Pumpkin Spice Sinologist
November 10, 2026 at 9:49 AM
Pumpkin Spice Sinologist
Interesting interview with Prof Hugh Baker about postwar British Sinology, academic puritanism, funding and his ethos ('If our study is only to supply academic discussion then it is not that useful and cannot help most people understand... I want to reach out to help') tinyurl.com/3tyr4mdx
Reaching Out from Sinology--Professor Hugh Baker of SOAS
The late Russian sinologist P.A. Boodberg once likened sinologists who do not know the Chinese language to casual explorers who hire native porters to carry their bags. This charge can certainly not b...
www.taiwan-panorama.com
October 27, 2026 at 9:55 AM
Interesting interview with Prof Hugh Baker about postwar British Sinology, academic puritanism, funding and his ethos ('If our study is only to supply academic discussion then it is not that useful and cannot help most people understand... I want to reach out to help') tinyurl.com/3tyr4mdx
1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1997 – Bron Breakker, American wrestler, born
2005 – Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Chinese sinologist and scholar (born 1923), died
Data from zenquotes.io #history
1997 – Bron Breakker, American wrestler, born
2005 – Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Chinese sinologist and scholar (born 1923), died
Data from zenquotes.io #history
October 25, 2026 at 12:00 AM
1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1997 – Bron Breakker, American wrestler, born
2005 – Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Chinese sinologist and scholar (born 1923), died
Data from zenquotes.io #history
1997 – Bron Breakker, American wrestler, born
2005 – Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Chinese sinologist and scholar (born 1923), died
Data from zenquotes.io #history
apparently, it depends? in some ways yes, in other ways it's a catch all exonym for the out group. I've been flipping through different research journals because it's still a hot topic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Ba...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua%E2%...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Ba...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua%E2%...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
![In Chinese, the term "Four Barbarians" uses the character for Yi (夷). The sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank states that the name Yi "furnished the primary Chinese term for 'barbarian'," despite paradoxically being "considered the most civilized of the non-Chinese peoples."[9][c] Yi is the Modern Chinese pronunciation. The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *dyər (Bernhard Karlgren), *ɤier (Zhou Fagao), *ləj (William H. Baxter), and *l(ə)i (Axel Schuessler). Schuessler[10] defines Yi as "The name of non-Chinese tribes, prob[ably] Austroasiatic, to the east and southeast of the central plain (Shandong, Huái River basin), since the Spring and Autumn period also a general word for 'barbarian'", and proposes a "sea" etymology, "Since the ancient Yuè (=Viet) word for 'sea' is said to have been yí, the people's name might have originated as referring to people living by the sea".
The modern character for yi (夷), like the Qin dynasty seal script, is composed of 大 "big" and 弓 "bow" – but the earliest Shang dynasty oracle bone script was used interchangeably for yi and shi 尸 "corpse", depicting a person with bent back and dangling legs.[11] The archeologist and scholar Guo Moruo believed the oracle graph for yi denotes "a dead body, i.e., the killed enemy", while the bronze graph denotes "a man bound by a rope, i.e., a prisoner or slave".[12] Ignoring this historical paleography, the Chinese historian K. C. Wu claimed that Yi should not be translated as "barbarian" because the modern graph implies a big person carrying a bow, someone to perhaps be feared or respected, but not to be despised.[13] The scholar Léon Wieger provided multiple definitions to the term yi: “The men 大 armed with bows 弓, the primitive inhabitants, barbarians, borderers of the Eastern Sea, inhabitants of the South-West countries."[14] Hanyu Da Cidian,[15] a major Chinese language dictionary, notes Siyi as derogatory: 古代華夏族对四方小数民族的統称. 含有轻蔑之意.; "Contrasting with the ancient Chinese people, a nam…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7f23qvbzkd2wgvdry7ohichg/bafkreiasntgcm624rvvgg53z52a3am3xfst4achjytbxpwzl3pmdapen5u)
October 21, 2026 at 6:49 AM
apparently, it depends? in some ways yes, in other ways it's a catch all exonym for the out group. I've been flipping through different research journals because it's still a hot topic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Ba...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua%E2%...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Ba...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua%E2%...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
"Although there are tonal inconsistencies, Dice-Ching-O-Mat radiates the personal touch and deep affection that drive Vildžiūnas’ storytelling" www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dice-... #WFF2026 #FilmSky🎬
Dice-Ching-O-Mat (2026) - Film Review - Eye For Film
A middle-aged sinologist from Latvia goes out to save his family through the doors of a charming Soviet elevator.
www.eyeforfilm.co.uk
October 17, 2026 at 6:17 PM
"Although there are tonal inconsistencies, Dice-Ching-O-Mat radiates the personal touch and deep affection that drive Vildžiūnas’ storytelling" www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dice-... #WFF2026 #FilmSky🎬
In Dice-Ching-O-Mat "Science fiction acts mostly as a prosthetic, reduced to a stylised metaphor of psychological limitations." www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dice-... #WFF2026 #PÖFF30 #FilmSky🎬
Dice-Ching-O-Mat (2026) - Film Review - Eye For Film
A middle-aged sinologist from Latvia goes out to save his family through the doors of a charming Soviet elevator.
www.eyeforfilm.co.uk
October 16, 2026 at 3:42 PM
In Dice-Ching-O-Mat "Science fiction acts mostly as a prosthetic, reduced to a stylised metaphor of psychological limitations." www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dice-... #WFF2026 #PÖFF30 #FilmSky🎬
nadiazaboura.bsky.social ↻ ralphjanik.com (2/2): these and many other questions of Chinese foreign policy with the sinologist and political scientist Susanne Weigelin-Schwierzik. New episode!
