Hellmut Wilhelm was a German Sinologist known for his studies of both Chinese literature and Chinese history.
16 Facts About Hellmut Wilhelm
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Hellmut Wilhelm produced one of the most widely used German-Chinese dictionaries of the 20th century.
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Hellmut Wilhelm held teaching positions at Peking University and the University of Washington.
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Hellmut Wilhelm's father, Richard Hellmut Wilhelm, was a noted Sinologist, and held the first chair of Sinology at the University of Frankfurt.
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Hellmut Wilhelm was born on 10 December 1905 in the Chinese city of Qingdao, which was then a German enclave due to the Kiautschou Bay concession of 1891.
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Hellmut Wilhelm was the third son of the German missionary and sinologist Richard Hellmut Wilhelm.
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When Qingdao was occupied by the Japanese Army, Japan having declared war on Germany in 1914 at the beginning of World War I, Hellmut Wilhelm's parents sent him to live with friends in Shanghai for his safety.
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Hellmut Wilhelm first attended a preparatory school in Stuttgart, then began studying at the University of Frankfurt, where he served as his father's assistant.
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Hellmut Wilhelm later attended Kiel University and the University of Grenoble, studying law and political science.
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Hellmut Wilhelm passed the German Staatsexamen in law in 1928.
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Hellmut Wilhelm pursued graduate study in Chinese at the University of Berlin.
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Hellmut Wilhelm wrote a dissertation on Ming dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu, receiving a doctorate in 1932.
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Hellmut Wilhelm then returned to China, where he lived and worked in Beijing until 1948.
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Hellmut Wilhelm taught German language and literature at Peking University and produced the Deutsch-Chinesische Worterbuch, a well-known German-Chinese dictionary.
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In 1948, Hellmut Wilhelm moved to the United States to take up a position as a professor of Chinese at the University of Washington, where he taught until he was forced to retire in 1971 due to eye problems that affected his vision and reading abilities.
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Hellmut Wilhelm authored dozens of articles and manuscripts, and was a key figure in establishing the Far Eastern and Russian Institute.