study the original historical materials, and on this basis, it is possible to draw conclusions by analyzing and reasoning. He not only has novel and well-founded ideas, but also the ability to use statistics and other data. He studied the then central government of China, the history of Ethnic Minorities on China's frontiers, and the situation in Central Asia, as well as china's historical relations with other countries. And all this makes his work more systematic and holistic.
Of course, the sinology of bhikshurin also has shortcomings. There are two main reasons: one is related to the low level of scientific research at that time; the other is that the personal views of the bhikchurin, the social characteristics of the participants in the exchange, including the translator, the social significance of the translation, the objective conditions of the communication process, and many other factors, will affect the translation process and its results.
In general, Bhikchulin's sinology is authoritative, and his works have been translated into French, Japanese, Mongolian, Spanish and other different languages, which has greatly promoted the development of Russian Orientalism and even world Orientalism. (End)
About the Author:
Mei Chuncai is the director and professor of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies of Jilin Normal University. Since September 2019, he has been the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Moscow State Linguistic University in Russia. Provincial high-level professional (Russian) leader, head of the authorization point for postgraduate students in Russian language and literature, tutor for postgraduate students in Russian language and literature and translation, and famous teacher of the school. He has been a visiting scholar at pushkin Russian Language Institute in Moscow and St. Petersburg State University in Russia.