Hong Kong Baptist University Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology

The Academy is honoured to invite Professor Lauren F. PFISTER, Professor Emeritus of Hong Kong Baptist University and Rector of Hephzibah Mountain Aster Academy, to speak for 2024 Distinguished Sinologist Lecture Series with the below details:

The Importance of Reading Original Editions: Critical Discoveries regarding the German Corpus of Richard Wilhelm's(1873-1930) Ruist and Daoist Classics
2024/10/04 | 10:30–12:00 |Conducted in English
Speaker: Professor Lauren F. PFISTER (Professor Emeritus, Hong Kong Baptist University; Rector, Hephzibah Mountain Aster Academy)

In-person Venue: Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Level 7, Shaw Tower, Shaw Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University
Registration: https://forms.office.com/r/YG0Dvzhe0J
Online: Zoom
Meeting ID: 945 4102 2678
Password: 690613

Abstract: Richard Wilhelm was a German sinologist, theologian and missionary. He is best remembered for his translations of Chinese philosophical texts from Chinese into German. His version of the Yijing (I Ging, 1924) has been translated into many other languages including English, and so became widely influential.

-  In his version of the Confucian Analects / Lunyu (1910), he originally produced it in two translated versions — a "literal version" and a "modern version".  Most subsequent editions eliminated the "modern version". Why? He also at least in one place translated the term li 禮 as "Religion". Why?
- Wilhelm's version of the Daodejing renders the terms wu 無 and you 有 as Nichtsein (Non-being) and Sein (Being). How should we consider this rendering today in the light of sinological interpretations of these terms within this context?
- Why is Wilhelm's version of the Zhuangzi missing the last seven chapters?
- Wilhelm's rendering of shengren 聖人in the Yijing was regularly Die Heilige (the saints), yet in Carl Bayne's English rendering of Wilhelm's work, he always rendered the term as "sage". Why is this an important misrepresentation of Wilhelm's presentation of that difficult classical text?