Centenary Recollection

Wei Li Xian, originally named Richard Wilhelm, was send to the new colony Klautschou (namely Qingdao) to work for the church by the AUgemeiner Evangelisch—Protestatischer Missionverein in 1899. When he came to China he was a Christian missionary, but when he left China he had become a Confucian follower, and when he went back to German he devoted himself to disseminating Chinese culture and became a famous sinologue. The author of this thesis had chosen Wei Li Xian as the object of study and did researches into his life experiences, works and academic achievements therefore explained his disposition and moral characters, the way he contacted, learned and believed in Confucianism as well as the process of his becoming a sinologue, his sinology academic achievements and the great influence on western sinology. Through the research on Wei Li Xian, we not only learned his sincere affection towards China and Chinese people, his profound understanding towards Chinese traditional thoughts and cultural, but also learned his substantive endeavor to mediate the contradictions between the two sides of China and German when he was in Qingdao as well as his contributions to disseminate Chinese culture and promote the culture exchange between China and German when he went back to German.Wei Li Xian is a sinologist filled with the affection to China, hence he should be highly valued in China. In the study of Wei Li Xian, the author has saw a society situations in the big reform period of China from eyes of a foreigner, found out the influence and assimilation of the traditional Chinese culture, meanwhile, identified his contribution to the German sinology. It is hoped that the study of German Sinologist, Wei Li Xian, can promote communication and understanding between Qingdao and German, China and German.