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
Was wurde eigentlich aus „Free Tibet“, was heißt Tianxia und warum reden auf einmal so viele darüber? Diese und viele weitere Fragen chinesischer Außenpolitik habe ich mit der Sinologin und Politologin Susanne Weigelin-Schwierzik besprochen. Neue Folge!
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
Chinas Außenpolitik (Teil 1): Geschichte, Soft Power und Weltmacht-Status (mit Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik/Uni Wien)
Recht politisch · Episode
open.spotify.com
October 15, 2026 at 6:15 AM
nadiazaboura.bsky.social ↻ ralphjanik.com (2/2): these and many other questions of Chinese foreign policy with the sinologist and political scientist Susanne Weigelin-Schwierzik. New episode!
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
open.spotify.com/episode/31lR...
Read "Xi’s ‘death watch’ will become a global spectacle" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-8FXrLQwU/G...
Old people are running major countries. It's time to let the next generation take the reins. We can only hope they don't have power glazed eyes like their soon predecessors.
Old people are running major countries. It's time to let the next generation take the reins. We can only hope they don't have power glazed eyes like their soon predecessors.
Xi's ‘death watch' will become a global spectacle (Semafor)
Andy's view
The Australian sinologist Geremie R. Barmé wrote that "autocrats and patriarchs share a fateful dilemma": Once in power "the countdown to their d...
l.smartnews.com
October 14, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Read "Xi’s ‘death watch’ will become a global spectacle" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-8FXrLQwU/G...
Old people are running major countries. It's time to let the next generation take the reins. We can only hope they don't have power glazed eyes like their soon predecessors.
Old people are running major countries. It's time to let the next generation take the reins. We can only hope they don't have power glazed eyes like their soon predecessors.
Read "Xi’s ‘death watch’ will become a global spectacle" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-8FXyLJzq/n...
Xi's ‘death watch' will become a global spectacle (Semafor)
Andy's view
The Australian sinologist Geremie R. Barmé wrote that "autocrats and patriarchs share a fateful dilemma": Once in power "the countdown to their d...
l.smartnews.com
October 13, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Read "Xi’s ‘death watch’ will become a global spectacle" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-8FXyLJzq/n...
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?
Sinologist: 單方只一味，盡在不言中
Sinologist: 單方只一味，盡在不言中
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?
Assyriologist: Du[ring] grad sch[ool] I [took?] a position ... [13 lines illegible] ... now.
Assyriologist: Du[ring] grad sch[ool] I [took?] a position ... [13 lines illegible] ... now.
October 11, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?
Sinologist: 單方只一味，盡在不言中
Sinologist: 單方只一味，盡在不言中
❝ arminwolf.at: How communist is China, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
October 11, 2026 at 8:10 AM
❝ arminwolf.at: How communist is China, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
❝ arminwolf.at: How communist is China still, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
That's what I asked Sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1, who can explain China better than almost anyone else.
You can also read our conversation here and there is a podcast twice as long:
That's what I asked Sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1, who can explain China better than almost anyone else.
You can also read our conversation here and there is a podcast twice as long:
October 10, 2026 at 8:55 PM
❝ arminwolf.at: How communist is China still, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
That's what I asked Sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1, who can explain China better than almost anyone else.
You can also read our conversation here and there is a podcast twice as long:
That's what I asked Sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1, who can explain China better than almost anyone else.
You can also read our conversation here and there is a podcast twice as long:
arminwolf.at: How communist is China, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
Wie kommunistisch ist China noch, wo mehr Dollar-Milliardäre leben als in den USA?
Das habe ich für Ö1 die Sinologin Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik gefragt, die China so gut erklären erklären kann wie kaum wer sonst.
Unser Gespräch kann man hier auch lesen und es gibt einen doppelt so langen Podcast:
Das habe ich für Ö1 die Sinologin Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik gefragt, die China so gut erklären erklären kann wie kaum wer sonst.
Unser Gespräch kann man hier auch lesen und es gibt einen doppelt so langen Podcast:
„Die Krise in China ist tief. Und das auch schon seit langem.“ › Blog von Armin Wolf
Bis zum Jahr 2049, dem 100. Geburtstag der Volksrepublik, will Staatschef Xi Jinping seinen "chinesischen Traum" verwirklichen und China ...
www.arminwolf.at
October 10, 2026 at 7:27 AM
arminwolf.at: How communist is China, where more dollar billionaires live than in the USA?
