Vasily Pavlovich Vasilyev or Wassiljew (Василий Павлович Васильев; 1818-1900) was the preeminent Russian Sinologist of the 19th Century. Vasiliev was born in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

and entered the Oriental department of the

Kazan University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

in 1834. It was the first school of

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

in Russia. During a ten years' residence at the Peking Orthodox Mission (1840-50) Vasiliev was able to study a number of obscure

Buddhist 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 ...

manuscripts. Back in Russia in 1850, he was offered the chair in Chinese philology at the university of Kazan. He was elected into the

Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in 1886 and was in charge of the Department of Oriental Studies at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

between 1878 and 1893. Vasiliev's

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

is a three-volume history of Buddhism (1857, 1860, 1865). The first volume was quickly translated into German and French. Another important work, ''Islam in China'', did not appear in English until 1958.Translated into English by R. Lowenthal, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 1958. Some of Vasiliev's most ambitious works remained unpublished and were destroyed through the negligence of his domestics. His grandson Nicolai A. Vasiliev (1880-1940) was a noted logician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasiliev, Vasily 1818 births 1900 deaths Writers from Nizhny Novgorod People from Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Russian sinologists Russian scholars of Buddhism Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Kazan Federal University