James Legge
James Legge ( pronunciation: [ dʒeɪmz lɛɡ ]; born December 20 1815 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, † November 29, 1897 in Oxford ) was a British sinologist and translator of classical Chinese literature and philosophy.
Life
James Legge studied at King's College in Aberdeen and at Highbury Theological College in London. After 1837/38 started in the reading room of the British Museum with Chinese studies, he set out in 1839 on the way to the Chinese Empire. However, he remained on the road for three years in Malacca, where he headed the Anglo-Chinese College, which had the training of young Chinese and English for missionary work to the goal. The college was moved to Hong Kong and also James Legge went to the colony, where he spent thirty years.
In 1841 he began a large-scale translation of the Confucian classics, which he finished shortly before his death. His advisor at the translation was Wang Tao, a supporter of the Taiping. Wang Tao had fled from the Qing government to Hong Kong, where he met the Scottish scientist Legge and " Five Classics " of Confucianism helped him with his monumental translation of.
1870 Legge was honorary doctorate ( LL.D. ) from the University of Aberdeen and 1884 at the University of Edinburgh. In 1876 he took on the newly created for him Chair of Chinese language and literature at the University of Oxford.
Writings
- The Life and Teaching of Confucius (1867 )
- The Life and Teaching of Mencius (1875 )
- The Religions of China ( 1880)
- The Sacred Books of China ( SBE)
- The Chinese Classics