Paul Pelliot
Encyclopedia
Paul Pelliot was a French
sinologist and explorer of Central Asia
. Initially intending to enter the foreign service, Pelliot took up the study of Chinese and became a pupil of Sylvain Lévi
and Édouard Chavannes
.
Pelliot worked at École française d'Extrême Orient in Hanoi
, from where he was dispatched in 1900 to Beijing
to search for Chinese books for the École's library. While there, he was caught up in the Boxer Rebellion
and trapped in the siege of foreign legations. Pelliot made two forays into enemy territory during the siege - one to capture an enemy standard
and another to obtain fresh fruit for those under siege. For his bravery, he received the Légion d'honneur
. At age 22, Paul Pelliot returned to Hanoi, where he was made a Professor of Chinese
at the École. He was later elected professor at the Collège de France
.
of Vietnam
from approximately the 1st to the 6th century A.D. However, its history was not well-understood. Pelliot brought together the source-texts regarding this polity that he could find in the dynastic histories of China, translated them into French, and drew upon them in writing the first modern history of Funan. While some of Pelliot's conclusions regarding Funan have been criticized, chiefly on account of his reliance on the Chinese sources, in general his work has been validated by subsequent archeological excavation in southern Vietnam of sites belonging to the Oc Eo
culture, which is thought to be the material culture of Funan.
on June 17, 1906. His three-man team included Dr. Louis Vaillant, an Army medical officer, and Charles Nouette, a photographer. Aboard the train in Samarkand, the Frenchmen met Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. Pelliot had agreed to allow the army officer, disguised as an ethnographic collector, to travel with his expedition. Mannerheim was actually carrying out a secret mission for Tsar Nicholas II to collect intelligence on the reform and modernization of the Qing Dynasty. The Tsar was assessing the possibility of a Russian invasion of Western China. Mannerheim was the last Tsarist agent in the so-called Great Game, the struggle for empire between Russia and Britain in Inner Asia. Pelliot fully endorsed Mannerheim's participation, and even offered himself as an informant to the Russian General Staff. In return, the Frenchman demanded free passage on the Trans-Caspian Railway,a personal and confidential payment of ten thousand francs and a Cossack escort. These were granted, and the payment even doubled.
The expedition traveled to Chinese Turkestan
by rail through Moscow
and Tashkent
to Andijan
, where they mounted horses and carts to Osh. From here, they travelled across the Alai Mountains of southern Kyrygystan over the Taldyk Pass and Irkeshtam Pass to China. Near the town of Gulcha, the expedition met Kurmanjan Datka, the famed Muslim Queen of Alai and posed for a photograph with her. Mannerheim and Pelliot did not get along, and parted ways two days after leaving Irkeshtam Pass. The French team arrived in Kashgar
at the end of August, staying with the Russian consul-general (the successor to Nikolai Petrovsky
). Pelliot amazed the local Chinese officials with his fluent Chinese (only one of the 13 languages he spoke). His efforts were to pay off shortly, when his team began obtaining supplies (like a yurt
) previously considered unobtainable.
His first stop after leaving Kashgar was Tumchuq. From there, he proceeded to Kucha
, where he found documents in the lost language of Kuchean. These documents were later translated by Sylvain Lévi, Pelliot's former teacher. After Kucha, Pelliot went to Urumchi, where they encountered Duke Lan, whose brother had been a leader of the Boxer Rebellion
. Duke Lan, who was the deputy chief of the Peking gendarmerie and participated in the siege, was in permanent exile in Urumchi.
In Urumqi, Pelliot heard about a find of manuscripts at the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang from Duke Lan. The two had a bittersweet reunion. Pelliot had been in the French legation in Peking while Duke Lan and his soldiers were besieging the foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion. They reminisced about old times and drank champagne. Duke Lan also presented Pelliot with a sample Dunhuang manuscript. Recognizing its antiquity and archaeological value, Pelliot quickly set off for Dunhuang, but arrived there months after Aurel Stein had already visited the site.
