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5 - The role of British missionary scholars in setting the foundations for the academic study of Chinese in British universities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2024

Dan Savatovsky
Affiliation:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
Mariangela Albano
Affiliation:
Università di Cagliari, Sardinia
Thi Kieu Ly Pham
Affiliation:
Vietnam National University
Valérie Spaëth
Affiliation:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
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Summary

Abstract: This chapter explores the role that British missionary scholars played in laying the foundations for future university-based study and teaching of Chinese. The seminal role of the London Missionary Society is highlighted and discussed in association with Nonconformist academies that were flourishing during the late eighteenth century. We argue that the origin of Chinese language studies in Britain is not to be found within universities during the nineteenth century but instead can be traced to dissenting missionary academies where very high levels of academic teaching and intellectual endeavor were characteristic features of their practice. In particular, we discuss some of the pioneers working at the beginning of the nineteenth century, who together helped to lay the foundations for future academic teaching and learning of Chinese in British universities.

Résumé : Dans ce chapitre, nous étudions le rôle joué par les missionnaires britanniques pour jeter les bases de l’étude et de l’enseignement du chinois a l’université. Nous mettons en lumiere le rôle fondamental de la London Missionary Society en rapport avec celui des académies non-conformistes qui étaient florissantes à la fin du dix-huitieme siecle. Nous montrons qu’au dix-neuvieme siecle l’origine des études chinoises en Grande-Bretagne ne se trouve pas dans les universités, mais qu’elle peut etre retracée dans les académies missionnaires dissidentes, dont la pratique se caractérisait par un niveau élevé d’enseignement et d’effort intellectuel. Nous évoquons en particulier certains des pionniers travaillant au début du dix-neuvieme siecle, qui ont contribué à jeter les bases de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage futurs du chinois dans les universités britanniques.

Keywords: Chinese language studies. Missionary imperialism. British missionary scholars. British Orientalist studies.

Mots-clés: Histoire des études chinoises. Impérialisme missionnaire. Savants missionnaires britanniques. Orientalisme britannique.

The work of a small number of Nonconformist missionaries, linked to a particular training academy, laid the philological and intellectual foundation for subsequent Chinese language studies in British universities. Their work and influence were also the basis for ever-growing interest in and familiarity with the classical literary canon of China and facilitated ever widening engagement with the Chinese language of British administrators and those with commercial interests.

Type
Chapter
Information
Language Learning and Teaching in Missionary and Colonial Contexts
L'apprentissage et l'enseignement des langues en contextes missionnaire et colonial
, pp. 215 - 242
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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