Thorsten J. Pattberg (born 1977 in Hamm) is a German

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and cultural critic from

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

. He is the author of the ''East-West Dichotomy''.

Background

Pattberg studied Asian Studies and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and Linguistics at

Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...

and Peking University. He is a former Researcher at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He received his PhD degree from Peking University in 2012. He is a disciple of

Ji Xianlin Ji Xianlin (; August 6, 1911 – July 11, 2009) was a Chinese Indologist, linguist, paleographer, historian and writer who has been honored by the governments of both India and China. Ji was proficient in many languages including Chinese, San ...

and

Tu Weiming Tu Weiming (born 1940) is a Chinese-born American philosopher. He is Chair Professor of Humanities and Founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. He is also Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow of Asi ...

Research

Pattberg's research focuses on

Translation Studies Translation studies is an academic interdiscipline dealing with the systematic study of the theory, description and application of translation, interpreting, and localization. As an interdiscipline, translation studies borrows much from the vari ...

, in particular

linguistic imperialism Linguistic imperialism or language imperialism is occasionally defined as "the transfer of a dominant language to other people". Such language "transfer" (or rather unilateral imposition) comes about because of imperialism. The transfer is cons ...

, the competition between cultural key terminologies, and the resulting sovereignty over the definition of thought. He considers the translation of cultural key terminologies as cause for concern over that culture's legitimacy and intellectual property right. In his book ''Shengren'', Pattberg describes the Chinese term

Shengren ''Zhenren'' ( zh, c=真人, p=zhēnrén, w=chen-jen, l=true/ upright/ genuine person or 'person of truth') is a Chinese term that first appeared in the '' Zhuangzi'' meaning "a Taoist spiritual master" in those writings, as in one who has mastere ...

found in

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

as a unique, non-European archetype of wisdom, comparable to "

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

" or "Buddha" found in

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Antisemitism and Conspiracy Theories

Pattberg uses his personal blog to spread

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

, as well as

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

, racialist and

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

views. For instance, he describes

East Asian people East Asian people (also East Asians) are the people from East Asia, which consists of China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. The total population of all countries within this region is estimated to be 1.677 billion and 21% ...

as “extreme outliers in cognitive abilities.” He further claims that

mass migration Mass migration refers to the migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small-scale migration; and also from seasonal migration, which may occur on a regular basi ...

from Africa will set European “civilization back to the

neolithic age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

.” He describes European and American countries as “terror states”, as “most censorious and domineering”, and their “caged people” as receiving “Jewish marching orders.” His

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account links the supposed “

Great Reset The Great Reset Initiative is an economic recovery plan drawn up by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was launched in June 2020, and a video featuring the then-Prince of Wales, Charles, was released ...

” to Hitlerism and likens

LGBT parenting Same-sex parenting is parenting of children by same-sex couples generally consisting of gay, lesbian, or bisexual people who are often in civil partnerships, domestic partnerships, civil unions, or same-sex marriages. Opponents of same-sex ...

Sodom and Gomorrah In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah () were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah are repeatedly invoked throughout the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical texts, and the New Testament as symbols of sin, di ...

Chinese Government Affiliation

Pattberg was broadcast on Chinese state media Beijing Television BTV as the originator for ''Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture'' under the auspices of Vice Premier

Liu Yandong Liu Yandong (; born November 1945) is a retired Chinese politician. She recently served as the Vice Premier of China, and was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party from 2007 to 2017, a State Councilor between 2007 and 201 ...

and

CCP General Secretary The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

. According to the State Council's official website, the aim is to disseminate Chinese concepts and political doctrine via

Hanban The Centre for Language Education and Cooperation () is an organization under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China tasked with "providing Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide". It is common ...

, the Office of Chinese Language Council International, academic exchanges, Western publishers such as

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

and the

Confucius Institute Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs of the state of China. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilita ...

s. Pattberg writes anti-Western propaganda for

China Daily ''China Daily'' ( zh, s=中国日报, p=Zhōngguó Rìbào) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any ...

Beijing Review ''Beijing Review'' (), previously ''Peking Review'', is China's only national news magazine in English language, English, published by the Chinese Communist Party-owned China International Publishing Group. Beijing Review has two overseas branch ...

Global Times The ''Global Times'' is a daily Chinese Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the ''People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese nationalistic pers ...

and other state media, claiming, among other things, that "no power in history has ever attained greatness by being a democracy."

Literature

* ''The East-West Dichotomy: The Conceptual Contrast Between Eastern and Western Cultures.'' Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. 2013. . * ''Shengren: Beyond Philosophy and Above Religion.'' New York: LoD Press. 2011. . * "Lingualism: A New Frontier in Culture Studies". ''Asia Pacific World.'' Tokyo: Berghahn. Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 32–35. 2013

Essays

Language Imperialism: "Democracy" in China.
''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

.'' Tokyo. Nov 17, 2011.
Translation Distort the Reality.
''

.'' Beijing. Feb 22, 2013.
Western Translations Distort China's Reality.
''

The Korea Herald ''The Korea Herald'' () is a South Korean English-language daily newspaper founded in August 1953 and published in Seoul. The editorial staff is composed of Korean and international writers and editors, with additional news coverage drawn from i ...

.'' Seoul. Apr 30, 2013.
The End of Translation.
''

Asia Times ''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kongbased English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English and ...

.'' Hong Kong. Sep 29, 2012.

Interviews

Knowledge is a Polyglot: The Future of Global Language.
''

Big Think Big Think is a multimedia web portal founded in 2007 by Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins. The site publishes interviews and round table discussions with experts from a wide range of fields. Victoria Brown is the acting CEO and Peter Hopkins is th ...

''. New York. Oct 23, 2013.
China and the West Grow Closer through Higher Education Cooperation.
''

China Today ''China Today'' (), until 1990 titled ''China Reconstructs'' (), is a monthly magazine founded in 1952 by Soong Ching-ling in association with Israel Epstein. It is published in Chinese language, English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German and ...

.'' Beijing. Sep 25, 2013.

References

External links

*
Thorsten Pattberg
at Peking University (archived 2013)
The East-West dichotomy: The Conceptual Contrast between Eastern and Western Cultures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pattberg, Thorsten J. German philologists Academic staff of Peking University 1977 births Living people German expatriates in China Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fudan University alumni Peking University alumni