Julian Konstantinovich Shchutsky (russian: Юлиан Константинович Шуцкий, 11 August 1897,
Ekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administrat ...
– February 18, 1938,
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
) was a Russian
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 ...
.
Education and scientific career
Shchutsky's father was of noble origin; he was a member of the
House of Czartoryski
The House of Czartoryski (feminine form: Czartoryska, plural: Czartoryscy; lt, Čartoriskiai) is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian- Ruthenian origin, also known as the Familia. The family, which derived their kin from the Gediminids dynas ...
, and worked as a forestry scientist. Shchutsky's mother was a music teacher.
Shchutsky graduated from the
Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
in 1921 and was a research scientist in the Asiatic Museum of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
from 1920 to 1937. He was given bibliographical responsibility for the
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...
and
Chinese alchemy
Chinese alchemy is an ancient Chinese scientific and technological approach to alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoist / Daoist body-spirit cultivation developed from the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine and the body. Accor ...
portions of the Museum's new acquisitions. This led directly to his translation of the ''
Baopuzi
The ''Baopuzi'' () is a literary work written by Ge Hong (also transliterated as Ko Hung) (), 283–343, a scholar during the turbulent Jin dynasty. ''Baopuzi'' is divided into two main sections, the esoteric ''Neipian'' () "Inner Chapters" an ...
'', which was completed in 1922. He also completed extensive translations from late
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
poetry, a field in which
Vasily Mikhaylovich Alekseyev
Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Alekseyev (russian: Василий Михайлович Алексеев, , Saint Petersburg – May 12, 1951, Leningrad (''ibidem'')) was an eminent Soviet sinologist and a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1902 he ...
had worked; some of the translations were published under Alekseyev's editorship in 1923. Julian Shchutsky's Asian linguistic accomplishments also included Manchu. Shchutsky and Alekseyev were among those who took on the special problem of the Chinese script as it presented itself in Russian context, and were involved with the question of romanizing Chinese. A special qualifying commission in 1924 made it possible for Shchutsky to become an Assistant Professor in 1924, teaching at the University and also, from that year, in the Institute of Modern Oriental Languages, where he introduced Cantonese alongside Mandarin Chinese, and gave the first courses in Vietnamese. He became a professor in 1935.
Alongside this work, he was a research scientist at the
State Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
in 1936–1937, and Professor of the Leningrad Institute of Oriental Studies, Professor of the Leningrad State University in 1936-1937. From 1936 to 1937, he gave a lecture course titled "Taology" to various student groups at the Saint Petersburg University. He published more than 30 scientific research papers and books. He also translated the ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
''. Shchutsky was a polyglot, and translated from more than 16 languages.
Shchutsky was arrested in February 1938, during the
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
. He was convicted by a
list trial ("по списку") as a "Japanese spy" and executed.
Influence
Shchutsky was influenced by his teachers, the sinologists
Nikolai Iosifovich Konrad Nikolai Iosifovich Konrad (; 13 March 1891 – 30 September 1970) was a Soviet philologist and historian, described in the ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' as "the founder of the Soviet school of Japanese scholars".Robert M. CroskeyN. I. Konrad and the ...
and Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Alekseyev. In 1923 he and Alekseyev published "The Anthology of the Chinese Classical poetry of VII-IX centuries".
Shchutsky was close friends with the poet
Cherubina de Gabriak
Elisaveta Ivanovna Dmitrieva ( rus, Елизаве́та Ива́новна Дми́триева, p=jɪlʲɪzɐˈvʲetə ɪˈvanəvnə ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvə, a=Yelizavyeta Ivanovna Dmitriyeva.ru.vorb.oga; 31 March 1887 – 5 December 1928), more fa ...
; she influenced his ideology. Shortly before her death, he visited her in Tashkent, where she, influenced by him, wrote 21 poems attributed to Li Xiang Zi, a fictional Chinese poet exiled for his "belief in immortality of human spirit".
Books
* Shchutski, Julian. ''The I Ching, Book of Changes''. Leningrad, 1937
* Shchutski, Julian. ''Researches on the I Ching''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. Translated from the Russian by William MacDonald and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shchutsky, Julian
1897 births
1938 deaths
Russian sinologists
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Academics from Saint Petersburg
Great Purge victims from Russia
NKVD
Political repression in the Soviet Union