At Dunhuang, Pelliot managed to gain access to Abbot Wang's secret chamber, which contained a massive hoard of ancient manuscripts
already observed by Sir Aurel Stein. Like the yurt in Kashgar, it is believed that Pelliot's abilities with the Chinese language played an important role here. After three weeks of analyzing the manuscripts, often at a rate of 1000 a day, Pelliot convinced Wang to sell him a selection of the most important ones. Wang, who was interested in continuing the refurbishment of his monastery, agreed to the price of 500 tael
s (£ 90).
(a fellow sinologist) and the staff of the École. Pelliot was accused of wasting public money and returning with forged manuscripts. This campaign came to a head with a December 1910 article in La Revue Indigène by M. Fernand Farjenel. These charges were not proved false until Sir Aurel Stein's book, Ruins of Desert Cathay, appeared in 1912. In his book, Stein made it clear that he had left manuscripts behind in Tun-huang. Stein's book vindicated Pelliot and silenced Pelliot's critics.
For many years he was a contributor to T'oung Pao
journal and became its editor in 1920.
Pelliot served as French military attaché in Beijing during World War I
. He died of cancer
in 1945. Upon his death, it was said that "Without him, sinology is left like an orphan."
The Guimet Museum
in Paris has a gallery named after him.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
sinologist and explorer of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Initially intending to enter the foreign service, Pelliot took up the study of Chinese and became a pupil of Sylvain Lévi
Sylvain Lévi
Sylvain Lévi was an orientalist and indologist. Born in Paris on March 28, 1863, his book Théâtre Indien is an important work on the subject. Lévi also conducted some of the earliest analysis of Tokharian fragments discovered in Western China.-Biography:Sylvain Levi passed the agregation...
and Édouard Chavannes
Édouard Chavannes
Édouard Chavannes was a French sinologist.He is best known for his translations from Sima Qian's Shiji , sections of the Hou Hanshu relating to the 'Western Regions', the Weilüe, his studies of Han dynasty stone carvings Édouard Chavannes (Chinese: ) (1865–1918) was a French sinologist.He is best...
.
Pelliot worked at École française d'Extrême Orient in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, from where he was dispatched in 1900 to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
to search for Chinese books for the École's library. While there, he was caught up in the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
and trapped in the siege of foreign legations. Pelliot made two forays into enemy territory during the siege - one to capture an enemy standard
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
and another to obtain fresh fruit for those under siege. For his bravery, he received the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. At age 22, Paul Pelliot returned to Hanoi, where he was made a Professor of Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
at the École. He was later elected professor at the Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...
.
Rediscovery of Funan
Pelliot's first great scholarly achievement was the publication of his monograph "Le Fou-nan" in the journal Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême Orient. The ancient kingdom of Funan had existed in the Mekong DeltaMekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
from approximately the 1st to the 6th century A.D. However, its history was not well-understood. Pelliot brought together the source-texts regarding this polity that he could find in the dynastic histories of China, translated them into French, and drew upon them in writing the first modern history of Funan. While some of Pelliot's conclusions regarding Funan have been criticized, chiefly on account of his reliance on the Chinese sources, in general his work has been validated by subsequent archeological excavation in southern Vietnam of sites belonging to the Oc Eo
Óc Eo
Óc Eo is an archaeological site in Thoại Sơn District in southern An Giang Province, Vietnam, in the Mekong River Delta region of Vietnam. It is also one of the modern day communes of Vietnam. Óc Eo may have been a busy port of the kingdom of Funan between the 1st and 7th centuries AD...
culture, which is thought to be the material culture of Funan.
The Expedition
Pelliot's expedition left ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on June 17, 1906. His three-man team included Dr. Louis Vaillant, an Army medical officer, and Charles Nouette, a photographer. Aboard the train in Samarkand, the Frenchmen met Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. Pelliot had agreed to allow the army officer, disguised as an ethnographic collector, to travel with his expedition. Mannerheim was actually carrying out a secret mission for Tsar Nicholas II to collect intelligence on the reform and modernization of the Qing Dynasty. The Tsar was assessing the possibility of a Russian invasion of Western China. Mannerheim was the last Tsarist agent in the so-called Great Game, the struggle for empire between Russia and Britain in Inner Asia. Pelliot fully endorsed Mannerheim's participation, and even offered himself as an informant to the Russian General Staff. In return, the Frenchman demanded free passage on the Trans-Caspian Railway,a personal and confidential payment of ten thousand francs and a Cossack escort. These were granted, and the payment even doubled.
