Jan Julius Lodewijk Duyvendak (28 June 18899 July 1954) was a Dutch

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 professor of

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

. He is known for his translation of ''

The Book of Lord Shang The ''Book of Lord Shang'' () is an ancient Chinese text from the 3rd century BC, regarded as a foundational work of " Chinese Legalism". The earliest surviving of such texts (the second being the ''Han Feizi''), it is named for and to some exte ...

'' and his studies of the ''

Dao De Jing The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated po ...

''. He was co-editor of the renowned sinology journal ''

T'oung Pao ''T'oung Pao'' (; ), founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology. It is published by the publisher E. J. Brill. ''T'oung Pao'' original full title was ''T'oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l'étude de l ...

'' with French scholar

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...

for several decades.

Life

J. J. L. Duyvendak was born on 28 June 1889 in

Harlingen, Netherlands Harlingen (; ) is a municipality and a city in the northern Netherlands, in the province of Friesland. Overview Harbor Harlingen is located on a tip of the Friesland coast that sticks out a bit into the Wadden Sea. Harlingen's location ...

. He matriculated at Leiden University as an undergraduate where he studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

, and was soon introduced to Chinese by Dutch sinologist J.J.M. de Groot. In 1910 Duyvendak moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he began more advanced studies in Chinese under

Édouard Chavannes Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was a French sinologist and expert on Chinese history and religion, and is best known for his translations of major segments of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' ...

and

Henri Cordier Henri Cordier (8 August 184916 March 1925) was a French linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, editor and Orientalist. He was President of the Société de Géographie ( French, "Geographical Society") in Paris.interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

at the Dutch embassy in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

before gaining a position at Leiden University in 1919. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Duyvendak worked to protect Jews living in the Netherlands from

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forces. Duyvendak became a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1931. In 1942, Duyvendak published one of the first articles in a Western language on the Crab Nebula supernova as observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054 during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

Published works

* ''The Book of Lord Shang'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928 * "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century". In: ''

'', 1938 * "Further Data Bearing on the Identification of the Crab Nebula with the Supernova of 1054 AD: Part I, the Ancient Oriental Chronicles", ''Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific'' 54, no. 318, 1942, pp. 91–94. * Tao Te Ching, ''The Book of the Way and Its Virtue'', London: John Murray, 1954

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Short bio of Duyvendak at UMass Amherst

1889 births 1954 deaths Dutch sinologists 20th-century Dutch translators Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University People from Harlingen, Netherlands Translators from Chinese Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Rectors of universities in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-academic-bio-stub