Léon Vandermeersch (7 January 1928 – 17 October 2021) was a French sinologist. He studied the culture of China as well as that of Japan and Korea.

Biography

Vandermeersch studied Chinese and Vietnamese at the

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

. He graduated from the

Faculté des lettres de Paris The Faculty of Humanities of Paris (in French: ''Faculté des Lettres de Paris''), commonly known as the ''Sorbonne'', was one of the four faculties of the University of Paris, refounded in 1896, and an independent entity from 1808 to 1896, based ...

in 1951 with a law degree. He began his career in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

as a secondary school teacher and was subsequently curator of the Musée Louis Finot from 1951 to 1958. He then moved to Japan and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, where he continued his research on ancient China. Vandermeersch earned a degree from the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

in 1962 and earned a doctorate from

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Pari ...

in 1975 with a thesis on the institutions of archaic China. From 1966 to 1973, he taught Chinese at the

University of Provence The University of Provence Aix-Marseille I () was a Public university, public research university mostly located in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. It was one of the three University of Aix-Marseille, Universities of Aix-Marseille and was part of t ...

before directing East Asian studies at Paris Diderot University from 1973 to 1979. Until his retirement in 1993, he taught history of Confucianism at the École pratique des hautes études. He headed the from 1981 to 1984 and was Director of the

French School of the Far East The French School of the Far East (, ; also translated as The French School of Asian StudiesPreferred translation by EFEO staff. SeEFEO official website), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of ...

from 1989 to 1993. Léon Vandermeersch died in Paris on 17 October 2021 at the age of 93.

Works

Books

*''La formation du légisme'' (1965) (republished 1987) *''Le nouveau monde sinisé'' (1986) *''Confucianisme et sociétés asiatiques'' (1991) *''Études sinologiques'' (1994) *''Sagesses chinoises'' (1997) *''Les deux raisons de la pensée chinoise : divination et idéographie'' (2013) *''Ce que la Chine nous apprend : sur le langage, la société, l’existence'' (2019)

Articles

*"Une tradition réfractaire à la théologie : la tradition confucianiste" (1985) *"Les origines divinatoires de la tradition chinoise du parallélisme littéraire" (1989)

Decorations

*Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(1998) *Officer of the

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandermeersch, Leon 1928 births 2021 deaths French sinologists French people of Flemish descent People from Nord (French department) Knights of the Legion of Honour Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques