Kristofer Schipper (1934; French nationality) obtained his Ph.D. in 1962, and the French State Doctorate in 1983. As Fellow of the Ecole Fran?aise d’Extrême-Orient, he did field research in China (1962-1972). He then was called to the chair of Chinese Religions at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. In 1975 he established the European Association of Chinese Studies and at its annual conference in 1976 launched the International Daozang Project of the European Science Foundation. Concomitantly with his position in Paris. Kristofer Schipper was appointed in 1993 Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University (Netherlands). Among his best known works are The Taoist Body (The University of California Press, 1994) and The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (The University of Chicago Press, 2005). Kristofer Schipper is Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. He obtained the Legion of Honor of France and was awarded the gold medal of the Friendship of the Chinese People. He moreover won the Stanislas Julien Prize of the French Academy, the China Book Special Contribution Award, etc.
Distinguished leaders, dear colleagues and friends:
I am truly honored to receive today’s World China Studies Forum Award. This high distinction is a great encouragement to all those who everywhere in the world are like me devoted to the study of Chinese culture. If indeed I might be considered to have academic achievements that would warrant me to receive the present award, these achievements are entirely due to the legacy of previous generations of those great scholars in Europe, and especially in France, who, inspired by their love of Chinese culture, have accumulated and transmitted their works to us today.
At present, this tradition continues to flourish. Not only several universities in Paris and elsewhere in France nowadays have chairs dedicated to Chinese cultural disciplines, but also many young scholars from all over the world, including from China, come to work there while at the same time being connected to Chinese academic institutions where they are engaged in similar researches. Therefore the present award should in fact belong to the ancient predecessors in Europe as well as to their young counterparts today.
As to myself, I can only say that after graduating from high school in Amsterdam, I had the good fortune to enter the University of Paris, and that this was also the beginning of my involvement with China. In 1962, I received my Ph.D.in Sinology and was recruited as a young researcher at the French Institute of Far Eastern Studies (Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient). This then allowed me to go to China and begin a new learning process.
Since then people often asked me why I spent my life studying the philosophy, history and practice of Daoism. The answer to this question is actually very simple: I did study Daoism because my teachers in France studied it and introduced it in their lectures. Indeed, China’s native philosophy and religion have been from the very beginning part of French Sinology. Stanislas Julien (1797-1873), the founding pioneer of French Sinology, who was the first one to academically teach Chinese language and culture in Europe, not only translated the Laozi, but also the Taishang ganyingpian together with its extensive commentary,
The true development of Daoist studies began with Edouard Chavannes (1865-1918) and his own students Henri Maspero (1883-1945) and Marcel Granet (1884-1940). The students of these scholars were Rolf A. Stein (1911-1999) and Maxime Kaltenmark (1910-2002), and they later became my own teachers. Because of this I have the honor to belong to the fourth generation of Daoist studies since Edouard Chavannes.
At this moment, I now would like to express my gratefulness to all those that have been instrumental in the occurrence of today’s event. First of all, let me thank Professor Zhang Daogen, President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Professor Wang Zhen, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the World China Studies Forum. I also would like to mention here Fuzhou University, which has supported me for so many years.
Allow me next to remember at this occasion Professor Zhang Furui, who sixty years ago taught me Classical Chinese. Then I must remember the above-mentioned Professors Rolf A. Stein and Maxime Kaltenmark who have guided me at all stages of my studies.
In China after 1962, Professor Rao Zongyi guided my research and later on also in France for the Daoist Canon project of the European Science Foundation; Professor Ling Chunsheng, the great ethnologist who himself was a student of Marcel Granet in Paris, should also be mentioned here. I am especially grateful to Professor Ren Jiyu, Professor Tang Yijie and Professor Hou Renzhi, as well as to a great many others that time prevents me of mentioning here by name. Last but not least I do thank my spouse Professor Dr. Yuan Bingling for all her care and support, as well as our outstanding assistant Mrs. Lu Wen.
