Ji Xianlin: Trans-Himalayan

A Shandong (eastern Chinese province) native, Ji Xianlin was a master scholar who made remarkable contributions to historical science, literature, and cross-border cultural and publishing exchange. We continue to enjoy Ji’s legacy today. “People like to come closer to the upright and modest senior,” wrote Hong Kong cultural scholar Rao Zongyi (1917-2018) in the preface to Ji Xianlin Biography by Cai Degui. “In terms of his writing, it is very impressive and full of brilliance. He is a very typical Shandong scholar with a bold and inclusive flavor.” In 2016, we published Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography by Yu Longyu and Zhu Xuan. We are a publishing house based in Ji’s hometown, so we prioritize books related to Ji to promote his academic achievements and charisma and assume the responsibility of honoring and commemorating him. 

Since 2005, we have been planning a large set of books on the exchange of Chinese and foreign literature. Professor Yu Longyu, then director of the Center for Indian Studies of Shenzhen University, was in charge of the China-India volume. During publication, I became acquainted with Professor Yu and Doctor Zhu Xuan, who were writing Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography, which was supposed to be the first book in China featuring comprehensive and in-depth research on Ji’s life and academic accomplishments. The book analyzes Ji from ten aspects: top Indology expert, enlightened Buddhism scholar, founding Orientalist, indispensable translator, comparative literature master, peculiar essayist, cultural exchange ambassador, expert on Dunhuang and Turpan studies, Marxist follower, and emotional reservoir. The authors studied Ji, an iconic figure in cultural and intellectual circles in China and the world and dove deep into the “Ji Xianlin phenomenon” to present a true-to-life great scholar and thinker also with flaws and sensibilities. The book is a good reference and of great value of historical data in terms of foreign cultural exchange, Chinese study of Indology, Orientalism, translation, Dunhuang, and Turpan. I expressed our enthusiasm for publishing this book. Thanks to Professor Yu’s trust, he accepted my pleas largely because we are located in Ji’s home province.

In January 2016, China was the guest of honor at the New Delhi World Book Fair for the first time. When Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography appeared at the fair, it drew a spotlight to potential copyright export of its English, Hindi, and Tamil language versions. At the copyright contract signing ceremony, Satya Vrat Shastri, an Indian Sanskrit expert and two-time winner of the Padma Award, TCA Rangachari, a renowned sinologist and retired Indian ambassador to China, Professor B. R. Deepak, and Professor Sabaree Mitra expounded on Ji’s academic contributions and recalled their meetings and friendship with him. Professor Lokesh Chandra of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations couldn’t attend the event because of eye illness, but he sent a letter stating: “Each library and educated family in India deserve this book.”

R. Deepak, Professor at the Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, translated the book into English and Hindi. Deepak once studied Chinese history and China-India relations at Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Social Science. “I believed, it was important to let the larger number of the people in India and the world know about this doyen of Indology, an erudite scholar of Buddhism, a translator of par excellence, an unrivalled essayist who not only took Indology to China, but also to the world. It was for this contribution that the Government of India conferred on him India’s third highest civilian award, the Padam Bhushan. As for the translation of Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography, I enjoyed it. It broadened my knowledge about both the biographee and the author.”

The English, Hindi, and Tamil language versions of Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography have already been published. In August 2018, the books’ launch ceremony was held at Beijing International Book Fair. Gautam H. Bambawale, then ambassador to China and Geetika Srivastava, Indian Cultural Consulate to China, attended the ceremony. In September 2019 before the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, a forum on the publication of English and Hindi Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography was held at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Li Bijian, then China’s envoy to India, Harivansh Narayan Singh, deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, and Jagadesh Kumar, vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, jointly hosted the event. Indian experts, writers, sinologists, and students from the Chinese Department of Jawaharlal Nehru University participated in the gathering. Xinhua News Agency’s New Delhi bureau and major Indian media outlets such as Dainik Jagran, Jansatta, and Prabhat Khabr reported on the meeting, which helped the activity become an example of promoting Chinese culture worldwide and cultural exchange between two countries.

On January 27, 2008, then Indian President Pratibha Patil approved a list of 135 laureates for the 2008 Bharat Ratna, the highest Civilian Award in India, according to The Times of India. One of the most notable honorees was 97-year-old eminent Chinese Indologist Ji Xianlin, the first Chinese person ever to win this honor.

On June 6, 2008, on behalf of the Indian President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Indian Minister of External Affairs, presented the award to Professor Ji, witnessed by Li Zhaoxing, the former Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs and director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Nirupama Rao, the Indian Ambassador to China. “For the first time, a Padma Bhushan has crossed the Himalayas to reach out to a scholar who introduced the Ramayana and other aspects of Indian tradition to China,” wrote The Times of India to describe this special and belated award.

Encouragingly, Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography in English, Hindi, and Tamil was published in India ten years later thanks to the joint efforts of China’s Indology circles driven by Professor Ji, India’s Sinology scholars, and publishing circles in the two countries, all of which journeyed across the Himalayas in one way or another.

When translation is complete, the Bengali version will be published by Prakashan Sansthan. German and Japanese versions are also in the works. The German version will be translated by Professor Haiyan Hu-von Hinüber from German’s Freiburg University. Trained in Sanskrit and Buddhist studies under professors Jin Kemu and Ji Xianlin at China’s Peking University and Indology at the Göttingen University, she taught and served as research scholar at universities of Freiburg and Vienna. “It is my sense of honor to translate the biography of Professor Ji because I was entrusted and encouraged by him nearly 40 years ago to go to Göttingen, where he studied Indology in his early years, for further studies,” said Professor Haiyan Hu-von Hinüber. The Japanese version will be translated by Professor Amamura Yuiji from Japan’s Fukuoka International University, who has great admiration for Professor Ji. The two scholars’ participation in the translation brought Chinese culture to the international stage.

I was very impressed by the admiration these scholars, sinologists, and publishers showed for the subject through their enthusiasm for translating and publishing multilingual versions of Ji Xianlin: A Critical Biography. The support has been a blessing for the book, Shandong Education Press, and all followers of Professor Ji. Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV hailed Professor Ji a bridge builder between China and India, China and the West, and ancient and modern times when he received the Bharat Ratna award. His cultural influence began in Shandong Province and radiated across the entire country and beyond.

Long live Professor Ji’s legacy!

The author is the deputy editor-in-chief of Shandong Education Press.