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Richard Wilhelm
Richard Wilhelm
Born	10 May 1873; Stuttgart, German Empire
Died	2 March 1930 (aged 56); Tübingen, Weimar Republic
Known for	I Ching (Yi jing) translation
Children	Hellmut Wilhelm
	Scientific career
Fields	Chinese literature
Institutions	University of Frankfurt
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	衛禮賢
Simplified Chinese	卫礼贤
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Wèi Lǐxián
Wade–Giles	Wei4 Li3-hsien2

Richard Wilhelm (10 May 1873 – 2 March 1930) was a German sinologist, theologian and missionary.

Life

He lived in China for 25 years, he became fluent in spoken and written Chinese, and grew to love and admire the Chinese people. He is best known for his translations of philosophical works from Chinese into German, which have been translated into other major languages of the world, including English. His translation of the I Ching is still known as one of the finest. Also known for his translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower. Carl Jung, was a personal friend of Wilhelm.^[1]

"Wilhelm was a truly religious spirit, with an unclouded and far-sighted view of things. He had the gift of being able to listen without bias to the revelations of a foreign mentality, and to accomplish that miracle of empathy which enabled him to make the intellectual treasures of China accessible to Europe...he could not help recognizing the logic and clarity of Chinese thought... it had overwhelmed him and assimilated him.
— C.G. Jung"^[2]

Lau Nui Suan introduced Wilhelm to Chinese yoga philosophy and the psychology of the I Ching.^[2]

Family and friends

His son Hellmut Wilhelm was also a sinologist, and was professor of Chinese at the University of Washington. Wilhelm was a close friend of the renowned Chinese educator and diplomat Dr. Li Linsi.^[3]