Hans Henrik August Bielenstein (8 April 1920 − 8 March 2015) was a Swedish sinologist and Dean Lung Professor

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

specialising in the history of the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

Life

Hans Henrik August Bielenstein was born on 8 April 1920 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. He attended private school in Stockholm and took the matriculation exam in 1939. After the outbreak of the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, 1939–40, he joined the Swedish Voluntary Corps as a commando and fought the Russians in

Finnish Lapland Lapland ( fi, Lappi ; se, Lappi; smn, Laapi; sv, Lappland; la, Lapponia, links=no) is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North O ...

. After his return, he entered the

Guards Regiment Guards units (russian: Гвардия, translit=Gvardiya) were elite units and formations in the Soviet Armed Forces that continue to exist in the Russian Armed Forces and other post-Soviet states. These units were awarded Guards status after ...

. In 1945, he decided to devote himself to Chinese studies and took a Ph.D. in

Sinology 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 th ...

at the

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

. He studied history and oriental studies under the tutelage of the renowned

Bernhard Karlgren Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducte ...

. He earned his master's degree in 1945 and his licentiate in 1947. He spent the year of 1952 as a research visitor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1952, Bielenstein was appointed head of the School of Oriental Languages in

Canberra University College Canberra University College was a tertiary education institution established in Canberra by the Australian government and the University of Melbourne in 1930. At first it operated in the Telopea Park School premises after hours. Most of the initi ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

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(since 1960 part of

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

). Bielenstein was the first professor of modern or classical Chinese language anywhere in Australia. As Head of the School of Oriental Studies, he built up departments for the languages, literatures, and history of China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India. In 1961, he moved to Columbia University in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. From 1969 to 1977 he was chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. He was a

Guggenheim fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1967–1968, became a Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Literature, History, and Antiquity of Sweden in 1980, and was appointed to the Dean Lung Chair of Chinese at Columbia University in 1985. From 1994 to 1995, he was the Master of

Holland Lodge Holland Lodge No. 1 AF&AM is the oldest Masonic lodge in Texas and a founding subordinate member of the Grand Lodge of Texas. The lodge was originally chartered by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana on 27 January 1836, making it older than the Republic o ...

. He retired in 1990, and celebrated his 61st wedding anniversary in 2015. Bielenstein's many books and articles were concerned with Chinese,

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

, history, and

demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

. His area of concentration was the administrative and economic history of early imperial China from the Han Dynasty to the

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. Along with the works of

Michael Loewe Michael Arthur Nathan Loewe (born 2 November 1922) is a British Sinologist, historian, and writer who has authored dozens of books, articles, and other publications in the fields of Classical Chinese as well as the history of ancient and ear ...

, Bielenstein's ''Bureaucracy of Han Times'' (1980) is one of the most important English-language works on the government of the Han Dynasty. He died in New York City on 8 March 2015. He remained a Swedish citizen until his death.

Selected publications

* 4 vols. ''BMFEA'' 26: 1–209. 1954; 31: 1–287. 1959; 39:1–198. 1967; 51: 1–300. 1979. * Co-authored with Nathan Sivin. * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bielenstein, Hans 1920 births 2015 deaths Swedish sinologists American sinologists Swedish emigrants to the United States Stockholm University alumni Columbia University faculty Australian National University faculty Scientists from Stockholm