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
by rail through Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
to Andijan
Andijan
Andijan or Andizhan is the fourth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and the capital of the Andijan Province. It is located in the east of the country, at , in the Fergana Valley, near the border with Kyrgyzstan on the Andijan-Say River...
, where they mounted horses and carts to Osh. From here, they travelled across the Alai Mountains of southern Kyrygystan over the Taldyk Pass and Irkeshtam Pass to China. Near the town of Gulcha, the expedition met Kurmanjan Datka, the famed Muslim Queen of Alai and posed for a photograph with her. Mannerheim and Pelliot did not get along, and parted ways two days after leaving Irkeshtam Pass. The French team arrived in Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
at the end of August, staying with the Russian consul-general (the successor to Nikolai Petrovsky
Nikolai Petrovsky
Nikolay Fyodorovich Petrovsky was the Russian consul-general in Kashgar from 1882 until 1902.Petrovsky's main adversary during his time in Central Asia was George McCartney, his English counterpart. The competition between their two countries for influence in Central Asia is known as the Great Game...
). Pelliot amazed the local Chinese officials with his fluent Chinese (only one of the 13 languages he spoke). His efforts were to pay off shortly, when his team began obtaining supplies (like a yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
) previously considered unobtainable.
His first stop after leaving Kashgar was Tumchuq. From there, he proceeded to Kucha
Kucha
Kuchaor Kuche Uyghur , Chinese Simplified: 库车; Traditional: 庫車; pinyin Kùchē; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from the traditional Chinese forms 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆, also Po ; Sanskrit: Kueina, Standard Tibetan: Kutsahiyui was an ancient Buddhist kingdom...
, where he found documents in the lost language of Kuchean. These documents were later translated by Sylvain Lévi, Pelliot's former teacher. After Kucha, Pelliot went to Urumchi, where they encountered Duke Lan, whose brother had been a leader of the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
. Duke Lan, who was the deputy chief of the Peking gendarmerie and participated in the siege, was in permanent exile in Urumchi.
In Urumqi, Pelliot heard about a find of manuscripts at the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang from Duke Lan. The two had a bittersweet reunion. Pelliot had been in the French legation in Peking while Duke Lan and his soldiers were besieging the foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion. They reminisced about old times and drank champagne. Duke Lan also presented Pelliot with a sample Dunhuang manuscript. Recognizing its antiquity and archaeological value, Pelliot quickly set off for Dunhuang, but arrived there months after Aurel Stein had already visited the site.
At Dunhuang, Pelliot managed to gain access to Abbot Wang's secret chamber, which contained a massive hoard of ancient manuscripts
Dunhuang manuscripts
The Dunhuang manuscripts is a cache of important religious and secular documents discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China during the early 20th century. Dating from the 5th to early 11th centuries, the manuscripts include works ranging from history and mathematics to folk songs and dance...
already observed by Sir Aurel Stein. Like the yurt in Kashgar, it is believed that Pelliot's abilities with the Chinese language played an important role here. After three weeks of analyzing the manuscripts, often at a rate of 1000 a day, Pelliot convinced Wang to sell him a selection of the most important ones. Wang, who was interested in continuing the refurbishment of his monastery, agreed to the price of 500 tael
Tael
Tael can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency....
s (£ 90).
The Return and Later Years
Pelliot returned to Paris on October 24, 1909, to a vicious smear campaign mounted against himself, Édouard ChavannesÉdouard Chavannes
Édouard Chavannes was a French sinologist.He is best known for his translations from Sima Qian's Shiji , sections of the Hou Hanshu relating to the 'Western Regions', the Weilüe, his studies of Han dynasty stone carvings Édouard Chavannes (Chinese: ) (1865–1918) was a French sinologist.He is best...
