Jan Jakob Maria de Groot
Jan Jakob Maria de Groot (born February 18, 1854 in Schiedam , † September 24, 1921 in Berlin ) was a Dutch sinologist .
Life
origin
His parents were the factory owner and businessman Seraphinus Matthias de Groot (1824-1912) and his wife Helena Wilhelmine Elisabeth Beukers (1830-1920).
Youth, university and first trip to China
Like his teacher and predecessor at the Leiden Chair for Sinology , Gustaaf Schlegel (1840–1903), Groot belongs to that generation of scientists who began their professional careers within the framework of the Dutch colonial administration. Due to alleged poor eyesight unsuitable for the intended naval service, Groot studied " Indology " in Leiden from 1873 to 1876 . H. here the languages of Southeast Asia, so that I can then serve as an interpreter in the Dutch East Indies . After completing his studies, he traveled from Amoy , today's Xiamen , through the Chinese coastal province of Fujian , to the city of Fuzhou and through the hinterland of the coastal rivers, to investigate the southern Chinese folklore and way of life in 1877-78 . In order to get to know the living and travel conditions of the Chinese coolies who were looking for work abroad, he made the return trip to Batavia via Singapore on one of the overcrowded emigrant ships. The result of his first stay in China was his work "Jaarlijksche Feesten en Gebruiken van de Emoy-Chineezen", which he completed in Batavia , today's Jakarta , the capital of the Dutch East Indies (printed in 1881), where he was sufficient as Tolk (official interpreter) Had leisure to work out his notes. Relocated to Pontianak on Borneo in 1880 to restore his ill health , on business trips with the local Dutch resident he acquired knowledge of the local Chinese community abroad, the Gongsi company conglomerates ( Kian-gwan Kongsi ) and the southern Chinese Hakka language spoken there, as well as the legal situation of the emigrants on. Completely revised, he had to leave the Dutch East Indies in 1883 for health reasons, which at the same time ended his interpreting work on behalf of the government.
Publications and second trip to China
Back in his home country he was awarded a Dr. med. In 1884 with his work on the "annual festivals" in Leipzig. phil. doctorate and published in quick succession "Buddhist Masses for the Dead" and "Het Kongsiwezen in Borneo" ("The Gongsi being in Borneo"). In view of the international recognition of his scientific work and the practical successes in the migrant issue, de Groot was granted a second stay in China to study the customs and traditions of the Colonial Ministry, which he began in 1886–1890; the preparations included u. a. learning the new technique of photography , which was particularly useful for recording Buddhist rituals and symbols. On the outward journey via Marseille , he received in Lyon from the Musée Guimet, which was then still located there, a collection order for sacred and art objects from China, which he carried out conscientiously. In the Dutch East Indies, de Groot mainly investigated the situation of Chinese emigrants who worked as coolies in the tin mines of Muntok on the island of Bangka and the tobacco plantations of Deli on Sumatra , before he set off again for mainland China to Amoy (today Xiamen). With hardship and in view of a hostile population, de Groot traveled through the south of the country to Nanjing in search of the country's religious and ethnological roots, including the Buddhist and Taoist monasteries. His second goal, the legalization of the immigration of Chinese coolies from southern China , especially from Guangdong and Fujian to Dutch East Sumatra , where one was urgently dependent on immigrant workers, he achieved in 1888 despite considerable resistance, not least with the help of the German consuls in Canton (now Guangzhou ) and Swatow .
Scientific recognition, chair in Leiden
In the meantime, his scientific work had been recognized in Europe in 1888 when he was awarded the French Order of the Legion of Honor and accepted into the Academy of Sciences in Amsterdam , which also earned him the chair of ethnology at the University of Leiden in 1891 . His main focus was on Chinese religion and history, where he also taught literature, regional studies and ethnology of Dutch India, until he switched to the chair in sinology , which became vacant after Schlegel's death, in 1904 and developed a rich publication activity and effectiveness as a scientific teacher; so appeared in the year 1892 the first of his 12-14 part work "The Religious System of China" (of which only the first six parts appeared) and 1904-1906 "Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China". In 1900 the reputation of the then 45-year-old had risen to such an extent that he taught the folklore of Dutch India to the young Queen Wilhelmina (1880–1962) for six months (always in the presence of the Queen Mother, who took notes) . The high reputation de Groot enjoyed abroad was shown on three lecture tours through the United States in the years 1908–1911. Although as a young man, to the chagrin of his parents, he left the Catholic Church and was not bound by any denomination, his preoccupation with the religions of Asia, in which he saw the spiritual essence of the continent, remained his excellent field of research.
