Zhou, Dangwei; (2023) Richard Wilhelm (1873-1930): An Alternative Way to Bridge the East and the West. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis investigates the life and intellectual development of the illustrious German sinologist Richard Wilhelm. It offers the first detailed account of the journey which took Wilhelm to transform from a German Protestant missionary to a “spiritual mediator” between the East and the West thanks to his translations and interpretations of Chinese classics during his twenty-five-year work in China, at a time when China and its culture were experiencing a sharp decline under unprecedented Western aggression. By analysing archival and privately published materials, as well as historical sources contemporary to Wilhelm’s time, this thesis will explore the life and work of Richard Wilhelm in a wholly original manner. The Introduction illustrates how Wilhelm was overlooked and misrepresented due to a lack of serious research into Wilhelm’s unpublished and self-published works. Chapter 1 examines how Wilhelm became a missionary and went to China, and the impact of Christoph Blumhardt’s theology, especially its eschatology, on Wilhelm’s understanding of religion and missionary work, and outlines the interactions between Christianity and Chinese culture, and two German Protestant missionaries’ work in China. Chapter 2 demonstrates how the Confucian scholars attempted to save Confucianism and the Confucian-structured imperial regime under western attack. Chapter 3 analyses how Wilhelm first mediated the conflict, which was caused by the German expansion in Shandong, and the role of his missionary society and his father-in-law in Wilhelm’s work in Qingdao. Chapter 4 explores Wilhelm’s missionary activities in Qingdao and his conversion to Confucianism. Chapter 5 looks at how Wilhelm promoted communications between the East and the West and how he fulfilled his dream of bridging the two worlds through his translations and interpretations of Chinese classics.

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