(a fellow sinologist) and the staff of the École. Pelliot was accused of wasting public money and returning with forged manuscripts. This campaign came to a head with a December 1910 article in La Revue Indigène by M. Fernand Farjenel. These charges were not proved false until Sir Aurel Stein's book, Ruins of Desert Cathay, appeared in 1912. In his book, Stein made it clear that he had left manuscripts behind in Tun-huang. Stein's book vindicated Pelliot and silenced Pelliot's critics.
For many years he was a contributor to T'oung Pao
T'oung Pao
T’oung Pao , founded in 1890, is the first international journal of sinology.It was originally named T’oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l’étude de l’histoire, des langues, la geographie et l’ethnographie de l’Asie Orientale . It is published by the Leiden publisher E. J...
journal and became its editor in 1920.
Pelliot served as French military attaché in Beijing during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1945. Upon his death, it was said that "Without him, sinology is left like an orphan."
The Guimet Museum
Guimet Museum
The Guimet Museum is a museum of Asian art located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in Paris has a gallery named after him.
Works and Publications
- Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China". Vancouver, Douglas & Mcintyre, 2010. ISBN 978-1553652694. http://horsethatleaps.com
- Pelliot (with E. Chavannes), "Un traité manichéen retrouvé en Chine", Journal asiatique 1911, pp. 499–617; 1913, pp. 99–199, 261-392.
- " Les influences iraniennes en Asie Centrale et en Extrême-Orient," Revue d'histoire et de littérature religieuses, N.S. 3, 1912, pp. 97–119.
- "Mo-ni et manichéens," Journal asiatique 1914, pp. 461–70.
- "Le 'Cha-tcheou-tou-fou-t'ou-king' et la colonie sogdienne de la region du Lob Nor", Journal asiatique 1916, pp. 111–23.
- "Le sûtra des causes et des effets du bien et du mal". Edité‚ et traduit d'après les textes sogdien, chinois et tibétain par Robert GauthiotRobert GauthiotRobert Gauthiot was a French Orientalist, linguist, and explorer.He interrupted his exploration of the Pamir Mountains in July 1914 to return home to serve as a captain in the infantry during World War I. Gauthiot received the Croix de guerre before he was mortally wounded at the Second Battle of...
et Paul Pelliot, 2 vols (avec la collaboration de E. BenvenisteÉmile BenvenisteÉmile Benveniste was a French Jewish structural linguist, semiotician, an apprentice of Antoine Meilletand his successor, who, in his later years, became enlightened by the structural view of language through the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, although he was unwilling to grasp it at first, being...
), Paris, 1920. - "Les Mongols et la Papauté. Documents nouveaux édités, traduits et commentés par M. Paul Pelliot" avec la collaboration de MM. Borghezio, Masse‚ and Tisserant, Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 3e sér. 3 (23), 1922/23, pp. 3–30; 4(24), 1924, pp. 225–335; 8(28),1931, pp. 3–84.
- "Les traditions manichéennes au Foukien," T'oung Pao, 22, 1923, pp. 193–208.
- "Neuf notes sur des questions d'Asie Centrale," T'oung Pao, 24, 1929, pp. 201–265.
- Notes sur Marco Polo, ed. L. Hambis, 3 vols., Paris 1959-63.
- Notes on Marco Polo, (English version), Imprimerie nationale, librairie Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris. 1959-63
- "Recherches sur les chrétiens d'Asie centrale et d'Extrême-Orient I, Paris, 1973.
- "L'inscription nestorienne de Si-ngan-fou", ed. avec supléments par Antonino Forte, Kyoto et Paris, 1996.
- P. Pelliot et L. Ηambis, "Histoire des compagnes de Gengizkhan", vol. 1, Leiden, 1951.
- Marco Polo The Description of the World (with Arthur Christopher Moule) ISBN 4-87187-308-0
- Marco Polo Transcription of the Original in Latin (with Arthur Christopher Moule) ISBN 4-87187-309-9