Ji Xianlin

b. 1911, Qingping, Shandong

Scholar, writer

Ji Xianlin began his career in the early 1930s with a series of studies of Western literature.

After completing his education in Germany, Ji returned to China in 1946 to become head of the Department of Oriental Languages at Peking University and one of the leading experts in Indian studies. His autobiography, Miscellaneous Memories of the Cowshed (Niupeng zayi, 1988), deals with Ji’s experiences during the Cultural Revolution. At Peking University, where the Cultural Revolution originated, the ideological struggle on the campus was extremely fierce, and as head of a department, Ji was taken to be a typical representative of the old ruling class. The most dramatic and shocking part in his memoir takes place between late 1967 and the spring of 1968 when, after a sudden change in the balance of power, Ji was beaten, put under house arrest and deprived of all rights.

THOMAS ZIMMER