Junior Sinologues
Leiden 1949

Photo Courtesy EACS

This was the second of the Junior Sinologues meetings, and the first to be held on the Continent. It attracted more than twice as many participants as the inaugural meeting, Cambridge 1948. Prominent among those present was host J J L Duyvendak (front row, third from left of those standing). This was a period of revival for European Sinology, and for Dutch Sinology in particular. T'oung Pao had resumed publication in 1947, renewing the Paris-Leiden Sinological axis which is still in place today. In that same year, Anthony Hulsewé, who had been interned as a prisoner of war in Batavia during 1942-1945, returned to the Netherlands and (with leverage from the fact that Duyvendak had been offered the Chair of Chinese at Oxford) was appointed a Lecturer to assist Duyvendak. In 1948, an Institute of Social Studies was founded as a center of development studies for Third World students in The Hague, with Duyvendak as its Rector. Robert Kramers' study and partial translation of the Kungdz Jya-yw was published in 1949. In that same year appeared the first volume of longtime Leiden librarian Tjan Tjoe Som's thesis on the Discussions in the White Tiger Hall. Duyvendak himself was preparing his wartime translation of the Dau/Dv Jing for republication, first in the original Dutch (this would appear in 1952) and shortly afterward in French (1953). Spring was in the air.

A complete roster of participants at this Conference does not presently exist. Assistance in identifying the 42 individuals who appear in the photo above will be much appreciated. To start, click on the arrow.

6 March 2009 / Contact The Project / Exit to Junior Sinologues Index Page