Jacques Gernet (; zh, t=謝和耐, p=Xiè Hénài; 22 December 1921, Algiers,

French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...

– 3 March 2018,

Vannes Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic ...

) was an eminent French

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 ...

of the second half of the 20th century. His best-known work is ''The Chinese Civilization'', a 900-page summary of Chinese history and civilization which has been translated into many languages.

Biography

Jacques was the son of Louis Gernet (1882–1962). Gernet obtained a degree in classics at the University of Algiers in 1942. He then served in

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 ...

from 1942 to 1945. After the war, he started to study the Chinese language. In 1947, he received his degree in Chinese from the National School of Oriental Languages and, in 1948, from the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE). He then became a member of the

French School of the Far East The French School of the Far East (, ; also translated as The French School of Asian StudiesPreferred translation by EFEO staff. SeEFEO official website), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of ...

, before being a researcher at

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

and Scholar of the

Yomiuri Shimbun The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...

in Japan. He received his Doctor of Letters in 1956. From 1955 to 1976, Gernet served as director of studies at the EPHE, VIe section, then at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. He taught Chinese language and culture at the Faculty of Arts of the Sorbonne in 1957, first as a lecturer, then as professor starting in 1959. In 1968, he founded the Unit of teaching and research of languages and civilizations of East Asia ( University of Paris-VII), and was its director until 1973. He entered the Collège de France, where he was chair in social and

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

of China from 1975 to 1992. For Rolf Stein, Gernet was "the only French sinologist who truly studied all aspects of Chinese civilization and who dominated it entirely". Gernet died in Vannes on 3 March 2018.

Distinctions

* 1979: Member of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

* Chevalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

Publications

* 1949 : ''Entretiens du maître de dhyâna Chen-houei du Ho-tsö (668-760)'', Hanoi, EFEO (PEFEO, 31). * 1956 : ''Les Aspects économiques du bouddhisme dans la société chinoise du Ve au Xe siècle'', Saigon, EFEO (PEFEO, 39). † * 1959 : ''La Vie quotidienne en Chine à la veille de l'invasion mongole'', Paris, Hachette. † * 1970 : ''Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale, fonds Pelliot de Touen-houang, vol. 1'', Paris, Bibliothèque nationale. With Wu Chi-yü. * 1972 : ''Le Monde chinois'', Paris, A. Colin. † Translated as ''A History of Chinese Civilization,'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. (2nd ed.)
English translation
* 1982 : ''Chine et christianisme, action et réaction'', Paris, Gallimard. † * 1991 : ''Tang Zhen, Écrits d'un sage encore inconnu'', Paris, Gallimard. * 1994 : ''L'Intelligence de la Chine : le social et le mental'', Paris, Gallimard. * 2005 : ''La Raison des choses: Essai sur la philosophie de Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692)'', Paris, Gallimard. † Translated into English.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gernet, Jacques French sinologists 1921 births 2018 deaths French military personnel of World War II Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres People from Algiers University of Algiers alumni Academic staff of the University of Paris Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Academic staff of the Collège de France Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) French people of colonial Algeria