Cecilia Lindqvist (Chinese name: Lin Xili 林西莉; 4 June 1932 – 28 September 2021) was a Swedish

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

. She was a professor and author of several books on China.

Biography

Cecilia Norman was born in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

in 1932. She was interested in China because it had such a long history. She first visited the country when she was 28 with letters of recommendation including one from the King of Sweden. She went to see all the porcelain and paintings she had read about and to study the country. She also learnt to play the stringed instrument called the ''

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

''. She ate the same diet as her hosts which was low in protein. Lindvqist became ill and she lost her hair but continued to study. She was married to

Sven Lindqvist Sven Oskar Lindqvist (28 March 1932 – 14 May 2019) was a prolific Swedish author whose 35 books range from essays, aphorisms, autobiography, and documentary prose to travel and reportage. He was educated at Stockholm University, and spent a ye ...

from 1956 to 1986. They wrote books on China together that were published in 1964, 1979 and 1980. In 1970 she was working as a teacher when they asked if anyone could teach Chinese. Lindqvist rose to the challenge and taught 18 students successfully for the first year. in 1974 she started to write the book ''Kingdom of Characters'' which was not complete until 1989. She won the ''

August Prize The August Prize ( sv, Augustpriset) is an annual Swedish literary prize awarded each year since 1989 by the Swedish Publishers' Association. The prize is awarded to the best Swedish book of the year, in three categories. Prize In the years 1989- ...

'' for that book and she is one of the few authors to have been given that award twice. In 1991 she wrote a book entitled ''China: Empire of Living Symbols'' which traces how Chinese characters used today can be traced back to

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

markings made on bone. Her 2006 book entitled ''

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

'' is about the seven-stringed zither that Lindqvist had first seen in China in 1961. She died on 27 September 2021.

Works

* ''China from the Inside'' (with

) (1963) * ''Asian Experience'' (with

) (1964) * ''Traveling with Aaron'' (1969) * ''What Would Mao Say?'' (with

) (1979) * ''China'' (with

) (1980) * ''Characters Kingdom'' (Bonnier, 1989). * ''China: Empire of Living Symbols'' (1991) * ''Qin'' (Albert Bonnier, 2006).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindqvist, Cecilia 1932 births 2021 deaths Swedish sinologists People from Lund August Prize winners