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
I asked sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for Ö1 this question; she can explain China better than almost anyone else. You can also read our conversation here, and there's a podcast twice as long:
[October 9th, 1946] In the Far Eastern Survey, sinologist Derk Bodde examines Imperial Japan's unsuccessful wartime propaganda and intelligence efforts to court Chinese Muslim populations during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
October 9, 2026 at 1:00 PM
[October 9th, 1946] In the Far Eastern Survey, sinologist Derk Bodde examines Imperial Japan's unsuccessful wartime propaganda and intelligence efforts to court Chinese Muslim populations during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
We ask whether students coming to China today are having the same experience as previous generations of study-abroad students, or whether it’s the curse of the sinologist that every newcomer since Marco Polo has had to listen to some old-timer expat talk about how it was so much better before.
October 8, 2026 at 7:57 AM
We ask whether students coming to China today are having the same experience as previous generations of study-abroad students, or whether it’s the curse of the sinologist that every newcomer since Marco Polo has had to listen to some old-timer expat talk about how it was so much better before.
What do you mean by fake category? Is it because the label "sinologist" would be considered an anachronism or in his lifetime?
October 5, 2026 at 10:09 PM
What do you mean by fake category? Is it because the label "sinologist" would be considered an anachronism or in his lifetime?
Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was born on this day. He's an ordinary guy who translated Sima Qian. He's not a "sinologist," as that's a fake category. Any scholar of Chinese history could approximate his work, but that doesn't make it any less important.
October 5, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was born on this day. He's an ordinary guy who translated Sima Qian. He's not a "sinologist," as that's a fake category. Any scholar of Chinese history could approximate his work, but that doesn't make it any less important.
Review: General Linguistics: Chen Zhi (ed.) (2025)
Review: General Linguistics: Chen Zhi (ed.) (2025)
SUMMARY
The book under review is the first volume of a two-volume Festschrift for the eightieth birthday in 2023 of the Sinologist William Nienhauser. The division into two volumes is chronological; this Part 1 comprises ten papers on historical and literary topics from the Western Zhou dynasty (1040?–770 BC) to the 8th century AD. (Part 2, which I have not seen, contains twelve papers on topics from the 8th to 18th centuries.)
After several pages of photos of Nienhauser with colleagues an
dlvr.it
October 6, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Review: General Linguistics: Chen Zhi (ed.) (2025)
Andromeda Salutes Simon Leys (pen name of Pierre Ryckmans), Belgian writer, sinologist, essayist and literary critic, 0n his birthday.
andromeda-mixed-media.net
"Language fluency is the key which will open all doors for you—practically and spiritually."
andromeda-mixed-media.net
"Language fluency is the key which will open all doors for you—practically and spiritually."
September 28, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Andromeda Salutes Simon Leys (pen name of Pierre Ryckmans), Belgian writer, sinologist, essayist and literary critic, 0n his birthday.
andromeda-mixed-media.net
"Language fluency is the key which will open all doors for you—practically and spiritually."
andromeda-mixed-media.net
"Language fluency is the key which will open all doors for you—practically and spiritually."
Sounds like Orville Schell really regrets becoming a Sinologist
September 25, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Sounds like Orville Schell really regrets becoming a Sinologist
See you in 10 years when you become a renowned sinologist
September 25, 2026 at 9:01 AM
See you in 10 years when you become a renowned sinologist
While I have your attention, anyone has thoughts on the signature and who it might be? I'm wondering if it might belong to a missionary, sinologist, or photographer with China-related ties, and how it ended up in Saskatchewan 🤔
So a few days ago I found a copy of volume 3 of the War Scenes of the Chinese Revolution when doing research. 🫨
To explain how rare this is: this is a volume from the first and oldest published series of photo books featuring firsthand photos of the Xinhai Revolution,
To explain how rare this is: this is a volume from the first and oldest published series of photo books featuring firsthand photos of the Xinhai Revolution,
September 24, 2026 at 3:47 AM
While I have your attention, anyone has thoughts on the signature and who it might be? I'm wondering if it might belong to a missionary, sinologist, or photographer with China-related ties, and how it ended up in Saskatchewan 🤔
When people like Elon Musk and Julian Assange quote or copy paste any Chinese text, you need to find an analyst of narcissism and pretention, not a Sinologist.
September 22, 2026 at 12:16 AM
When people like Elon Musk and Julian Assange quote or copy paste any Chinese text, you need to find an analyst of narcissism and pretention, not a Sinologist.
It's happy birthday #otd to Sir Edmund Trelawney Backhouse (1873-1944), aka "sinologist and fraudster", aka Hermit of Peking. This telegram from him in @bodleian.ox.ac.uk sums it up, really 1/3
September 20, 2026 at 5:03 PM
It's happy birthday #otd to Sir Edmund Trelawney Backhouse (1873-1944), aka "sinologist and fraudster", aka Hermit of Peking. This telegram from him in @bodleian.ox.ac.uk sums it up, really 1/3