The chair in Berlin, engagement on the German side in the World War
While the busy man had turned down two appointments in 1902 - one to Columbia University in New York and the extremely generously endowed and tailored Sinology chair at the University of Berlin - his commitment to the excesses of student initiation rites brought him on his home university ( "groentijd", "ontgroening", "Entgrünung" ) discredited by students and some professors and isolated him; when scandals broke out again in 1911 on the occasion of these rituals, de Groot decided to accept a renewed call to Berlin, where he began his service in 1912. In the same year he was elected a full member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences .
When the war broke out, the conservative Groot sided with the German Empire without restriction and, as a Dutchman, signed the appeal "To the cultural world!" With 92 other, mostly German scholars. (" Manifesto of 93 ", "It is not true!"), In which every German war guilt was flatly denied and the invasion of the German army in Belgium was defended; the appeal met with disapproval abroad and in the Netherlands, which remained neutral. In addition, during the war, de Groot made half of his income available for charitable purposes, which earned him the " Cross of Merit for War Aid ".
Although deeply affected by the events of the war and the revolution that followed, de Groot's labor did not decrease; his hospitable house in Berlin-Lichterfelde was also open to students, neighbors and friends alike,
De Groot died in 1921, presumably of a heart condition after a stroke.
Family life, household
De Groot was unmarried all his life and lived in Leiden with his two sisters, whose older one kept house for him, while the younger one performed secretarial duties; after the death of the younger one, the older one, especially after moving to Berlin, also took on the task of the deceased. Two foster children, whose welfare de Groot took care of later on, completed the household, which in Berlin and in Leiden was always characterized by the garden, which the landlord loved very much.
Meaning and personality
De Groot coined the term Chinese Universism , which he used for the " three teachings " ( Daoism , Confucianism and Buddhism ) of China , which in his opinion were merged into a unified character (universistic).
- "While refreshing my knowledge of Indian philology ... I spent a few semesters studying Chinese intensively with the wonderful scholar Johann Maria de Groot, a Dutchman who was the perfect embodiment of the Taoist wise old man." - Heinrich Zimmer , notes on a résumé (1943)
- "Next he devoted himself to teaching his students, in whose personal lives he always took a great interest and to whom he assisted with advice and action. He helped many people who were hindered by the difficult circumstances in their studies with books (which he always very generously lent or given away, as the writer of these lines was often allowed to experience in earlier years) and other means in a very considerate way. Is it any wonder that they honored him as a fatherly friend? " - Marinus Willem de Visser , Levensbericht p. 13 (from the Dutch)
- "... one of the founding fathers of the social science approach to Sinology ... Some Dutch scholars also consider him the greatest Sinologist that the Netherlands have produced" - Werblowski, The Beaten Track (2002), p. 11
- "... a capacity for synthesis ... They show a beginning in observation and an end in abstraction, which is undoubtedly the correct procedure" - Brooks op.cit. (2004)
Fonts (in selection)
- The religious system of China . 6 volumes, 1892-1910 (incomplete)
- Sectarianism and religious persecution in China . 2 volumes, 1903 and 1904
- Chinese documents on the history of Asia . 2 volumes, 1921 and 1926
literature
- Werblowsky, Zwi RJ [Raphael Jehudah]. Walravens, Hartmut [Ed.]: The Beaten Track of Science - The Life and Work of JJM de Groot [Jan Jakob Maria] . Ed. by Hartmut Walravens (Asia and Africa Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2002. - With a complete bibliography of de Groot's works.
- Hans OH Stange: de Groot, Jan Jacob Maria. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , pp. 130 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Entry in the Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (in Dutch)
- M. [arinus] W. [illem] de Visser: Levens report by Prof. Dr. JJM de Groot . In: Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 1922, pp. 1–16 (in Dutch, with catalog raisonné), on the Internet www.dbnl.org/tekst/_jaa003192201_01/_jaa003192201_01_0012.php - The bibliography of de Groot's works contained here is incomplete .
- E Bruce Brooks: JJM de Groot 1854-1921 (Sinological Profiles). o. O. 2004. www.umass.edu/wsp/resources/profiles/degroot.html - incorrectly states the appointment to Berlin as 1902 instead of 1912.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.umass.edu/wsp/resources/profiles/schlegel.html
- ↑ His collection was exhibited in a separate "Salle de Groot"; de Visser, Nécrologue p. 5
- ↑ Archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences ( Memento from July 15, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Edith Franke , Michael Pye: Religions side by side: Models of religious diversity in East and Southeast Asia. LIT Verlag, Münster 2006. pp. 17-19.
- ↑ https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/zimmer/indmutte/chap009.html p. 10
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Groot, Jan Jakob Maria de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch sinologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1854 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schiedam |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 24, 1921 |
| Place of death | Berlin |