J.J.L. Duyvendak

Last updated
J.J.L. Duyvendak
JJL Duyvendak.jpg
Born(1889-06-28)28 June 1889
Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands
Died 9 July 1954(1954-07-09) (aged 65)
Leiden, Netherlands
Scientific career
Academic advisors J.J.M. de Groot
Édouard Chavannes
Henri Cordier
Notable students A.F.P. Hulsewé
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 戴文達
Simplified Chinese 戴文达

Jan Julius Lodewijk Duyvendak (28 June 1889 9 July 1954) was a Dutch Sinologist and professor of Chinese at Leiden University. He is known for his translation of The Book of Lord Shang and his studies of the Dao De Jing . [1] He was co-editor of the renowned sinology journal T'oung Pao with French scholar Paul Pelliot for several decades.

Chinese language family of languages

Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the ethnic Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language.

Leiden University university in the Netherlands

Leiden University, founded in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The Dutch Royal Family and Leiden University have a close association: Queen Juliana, Queen Beatrix and King Willem-Alexander are former students. The university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance and Leiden's international reputation. During this time Leiden was home to such figures as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza and Baron d'Holbach.

The Book of Lord Shang is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BC, regarded as a foundational work of "Chinese Legalism". The earliest surviving of such texts, it is named for and to some extent attributed to major Qin reformer Shang Yang, who served as minister to Duke Xiao of Qin from 359 BC until his death in 338 BC and is generally considered to be the father of that state's "legalism".

Contents

Life

J. J. L. Duyvendak was born on 28 June 1889 in Harlingen, Netherlands. He matriculated at Leiden University as an undergraduate where he studied philology, and was soon introduced to Chinese by Dutch sinologist J.J.M. de Groot. In 1910 Duyvendak moved to Paris where he began more advanced studies in Chinese under Édouard Chavannes and Henri Cordier. From 1912 to 1918, Duyvendak worked as an interpreter at the Dutch embassy in Beijing before gaining a position at Leiden University in 1919. During World War II, Duyvendak worked to protect Jews living in the Netherlands from Nazi forces.

Harlingen, Netherlands Municipality in Friesland, Netherlands

Harlingen is a municipality and a city in the northern Netherlands, in the province of Friesland on the coast of Wadden Sea. Harlingen is a town with a long history of fishing and shipping. Harlingen received city rights in 1234.

Philology is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection between textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics. Philology is more commonly defined as the study of literary texts as well as oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist.

Paris Capital of France

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts.

Duyvendak became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1931. [2]

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Society of scientists and institute

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam.

In 1942, Duyvendak published one of the first articles in a Western language on the Crab Nebula supernova as observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054 during the Song dynasty.

SN 1054 supernova in the Crab Nebula, observed in 1054

SN 1054 is a supernova that was first observed on 4 July 1054, and remained visible for around two years. The event was recorded in contemporary Chinese astronomy, and references to it are also found in a later (13th-century) Japanese document, and in a document from the Arab world. Furthermore, there are a number of proposed, but doubtful, references from European sources recorded in the 15th century, and perhaps a pictograph associated with the Ancestral Puebloan culture found near the Peñasco Blanco site in New Mexico.

Song dynasty Chinese historical period

The Song dynasty was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporary Liao and Western Xia dynasties in the north. It was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Song government was the first in world history to issue banknotes or true paper money nationally and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy. This dynasty also saw the first known use of gunpowder, as well as the first discernment of true north using a compass.

Published works

<i>Toung Pao</i> journal

T’oung Pao, founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology.

Related Research Articles

Timeline of neutron stars, pulsars, supernovae, and white dwarfs

Crab Nebula Supernova remnant

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The now-current name is due to William Parsons, who observed the object in 1840 using a 36-inch telescope and produced a drawing that looked somewhat like a crab. Corresponding to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054, the nebula was observed later by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

Jan Oort Dutch astronomer

Jan Hendrik Oort was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. His New York Times obituary called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe"; the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955, Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy."

Paul Pelliot French sinologist

Paul Eugène Pelliot was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts among the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Crab Pulsar star

The Crab Pulsar is a relatively young neutron star. The star is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was widely observed on Earth in the year 1054. Discovered in 1968, the pulsar was the first to be connected with a supernova remnant.

Étienne Balazs was a Hungarian-born French sinologist.

