Paul Georg von Möllendorff (17 February 1847 in Zehdenick,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

– 20 April 1901 in

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

) was a German linguist and diplomat. Möllendorff is mostly known for his service as an adviser to the Korean king Gojong in the late nineteenth century and for his contributions to

Sinology Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilization p ...

. In English-language publications, Möllendorff is often credited with having designed a system for romanizing the Manchu language, which was in fact the creation of his compatriot Hans Conon von der Gabelentz.

Early life

Hailing from the

n aristocratic family von Möllendorf, Paul Georg von Möllendorff was the son of Georg von Möllendorff, a high-ranking Prussian civil servant. The young Möllendorff attended gymnasium in

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

and he enrolled at

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in 1865, where he studied law, oriental studies and philology. Möllendorff showed a strong aptitude for the study of classical and foreign languages and acquired a good command of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, but did not study any East Asian languages at the time.

China

In 1869, Möllendorff interrupted his studies and went to China in order to join the

Imperial Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republ ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. While working for the Customs in Shanghai and later Hankou, Möllendorff acquired a good command of Chinese and quickly passed the required language exam. However, he soon grew dissatisfied with his tasks in the service and left it in 1874 in order to join the German consular service as an interpreter and was eventually promoted German vice-consul in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

. During his service in Tianjin, Möllendorff befriended

Ma Jianzhong Ma Jianzhong (; 1845 – 1900), courtesy name Meishu (), also known as Ma Kié-Tchong in French, was a Chinese official and scholar in the late Qing dynasty. Ma was born in Dantu District, Dantu (), Jiangsu province to a prominent Catholic Churc ...

, who worked in the secretariat of the prominent Qing statesman, governor-general Li Hongzhang. In 1879, Möllendorff assisted Li in procuring weapons and warships from the German companies

Vulkan Vulkan is a cross-platform API and open standard for 3D graphics and computing. It was intended to address the shortcomings of OpenGL, and allow developers more control over the GPU. It is designed to support a wide variety of GPUs, CPUs and o ...

and

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

. In 1881, Möllendorff left the German consular service because of his complicated relationship to the German minister in Beijing, Max von Brandt.

Korea

In 1882, Li Hongzhang recommended Möllendorff to the position of the adviser to the Korean government and in December 1882, he arrived in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

for his first audience with King Gojong. Möllendorff quickly learned enough Korean to be able to communicate with the king and soon earned the trust of the king, who appointed him deputy foreign minister and charged him with the establishment of the Korean Customs Service. Möllendorff adopted the Sino-Korean name Mok In-dok ( ''Mok Indeok'', ''Mù Líndé'' in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

) and soon became a very influential figure in the Korean government. Möllendorff wanted to assert the independence of Korea and contrary to the wishes of Li Hongzhang and Robert Hart, he wanted to make the Korean Customs Service as independent from the Chinese Maritime Customs Service as possible. Möllendorff also advocated that Korea enter into an alliance with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

to counterbalance Chinese and Japanese influences on the Korean peninsula. In response to this, the British occupied the Korean island of Geomun by force, calling it Port Hamilton. Consequently, the Qing government felt that Möllendorff acted too independently and in 1885 Li Hongzhang forced Möllendorff's resignation from the Korean government. In 1888, King Gojong unsuccessfully tried to reinstate Möllendorff.

Scholarly work and later life

Having left his position in Korean government, Möllendorff returned to work in the Imperial Maritime Customs and became Commissioner of Customs in the southern treaty port of Ningbo, where he would spend the last days of his life. In Ningbo, he worked to improve the customs service and also wrote a number of works on Sinology. Between 1896 and 1897 he was the president of the China Branch of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

Sources

*Lee Yur-Bok. ''West Goes East: Paul Georg Von Möllendorff and Great Power Imperialism in Late Yi Korea.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988.

Selected works

Public domain

English

* (Harvard University) * * * * (the University of California) * (Harvard University) * (Harvard University

*(with Otto Franz von Möllendorff.
''Manual of Chinese Bibliography, Being a List of Works and Essays Relating to China.''
Shanghai, London: Kelly & Walsh, Trübner & co., 1876. *"Essay on Manchu Literature." ''Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society'' 24, no. 113 (1889–90): 1-45. * Shanghai, 1892. *"Die Juden in China." In ''Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums.'' (1895): 327–331 *''Ningpo Colloquial Handbook.'' Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1910.

French

*(Harvard University) (Translated by Rodolphe de Castella)

German

* (the University of Michigan) * (the University of Michigan) * (the University of California) * (Harvard University)

Modern reprints

* * * * (Translated by Rodolphe De Castella ) * (Translated by Rodolphe De Castella ) *

External links

Article by Hans-Alexander Kneider (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mollendorff, Paul George Von 1847 births 1901 deaths People from Zehdenick German expatriates in China German expatriates in Korea Linguists from Germany Diplomats for Germany German untitled nobility People from the Province of Brandenburg Foreign relations of Joseon Manchurologists German sinologists German male non-fiction writers