Tsinghua University alumnus, renowned Chinese scholar and master of Chinese learning Ji Xianlin, who was born in Shandong province in 1911, died at the age of 98 on July 11th in Beijing. Professor Ji was primarily known for his linguistic research on ancient Indian languages, literature and history.
Ji Xianlin is best remembered for his research achievements in the study of ancient Indian aboriginal languages, the early languages of Buddhism, and Sanskrit literature. Professor Ji, who was proficient in 12 foreign languages, also translated works from ancient Indian and the early languagesof Buddhism into Chinese.
In 1930, Ji was admitted to Tsinghua University with a Western literature major. In 1935, he went to Germany as an exchange student to study ancient Sanskrit , Pali, and Tocharian.He received his PhD in 1941 and returned to China in 1946. He served as a professor in the Department of Oriental Studies at Peking University from 1946 to 1983. In 1956, Professor Ji was elected a commissioner of the Chinese Academy of Science's Department of Social Science. In 1978, he became Vice President of Peking University and Director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Research Institute on South Asia.
Ji Xianlin's collected works include 24 volumes of translations of literary works, essays, research articles and monographs on ancient Indian languages, Buddhism, and comparative and folk literature.
Tsinghua University President Gu Binglin and Tsinghua Vice President Chen Xu attended the activity to mourn Ji's passing away in a mourning hall set up at Peking University on July 13th.
