Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat. 1822. “Lettre au rédacteur sur l’état et les progrès de la littérature chinoise en Europe.” Journal asiatique. November 1822. pp. 279–292.
Abel-Rémusat accepts the invitation from the JA to summarize the year’s progress in the field. Since this is the first issue, he takes on a much bigger task, recounting the history of Sinology in Europe over the past sixty years.
He criticizes the early missionaries, who believed it impossible to learn Chinese in a single lifespan, and who, despite having some success, never endeavored to pass on their knowledge. Their methods were unsystematic and primitive:
| L’analise la plus simple, la méthode la plus naturelle leur étaient inconnues. On avait fait des caractères chinois comme des hiéroglyphes mystérieux, qu’on ne pouvait entendre que par une sorte de divination. … leurs essais si vantés alors sont maintenant tombés dans un oubli mérité. | The most simple analysis, the most natural method were unknown to them. They regarded Chinese characters as mysterious hieroglyphs, which one could not understand without some sort of divination. … their much-vaunted works are nowadays buried in well-deserved obscurity. [p. 280] |
Scholars like Étienne Fourmont were a little better, but even Fourmont maintained a snobbish attitude, exaggerating the difficulties of his labor. His students, Joseph de Guignes (1721–1800) and Michel Ange André Le Roux Deshauterayes (1724–1795) were unfortunately stingy:
| On ne voit pas surtout qu’ils aient rien fait pour se donner des successeurs ou des collaborateurs. Il semblait que le mérite de savoir le chinois fût plus grand quand on le possédait seul. On s’en montrait jaloux, comme d’un trésor qui eût perdu à être partagé. | One cannot really see that they did anything at all to pass on [their knowledge] to successors or collaborators. It seems that the merit of knowing Chinese was greater when they alone possessed it. They seemed jealous of it, as if it were a treasure that they would lose if it were shared [p. 281]. |
And so after de Guignes died in 1800, French sinology languished:
| L’étude du chinois redevint ce qu’elle avait été avant lui, une étude mystérieuse, vague et insignifiante. On s’occupa de minuties; on annonça des dictionnaires sans avoir lu un seul livre; on vanta les beautés de la langue sans la savoir; on disputa sans fin sur la forme et l’orthographe des caractères; on en inséra dans de petites dissertations, pour éblouir les lecteurs et en imposer sur la nullité du fonds par la magie de ces brillans accessoires. | The study of Chinese became again what it was before, a mysterious field, vague and insignificant. People occupied themselves with minutiae; they published dictionaries without reading a single book; they praised the beauty of the language without knowing it; they endlessly debated the form and orthography of the characters; they involved themselves in petty debates, in order to dazzle their audience and to cover up their fundamental vacuity with the magic of their flashy sideshows. [pp. 281–282]. |
Thankfully, the moment is approaching when students with some energy and dedication can learn Chinese responsibly. This is thanks to the publication of the dictionary of the Franciscan father Basilio da Gemona (1648–1704), which de Guignes had ripped off and published under his own name. (Abel-Rémusat delicately skirts this issue, saying only that de Guignes “took the trouble to get it published.”) The creation of a chair of Chinese language and literature at the Royal College of France is also cause for some optimism.
Abel-Rémusat praises the work of the British Protestant missionaries, like Robert Morrison. But the British books published in India rarely circulate in Europe, so they are of little use. Abel-Rémusat appeals to the French spirit of competition with the British:
| Les Anglais ont plus fait que nous dans ces derniers tems; car leurs travaux sur la langue chinoise sont maintenant au niveau des nôtres, et nous avons beaucoup à travailler pour soutenir la réputation de supériorité que nos missionnaires nous avaient acquise, et que W. Jones lui-même avait reconnue. | The British have done more than us recently; but their works on the Chinese language are still at the same level as ours, and we have much work to do to sustain the reputation of superiority which our missionaries have acquired for us, and which W[illiam] Jones himself recognized. [p. 284]. |
Abel-Rémusat calls for a greater spirit of cooperation and scholarly interchange. He gives a wonderful summary of the problems that Orientalists must work on together. It is a fantastic summary of the field as he sees it in 1822:
| Tirer des livres chinois les matériaux d’un dictionnaire historique et géographique, comme la Bibliothèque orientale de d’Herbelot; compléter l’histoire de la Tartarie, du Tibet, de l’Inde au-delà du Gange, du Japon; étendre et rectifier nos connaissances géographiques sur l’intérieur de toutes ces contrées; traduire les livres sacrés de Bouddha, dont les originaux indiens sont vraisemblablement perdus, ceux des adorateurs du Logos (Taosse), que nos missionaires ont pour la plupart traités avec un dédain si injuste et sit mal-entendu; extraire des ouvrages encyclopédiques ou spéciaux les notions relatives à l’histoire naturelle, aux descriptions utiles, aux procédés mécaniques; faire connaître par des traductions complètes ou des analyses étendues les pièces de théâtre, les meilleurs romans, les recueils de poésie; voilà une partie de ce qu’il faudrait faire, et, j’ose le dire, de ce que nous ferons, si nos efforts, pour aplanir la route et ouvrir l’accès aux étudians, ne demeurent pas absolument infructueux. | To draw from Chinese books the materials for a historical and geographical dictionary, like the Oriental Library of d’Herbelot; to complete the history of Tartary, of Tibet, of India beyond the Ganges, of Japan; to extend and correct our geographic knowledge of the interior of all these countries; to translate the sacred texts of Buddha, of which the Indian originals are apparently lost, those of the lovers of the Logos (Taoists) which our missionaries have for the most part treated with such an unjust disdain and have poorly understood; to extract from encyclopedic or special works the concepts relevant for natural history, for useful descriptions, for mechanical procedures; to make known with complete translations or learned analyses the theatrical pieces, the better novels, the collections of poetry; this is one part of what we could accomplish, and, I dare to say, what we will accomplish, if our efforts to pave the way and open access to students do not prove completely unproductive. [p. 286–287]. |
Abel-Rémusat then speeds up his narrative, ticking off the recent accomplishments in Sinology as students have begun to learn Chinese. Many new geographical and historical facts stand out, but most striking is his claim that recent scholarship has shown that:
| On a montré les principes pythagoriciens et platoniciens enseignés par leurs philosophes avant l’époque de Platon et de Pythagore, le nom ineffable de JEHOVAH, le dogme du Logos et celui de la triade platonique, j’ai presque dit le secret des mystères, dans un ouvrage chinois du cinquième siècle avant notre ère. | They have shown that Pythagorean and Platonic principles were taught by their philosophers before the age of Plato and Pythagoras, the ineffable name of JEHOVA, the dogma of the Logos and that of the Platonic Triad, I would almost say the secret of these mysteries, in a Chinese work of the fifth century BCE [p. 290]. |
This is a wonderful example of Abel-Rémusat’s creative reading of Taoist texts.
Abel-Rémusat closes his essay by reiterating how much progress has been made in the past ten years, and he hopes that soon the Chinese language will be generally known, just like Arabic or Persian.
