HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Endymion Porter Wilkinson (born 15 May 1941) is a British
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
and diplomat who served as the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
Ambassador to China and Mongolia from 1994 to 2001. He is particularly noted for '' Chinese History: A New Manual'', the first version of which appeared in 1973, an authoritative guide to Sinology and Chinese history for which he was awarded the Prix Stanislas Julien for 2014. The 2022 revised and enlarged Sixth Edition (Fiftieth Anniversary Edition) consists of two volumes, 1.7-million-words, covering topics, primary sources, and scholarship from earliest times to 1976.


Early life and education

Wilkinson was born in the parish of Westmeston near
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...
, England, and educated at
Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School ( ) is an elite co-educational Private school (United Kingdom), private school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip, Duke of Ed ...
School and
King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
where he studied History and Oriental Studies (BA 1964; MA 1966). Shortly before graduation he was recruited by the Chinese government to teach English in Beijing at the Peking Institute of Languages. His two-year contract (1964–1966) ended just as the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
was beginning. From Beijing, he went to
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
where, in 1970, he completed a PhD in Chinese history under James T.C. Liu and Frederick W. Mote.


Career

From 1970 to 1974, Wilkinson was lecturer in the History of the Far East at the
School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
(SOAS), University of London (the official history of SOAS refers to him as "the most promising Sinologist of the early 1970s"). However, when he began teaching there he still felt unprepared. He did not know, he recalled many years later, what to tell his graduate students about the Zhou or Shang dynasties, about which he felt his knowledge would about "fill an eye dropper." As a research fellow at
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 ...
in 1971, Wilkinson mentioned to John Fairbank, a senior Harvard scholar, that he was gathering notes on Chinese history. Fairbank offered to publish them, and the 1973 ''Research Guide'' appeared in due course.Carla Nappi
New Books in East Asian Studies
University of British Columbia, 8 March 2013.
During these years he also translated two books from the Chinese: one popular (''The People's Comic Book''); the other, academic (''Landlord and Labor in Late Imperial China''). While on academic study leave in 1974, Wilkinson was asked by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
to find the building and recruit the local staff for the EU's permanent diplomatic delegation to Japan. Shortly thereafter, he quit academe, joined the commission's External Relations Directorate General and was posted to Tokyo as First Secretary (Economic) during the intensification of EU-Japan trade frictions (1974–1979). In 1980, Wilkinson published ''Gokai'' 誤解 (Misunderstanding). In it, he examined both sides of the trade frictions coin: Were Japanese successes on US and European markets due to the fact that Westerners were lazy and ignorant about Japanese markets (in sharp contrast to the Japanese who were industrious and well-informed about the West), as many Japanese argued? Or was Japan deliberately keeping its markets closed and therefore operating with an unfair advantage (as many Westerners claimed)? For a brief period in the Summer of 1980, the book became the number one non-fiction best seller in Japan. It was also made into a four-hour TV documentary by TBS (
Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...
). The series was presented by Wilkinson and featured numerous interview subjects including French anthropologist
Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...
and Eugen Loderer, Chairman of IG Metall (the Union of German Metal Workers). The program also featured actors
Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; 8 November 1935 – 18 August 2024) was a French actor, film producer, screenwriter, singer, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic leading man of the 20th century, Delon emerged as one of ...
and Keiko Kishi. It was broadcast in Tokyo on 9–12 March 1980 and in the rest of Japan that April. ''Gokai'' was also published in new expanded editions in English, Italian, German, Chinese, and French. By 1992, it had sold a total of 250,000 copies. The book was well received, not only in Japan, but also in Europe and America: "This wry history of how each side has caricatured the other serves as an introduction to the topic which dominates relations today: trade. Neither side gets off lightly" wrote the ''Economist'' reviewer. The editor of the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', Jürgen Eicke suggested the book was "Essential for everyone in economic circles who has any contact with Japan." "Both well-informed and witty..." wrote
Claude Levi-Strauss Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), ...
, "I learned a great deal from it and it gave me food for thought too." James Fallows, writing in the ''
New York Review of Books New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
'', skipped the economic arguments and while praising Wilkinson's discussion of Japanese and Western images of each other, objected that his approach "pushes him toward the bizarre position of implying that the more often foreigners have observed a certain trait about Japan, the more likely it is to be false, not true." In 1975, Wilkinson was sent by the European Commission to Beijing to make preparations for and participate in the talks between Christopher Soames and
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
leading to the establishment of EU-China diplomatic relations. Wilkinson later served as head of the China desk in Brussels (1979–1982) and took part in many official talks in Beijing with China's most senior leaders. In 1981, he produced the blueprint for the forerunner of the China Europe International Business School. Between 1982 and 1987, he was DCM (Deputy Chief of Mission) in the EU's Bangkok Delegation (covering most of the Southeast Asian countries). Before becoming a director of the European Commission and his appointment as EU Ambassador to China in 1994, Wilkinson served as head of the Southeast Asia and Asia divisions in the commission (1988–1994). Among his activities at this time was the launch of a $100 million program to provide loans to 170,000
Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...
refugees to enable them to start businesses on returning to Vietnam. As ambassador to China, Wilkinson proposed and later oversaw the switching of the focus of EU grant aid to China from agricultural projects (notably the development of dairy farming) to all forms of education (notably the founding of the China Europe International Business School EIBSin Shanghai). During his seven years as ambassador EU grant aid to China increased very substantially (to 250 million euro). Wilkinson also served as the deputy head under Pascal Lamy of the European Commission negotiating team for China's entry into the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
. After taking early retirement from the European Commission in 2001, Wilkinson lectured at Harvard (2001–2006), at
Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...
(2005), and at
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 ...
(2011–12). He has also been a visiting professor at Chinese Language and Culture University (1999–), and at Peking University (2001–2004; 2006–2014). He is currently an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center, Harvard (2006–). His main publications from 1998 have been progressive updates and expansions of his manual of Chinese history, of which, since the publication of the preliminary edition (titled ''Research Guide'') in 1973, over 35,000 copies have been sold (including 13,000 copies of the Chinese-language edition). The Enlarged Sixth (Fiftieth Anniversary) edition appeared in two volumes in 2022.


Books

* – (translator), * * * – (translator), * * * * * * * * * * * 3 vols. * * 2nd edition. * 2 vols.


Speeches and articles

Wilkinson has delivered more than 300 speeches on East and Southeast Asian current affairs at the UN and other international fora. In addition, he has also lectured at many universities. Since 2001 he has preferred to incorporate his research results into his book '' Chinese History: A New Manual'' rather than publish them separately. A few exceptions are shown below.


Selected articles and chapters on China

* * * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Endymion Porter 1941 births Living people Academics of SOAS University of London Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Ambassadors of the European Union to China Ambassadors of the European Union to Mongolia British officials of the European Union British sinologists Harvard University staff Historians of China Historians of Japan People educated at Gordonstoun Princeton University alumni