Henri Maspero French sinologist

Henri Paul Gaston Maspero was a French sinologist and professor who contributed to a variety of topics relating to East Asia. Maspero is best known for his pioneering studies of Daoism. He was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II and died in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The Xingcha Shenglan was a historical work written by Fei Xin. Fei Xin had served as a soldier in the third, fifth, and seventh Ming treasure voyages under the command of Admiral Zheng He. The book contains descriptions of foreign places that the Chinese mariners had seen. The literary term "star raft" refers to an ambassador's flagship.

Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes was a French merchant-trader, ambassador and scholar, born in Paris. He was the son of French academician and sinologue, Joseph de Guignes. He learned Chinese from his father, and then traveled to China where he stayed for the next 17 years and returned to France in 1801.

Homer Hasenpflug Dubs was an American sinologist and polymath. Though best known for his translation of sections of Ban Gu's Book of Han, he published on a wide range of topics in ancient Chinese history, astronomy and philosophy. Raised in China as the son of missionaries, he returned to the United States and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy (1925). He taught at University of Minnesota and Marshall College before undertaking the Han shu translation project at the behest of the American Council of Learned Societies. Subsequently, Dubs taught at Duke University, Columbia University and Hartford Seminary. In 1947, Dubs moved to England to take up the Chair of Chinese at Oxford University, which had been vacant since 1935. He retired in 1959 and remained in Oxford until his death in 1969.

Lodewijk Woltjer Dutch astronomer

Lodewijk Woltjer is an astronomer, and the son of the astronomer Jan Woltjer. He studied at the University of Leiden under Jan Oort earning a PhD in astronomy in 1957 with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. This was followed by post-doctoral research appointments to various American universities and the subsequent appointment of professor of theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics in the University of Leiden. From 1964 to 1974 he was Rutherford Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University in New York. From 1975 to 1987 he was Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where he initiated the construction of the Very Large Telescope. In 1994–1997 he was President of the International Astronomical Union. Woltjer was honored in 1987 with the Karl Schwarzschild Medal.

Henri Cordier French orientalist

Henri Cordier was a French linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, editor and Orientalist. He was President of the Société de Géographie in Paris. Cordier was a prominent figure in the development of East Asian and Central Asian scholarship in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. Though he had little actual knowledge of the Chinese language, Cordier had a particularly strong impact on the development of Chinese scholarship, and was a mentor of the noted French sinologist Édouard Chavannes.

Gustaaf Schlegel Dutch sinologist

Gustaaf Schlegel was a Dutch sinologist and field naturalist.

Wilt L. Idema is a Dutch scholar and Sinologist teaching at Harvard University specializing in Chinese literature, with interests in early Chinese drama, Chinese women's literature of the premodern period, Chinese popular narrative ballads, and early development of Chinese vernacular fiction.

Léopold de Saussure was a Swiss-born French sinologist, pioneering scholar of ancient Chinese astronomy, and officer in the French navy. After a naval career which took him to Indochina, China, and Japan, he left the service and devoted the rest of his life to scholarship. He was most famous for his studies of ancient Chinese astronomy.

A. F. P. Hulsewé Dutch sinologist

Anthony François Paulus Hulsewé was a Dutch Sinologist, scholar, educator, and author, best known for his studies of ancient Chinese law, particularly that of the Han dynasty.

Xia Yuanji was a Ming dynasty government minister. He was born in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, which was then part of Huguang Province. His ancestral home was Dexing, Jiangxi. Xia read the Classic of Poetry and became a Xiucai at the age of 23, joining the Guozijian. Early in his career, he saw service under the Hongwu Emperor and Jianwen Emperor. After the Yongle Emperor came to the throne, he was sent to inspect Suzhou Creek. Xia opposed both Zheng He's overseas voyages and the Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols.

References

  1. Paul Demiéville, "J.J.L. Duyvendak (1889-1954)", T'oung Pao 43 (1954-55): 1-33.
  2. "J.J.L. Duyvendak (1889 - 1954)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
Paul Demiéville Swiss sinologist

Paul Demiéville was a Swiss-French sinologist and Orientalist known for his studies of the Dunhuang manuscripts and Buddhism and his translations of Chinese poetry, as well as for his 30-year tenure as co-editor of T'oung Pao.

JSTOR subscription digital library

JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now also includes books and other primary sources, and current issues of journals. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals. As of 2013, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries had access to JSTOR; most access is by subscription, but some of the site's public domain and open access content is available at no cost to anyone. JSTOR's revenue was $86 million in 2015.