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STANISLAS JULIEN (1797?-1873)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 551 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STANISLAS See also:

JULIEN (1797?-1873)  , See also:French orientalist, was See also:born at See also:Orleans, probably on the 13th of See also:April 1797 . Stanislas See also:Julien, a mechanic of Orleans, had two sons, See also:Noel, born on the 13th of April 1797, and Stanislas, born on the loth of See also:September 1799 . It appears that the younger son died in See also:America, and that Noel then adopted his See also:brother's name . He studied See also:classics at the See also:college de See also:France, and in 1821 was appointed assistant See also:professor of See also:Greek . In the same See also:year he published an edition of the `EMv s dpira-y of See also:Coluthus, with versions in French, Latin, See also:English, See also:German, See also:Italian and See also:Spanish . He attended the lectures of See also:Abel See also:Remusat on See also:Chinese, and his progress was as rapid as it had been in other See also:languages . From the first, as if by See also:intuition, he mastered the See also:genius of the See also:language; and in 1824 he published a Latin See also:translation of a See also:part of the See also:works of See also:Mencius (See also:Mang-tse), one of the nine classical books of the Chinese . Soon afterwards he translated the See also:modern Greek odes of Kalvos under the See also:title of La See also:Lyre patriotique de la Grece . But such works were not profitable in a commercial sense, and, being without any patrimony, Julien was glad to accept the assistance of See also:Sir See also:William See also:Drummond and others, until in 1827 he was appointed sub-librarian to the French See also:institute . In 1832 he succeeded Remusat as professor of Chinese at the college de France . In 1833 he was elected a member of the Academie See also:des See also:Inscriptions in the See also:place of the orientalist, See also:Antoine See also:Jean See also:Saint-See also:Martin . For some years his studies had been directed towards the dramatic and lighter literature of the Chinese, and in rapid See also:succession he now brought out See also:translations of the Hoei-lan-ki(L'Histoire du cercle de craie), a See also:drama in which occurs a See also:scene curiously analogous to the See also:judgment of See also:Solomon; the Pih shay tsing ki; and the Tchao-chi kou eul, upon which See also:Voltaire had founded his Orphelin de la Chine (1755) .

With the versatility which belonged to his genius, he next turned, apparently without difficulty, to the very different See also:

style See also:common to Taoist writings, and translated in 1835 Le Livre des recompenses et des peines of Lao-tsze . About this See also:time the cultivation of silkworms was beginning to attract See also:attention in France, and by See also:order of the See also:minister of See also:agriculture Julien compiled, in 1837, a Resume des principaux traites chinois sur la culture des milriers, et l'See also:education des vers-d-soie, which was speedily translated into English, German, Italian and See also:Russian . Nothing was more characteristic of his method of studying Chinese than his See also:habit of See also:collecting every peculiarity of See also:idiom and expression which he met with in his See also:reading; and, in order that others might reap the benefit of his experiences, he published in 1841 Discussions grammaticales sur certaines regles de position qui, en'chinois, jouent le name role que See also:les inflexions clans les autres langues, which he followed in 1842 by Exercices pratiques d'analyse, de syntaxe, et de lexigraphie chinoise . Meanwhile in 1839, he had been appointed See also:joint keeper of the Bibliotheque royale, with the especial superintendence of the Chinese books, and shortly afterwards he was made See also:administrator of the college de France . The facility with which he had-learned Chinese, and the success which his proficiency commanded, naturally inclined less gifted scholars to resent the impatience with which he regarded their mistakes, and at different times See also:bitter controversies arose between Julien and his See also:fellow sinologues on the one subject which they had in common . In 1842 appeared from his busy See also:pen a translation of the Tao to See also:King, the celebrated See also:work in which Lao-tsze attempted to explain his See also:idea of the relation existing between the universe and something which he called Tao, and on which the See also:religion of See also:Taoism is based . From Taoism to See also:Buddhism was a natural transition, and about this time Julien turned his attention to the Buddhist literature of See also:China, and more especially to the travels of Buddhist pilgrims to See also:India . In order that he might better understand the references to See also:Indian institutions, and the transcriptions in Chinese of See also:Sanskrit words and proper names, he began the study of Sanskrit, and in 1853 brought out his Voyages du pelerin Hiouen-tsang, which is regarded by some critics as his most valuable work . Six years later he published Les Avaddnas, conies et apologues Indiens inconnus jusqu'd ce jour, suivis de poesies et de nuvelles chinoises . For the benefit of future students he disclosed his See also:system of deciphering Sanskrit words occurring in Chinese books in his Methode pour dechiffrer et transcrire les noms sanscrits qui se rencontrent daps les livres chinois (1861) . This work, which contains much of See also:interest and importance, falls See also:short of the value which its author was accustomed to attach to it . It had escaped his observation that, since the translations of Sanskrit works into Chinese were undertaken in different parts of the See also:empire, the same Sanskrit words were of See also:necessity differently represented in Chinese characters in accordance with the dialectical See also:variations .

No hard and fast See also:

rule can therefore possibly be laid down for the decipherment of Chinese transcriptions of Sanskrit words, and the effect of this impossibility was See also:felt though not recognized by Julien, who in order to make See also:good his rule was occasionally obliged to suppose that wrong characters had by See also:mistake been introduced into the texts . His Indian studies led to a controversy with See also:Joseph See also:Toussaint See also:Reinaud, which was certainly not See also:free from the See also:gall of bitterness . Among the many subjects to which he turned his attention were the native See also:industries of China, and his work on the Histoire et fabrication de la porcelaine chinoise is likely to remain a See also:standard work on the subject . In another See also:volume he also published an See also:account of the Industries anciennes et modernes de l'empire chinois (1869), translated from native authorities . In the intervals of more serious undertakings he translated the See also:San tseu King (Le Livre des trois mots) ; Thsien tseu wen (Le Livre de mille mots) ; Les Deux cousines; Nouvelles chinoises; the Ping than See also:ling yen (Les Deux jeunes filles lettrees); and the Dialoghi Cinesi, Ji-Ich'ang k' eou-t' eou-koa . His last work of importance was Syntaxe nouvelle de la langue chinoise (1869), in which he gave the result of his study of the language, and collected a vast See also:array of facts and of idiomatic expressions . A more scientific arrangement and treatment of his subject would have added much to the value of this work, which, however, contains a mine of material which amply repays exploration . One See also:great See also:secret by which Julien acquired his grasp of Chinese, was, as we have said, his methodical collection of phrases and idiomatic expressions . Whenever in the course of his reading he met with a new phrase or expression, he entered it on a card which took its place in See also:regular order in a See also:long See also:series of boxes . At his See also:death, which took place on the 14th of See also:February 1873, he See also:left, it is said, 250,000 of such See also:cards, about the See also:fate of which, however, little seems to be known . In politics Julien was imperialist, and in 1863 he was made a See also:commander of the See also:legion of See also:honour in recognition of the services he had rendered to literature during the second empire . See See also:notice and bibliography by Wallon, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscr .

(1884), xxxi . 409-458 . (R . K .

End of Article: STANISLAS JULIEN (1797?-1873)
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