Emil Bretschneider

Emil Bretschneider (4 July [O.S. 22 June] 1833 in Bankaushof (now Benkavas muiža, Saldus novads, Latvia) – 12 May [O.S. 29 April] 1901 in Saint Petersburg) was a sinologist of Baltic German ethnicity and a correspondent member of the Académie française. He operated in the Russian Empire. He graduated from the medical school of the Imperial University of Dorpat in Dorpat Estonia, and was first posted as a physician by the Russian legation to Tehran (1862–65). From 1866 to 1883 he was posted as physician to the 15th and 16th Russian legations to Beijing.

Overview

In 1866 the publication of Cathay and the Way Thither by orientalist Henry Yule stirred up Bretschneider's interest in sinology. However, he felt that the extensive material contained in Chinese books was under-utilized by western sinologists because many of them did not read Chinese, and when they quoted Chinese material, they relied on secondhand sources. Emil Bretschneider while in Pekin befriended the Archimandrite Palladius Kafarov of the Russian Orthodox Church Mission to Pekin, a famous sinologist in his own right; Bretschneider also took advantage of the excellent library of the Russian Orthodox mission with an extensive collection of Chinese books on history, geography and botany, he began his own first hand research into ancient Chinese literature, particularly in botany and geography.

In 1870 he published his first article in sinology: "Fu Sang-- Who discovered America ?", followed by the publication in London of "On the Knowledge Possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies Mentioned in Chinese Books".

In 1875, he published the article "Notes on Chinese medieval travellers to the West" in Shanghai. In 1881 he published "Early European researches into the flora of China (American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai), a topic often ignored by contemporary sinologists due to their lack of training in botany.