Hartmut Walravens has once again acquired merit for providing another valuable tool for researchers of China related issues.Footnote 1 The present volume offers a comprehensive bibliography of the rich oeuvre of the German missionary and sinologist Richard Wilhem – considered the German James Legge – who endeavoured to change China's image in the early twentieth century from that of imminent ‘yellow peril’ for western civilisation to that of a country of great cultural achievements and a wealth of philosophic traditions. Wilhelm not only founded the Konfuzius-Gesellschaft in Qingdao in 1913 with several well-known Chinese intellectuals as its members but he was also the first director of the China-Institut which was established in 1925 at the University of Frankfurt. Although Wilhelm's many publications and activities did not remain undisputed among fellow missionaries and sinologists, his translations of Chinese classics into German have become standard works in their own right and continue to be reprinted up to this day.
The publication of the present volume coincides with the recent, resurging interest in Wilhelm as missionary and sinologist and with a revived Sino–German discourse on Wilhelm's role in shaping intercultural relations.Footnote 2
The book begins with a foreword by Hartmut Walravens in which he provides a short overview of Richard Wilhelm's numerous publication activities and highlights the many, but little known newsletters and journals published or edited by Wilhelm. Then follows a biographical essay entitled ‘Richard Wilhelm: 1920–1930’ by Thomas Zimmer which is based on a study of Wilhelm's diaries. One main focus of this essay lies on the difficulties concerning the establishment and management of the China-Institut in Frankfurt and the persons connected to it. Another section deals with Wilhelm's perception of ‘culture’ and his contributions to the ongoing ‘Kulturdiskussion’ in Germany in the 1920s. Unfortunately, Zimmers's narration – being restricted to the decade of 1920 to 1930 – starts rather abruptly and somewhat out of context. It is also regrettable, that Zimmer's essay does not address the question of how the perception of Wilhelm as sinologist, missionary and intercultural mediator has changed in recent years.
Four catalogues and several indices form the main body of the present volume. First is the comprehensive catalogue on publications by Richard Wilhelm which – on circa 100 pages – chronologically lists 600 titles by date. To some of these, annotations from Salome Wilhelm's biography of her late husband are added and for several publications a table of contents is provided.
A second, separate catalogue lists some 60 public lectures by Wilhelm as mentioned in press reports. Again, the titles are presented in chronological order according to the dates of the press reports. This catalogue bears witness to the considerable diversity of topics studied by Wilhelm and to his endeavour to reach a wide audience. The third catalogue contains circa 100 publications of selected secondary literature on Wilhelm, including book reviews and obituaries.
Finally, Walravens provides a 37 page catalogue of Wilhelm's library of Chinese books which is part of Wilhelm's written estate stored at the Archiv der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich. By documenting the Chinese works to which Wilhelm had immediate access, this catalogue invites studies, for example, on the question which Chinese works and commentaries have influenced him most.
In order to easily locate publications in the catalogues the reader finds several indices, ie. title and name indices for publications by Wilhelm, a separate title index for Wilhelm's lectures, a name index for publications on Wilhelm and two separate indices of Chinese names and book titles of Wilhelm's Chinese library. These indices are directly appended to the respective catalogues. However, one comprehensive name and one comprehensive title index instead of several separate indices might have facilitated their handling. As additional material, Walravens has published several letters by fellow theologian cum sinologist Heinrich Hackmann (1864–1935) to Wilhelm as well as letters by Chinese philosopher Ku Hung-ming/Gu Hongming (1857–1928) to Wilhelm. Whereas the letters by Ku Hung-ming shed light on Ku's perception of the west and of inter-cultural dialogue and thus make interesting reading, the letters by Hackmann mainly contain matters of private travel arrangements and invitations for public presentations extended to Wilhelm. accordingly, Hackmann's letters appear to be rather superfluous in comparison.
Minor weaknesses aside, the present volume is commended as a valuable tool that will greatly facilitate future studies in the field of the history of sinology in Germany, Richard Wilhelm's contribution to the translation of Chinese classics into German and his influence on the perception of China in Germany or vice versa. Furthermore, it will also be of interest to scholars who wish to study certain aspects of (German) Protestant missionary work in China.
