Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov

Pjotr ​​Iwanowitsch Kafarow ( Russian Пётр Иванович Кафаров , scientific transliteration Pëtr Ivanovič Kafarov ; * September 17 ^July / September 29,  1817 ^reg. In Tschistopol ; † December 6, ^July / December 18,  1878 ^reg. In Marseille ), also known by his religious name Palladius ( Палладий ), was a Russian archimandrite and sinologist .

The transcription that he developed for Chinese ( Palladius transcription ) is still used in Russia today.

Life

Kafarov was the son of an Orthodox clergyman and attended the Kazan seminary. In his first year at the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy he took his monastic vows and accompanied the archimandrite Polikarp Tugarinow on the 12th Russian spiritual mission to the Chinese Empire in 1840. He stayed in Beijing for seven years and studied the Chinese language and literature. In 1847 he returned to Saint Petersburg to prepare for the 13th missionary trip (1850 to 1858) by teaching his confreres. This trip already took place under his leadership.

From 1859 Kafarow was head of the Russian embassy church in Rome .

On the 15th mission trip (1864 to 1878), which was also led by Kafarow, a geographical and ethnological expedition to the Ussuri River (1870/71) was undertaken in addition to spiritual work . On the way back from this mission, the monk died in 1878.

For decades, Kafarow worked on a Russian-Chinese dictionary . After his death, the work was continued and completed by the Russian diplomat PS Popov .

Work

• Biography of the Buddha ( Жизнеописание Будды , in the work of the Beijing Spiritual Mission , Volume 1 ( Труды пекинской духовной миссии , том I))
• Historical outline of ancient Buddhism ( Исторический очерк древнего буддизма , ibid., Volume 2)
• Ancient Mongolian legends about Genghis Khan ( Старинное монгольское сказание о Чингисхане , ibid., Volume 4)
• the trips of the Taoist monk Tschan-Tschunja to the West ( Путешествие даосского монаха Чан-чуня на Запад , ibid.)
• Work of the Imperial Russian Embassy in Beijing on China, its people, its religion, its institutions, its social conditions etc. From the Russian based on the original by Dr. Petersburg, published in St. Petersburg 1852–1857. Carl Abel and FA Mecklenburg. F. Heinicke, Berlin 1858.
  • Digitized first volume
  • Digitized second volume
• Two weeks in a Chinese idol temple ( Две недели в китайской кумирне ), in contemporary ( Современник , 1863 )
• Ancient Chinese legends about Genghis Khan ( Старинное китайское сказание о Чингисхане , in: Eastern Collection ) ( Восточный сборник , 1877 )
• Ancient traces of Christianity in China ( Старинные следы христианства в Китае , ibid.)
• Elucidations of the Marco Polo's Travels in North-China ( Journal of the North-China Branch of the R. As. Soc. , Vol. X, 1876 ); "
• Historical outline of the Ussuri region ( Исторический очерк Уссурийского края 1879 )

Main work

• Chinese-Russian dictionary , completed by PS Popov, Beijing 1889