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Henri Maspero (December 15, 1882 - March 17, 1945) was a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 sinologist, today particularly remembered for his pioneering works on Taoism
Taoism

Taoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts. These traditions have influenced East Asia for over two thousand years and some have spread to the West....
.

r studies in history and literature, in 1905 he joined his father (Egyptologist Gaston Maspero
Gaston Maspero

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero was a France Egyptologist....
) in Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
, and later published the study Les Finances de l'Egypte sous les Lagides. After returning to Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 in 1907, he studied the Chinese language
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 under Édouard Chavannes
Édouard Chavannes

?douard Chavannes was a France sinologist.He is best known for his translations from Sima Qian's Shiji , sections of the Hou Hanshu relating to the 'Western Regions', the Weil?e, his studies of Han dynasty stone carvings , his detailed study of Tang historical texts on the Turks, , and for his studies of Chinese religion ....
 and law at Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales

The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales is located in Paris, France. It was founded in 1795 under the French Revolution and is now one of the country's Grands ?tablissements with a specialization in African, Asian, East European, Oceanian languages and civilisations....
.






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Henri Maspero (December 15, 1882 - March 17, 1945) was a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 sinologist, today particularly remembered for his pioneering works on Taoism
Taoism

Taoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts. These traditions have influenced East Asia for over two thousand years and some have spread to the West....
.

Biography

After studies in history and literature, in 1905 he joined his father (Egyptologist Gaston Maspero
Gaston Maspero

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero was a France Egyptologist....
) in Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
, and later published the study Les Finances de l'Egypte sous les Lagides. After returning to Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 in 1907, he studied the Chinese language
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 under Édouard Chavannes
Édouard Chavannes

?douard Chavannes was a France sinologist.He is best known for his translations from Sima Qian's Shiji , sections of the Hou Hanshu relating to the 'Western Regions', the Weil?e, his studies of Han dynasty stone carvings , his detailed study of Tang historical texts on the Turks, , and for his studies of Chinese religion ....
 and law at Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales

The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales is located in Paris, France. It was founded in 1795 under the French Revolution and is now one of the country's Grands ?tablissements with a specialization in African, Asian, East European, Oceanian languages and civilisations....
. In 1908, he went to Hanoi
Hanoi

Hanoi , estimated population 3,398,889 , is the Capital of Vietnam. From 1010 until 1802, with a few brief interruptions, it was the political centre of an independent Vietnam....
, studying at the École française d'Extrême-Orient
École française d'Extrême-Orient

The ?cole fran?aise d'Extr?me-Orient is a France institute dedicated to the study of Asian societies. Translated into English, it approximately means the French School of the Far East....
.

In 1918 he succeeded Chavannes in the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France
Collège de France

The Coll?ge de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Ecoles....
. He published his monumental La Chine Antique in 1927. During the following years he replaced Marcel Granet
Marcel Granet

Marcel Granet was a France sociologist, ethnologist and sinologist. As a follower of Emile Durkheim and ?douard Chavannes, Granet was one of the first to bring sociological methods to the study of China....
 for the chair of Chinese civilisation at Sorbonne
Sorbonne

The name Sorbonne is commonly used to refer to the historic University of Paris in Paris, France or one of its successor institutions , but this is a recent usage, and "Sorbonne" has actually been used with different meanings over the centuries....
, directed the department of Chinese religions at the École Pratique des Hautes Études
École Pratique des Hautes Études

The ?cole pratique des hautes ?tudes is a university in Paris, France. It is part of the University of Paris.The EPHE was created on 31 July 1868, by a decree of Victor Duruy, French Minister of Public Education, and is presently, "a grand institution of higher learning" according to the French Ministry of Education....
, and was selected a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

The Acad?mie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a France learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France....
.

Accused by the occupying German force of involvement with the French Resistance
French Resistance

File:Croix de Lorraine2.svgThe French Resistance is the collective name used for the French resistance movements which fought against the Nazi Germany German occupation of France in World War II and the collaborationist Vichy Regime during World War II....
 he was interned in Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp

Buchenwald concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camps established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany , in July 1937, and one of the largest and first camps on German soil....
 during the Second World War, where he died.

Besides his pioneering works on Chinese history and religions, he also made great contributions to historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology

Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese language from the past. As Chinese characters is written with logogram, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably from those employed in, for example, Indo-European languages linguistics....
 for his works Le dialecte de Tch'ang-ngan sous les T'ang (1920) and Préfixes et dérivation en chinois archaïque (1930).

His Le Taoïsme et les religions chinoises was published in 1971 as volume II of his Mélanges posthumes. It was published in English (as translated by Frank A. Kierman, Jr.) in 1981 under the title Taoism and Chinese Religion, in 9 Books:-
  • Book I :
  • Book II :
  • Book III :
  • Book IV : "How Buddhism was Introduced into China"
  • Book V :
  • Book VI : "The Poet Hsi K'ang and the Club of Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove"
  • Book VII : "An Essay on Taoism in the First Centuries A. D.", in 4 parts :-
  • Part 1 :
  • Part 2 :
  • Part 3 : "Taoism and the Beginnings of Buddhism in China"
  • Part 4 :
  • Book VIII :
  • Book IX : "Methods of "Nourishing the Vital Principle" in the Ancient Taoist Religion", in 3 parts :-
  • Part 1 :
  • Part 2 :
  • Part 3 : "Gymnastics, Tao-yin"


See also

  • François Maspero
    François Maspero

    Fran?ois Maspero ) is a France author and journalist, best known as an editing for leftist books in the 1970s. He has also worked as a translator, translating the works of Joseph Conrad and John Reed , author of Ten Days that Shook the World, among others....
    , his son, writer and famous editor


External links

  • Some of his are available free online courtesy of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
    Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

    The Universit? du Qu?bec ? Chicoutimi is a branch of the Universit? du Qu?bec founded in 1969 and based in the Chicoutimi, Quebec borough of Saguenay, Quebec....