Berthold Laufer And His Study In Philology Of The Central Asia

Berthold Laufer (1874-1934), who contributed a lot to the study of Orientalism of America, was an excellent Sinologist, philologist in America in the early period in 20th century. As a representative of the Micro-Sinology of America, his studies was comprehensive and micro. Especially, his study in philology was the most attractive and successful. However, it is a pity that there were few scholars in China who have paid attention to Laufer's study in philology. This paper is aimed at introduction of Laufer's study in philology, which takes the study of Tokharian, Tibetan and Si-Hia language for examples. The paper is composed of four parts. Part 1 is to explain the significance of this paper and the study of prior scholars. Part 2 is about Laufer's biography, which is divided into three periods that in Germany, New York and Chicago. Part 3 is about Laufer's study in philology of Central Asia which is based on Laufer's relative masterpieces. Part 4 is a summary of the traits of Laufer's study in philology and his contribution to American Orientalism. Besides, there is a appendix of Laufer's bibliography.