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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t51: Zhou Dafu

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t51

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English

Zhou Dafu

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Zhou Dafu (lived in the 20ᵗʰ century, unknown dates of birth and death), was a Chinese linguistician, Indologist. He was also called Zhou Dafu (fu is first tone; the former fu is third tone) and was born in Shanhua County (Changsha City today), Hu’nan Province.

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He studied under the tutelage of linguistic scholars like Zhao Yuanren, Luo Changpei and Li Fanggui in his early years. In 1939, he went to India and studied Sanskrit in Visva-Bharati University. Afterwards, he followed Professor Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya Shastri to the research institute of the University of Calcutta and assisted him to collate Yogacara-Bhumi-Sastra. He was active in the overseas Chinese community in Indian and lived in the same room called “India Hut” with Jin Kemu when he was in Calcutta. He introduced Jin Kemu to the Calcutta’s Chinese newspaper ‘*India Daily*’ to work as an editor and encouraged him to engage in Indian language and ancient document studies. He also provided Jin Kemu with books and materials and introduced his Indian friends to teach him Hindi. In 1941, he wrote to the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) in hope that the Academia Sinica could send scholars to India for visit study. Later, he studied under the instruction of Professor Vasudev Gokhale and obtained the Doctor of Philosophy Degree of the University of Bombay.

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In late 1940s, he returned to China at the invitation of Zhu Jiahua, Minister of Education of the ROC and joined the Department of Language of Zhongshan University. In 1950, when he was studying in the fourth division of Southern University, he wrote to Zhu Kezhen, the then Vice President of Chinese Academy of Sciences and expressed his wish of going to work in India or Tibet, but failed. In the summer of 1954, he was transferred back to Beijing together with Wang Li, Cen Linxiang et al., because the merger of the Department of Language of Zhongshan University into the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University. He taught the course of “Chinese phonology” in Peking University. After 1957, he successively worked with the intelligence research office of the Department of Philosophy and Social Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences (predecessor of Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Beijing Nationality University (Minzu University of China today). He stopped working between 1967 and 1973 as a result of the Cultural Revolution.

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During his stay in India, he studied with Prabodh Chandra Bagchi the Chinese inscription of Bodhgaya and they co-authored the article ‘*New Lights on the Chinese Inscriptions of Bodhgaya*’. He delivered the Brahmi residual stone discovered by Xiang Da to Professor Gokhale for interpretation and confirmed that it was ‘*Yinyuan Jing*’. He also published many academic papers such as ‘*How to Study Sanskrit-Chinese Translation and Transliteration*’ (‘*Studies of the Chinese Language*’, April Issue, 1957) and ‘*Correct French Sinologist Chavannes’s Misinterpretation of Chinese Stone Tablet Excavated in India*’ (‘*Historical Research*’, Edition 6, 1957). He also had many translation works and treatises related to linguistic research.

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(Zhang Minyu)

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Zhou Dafu’s treatises, ‘*Fandu huanyuan san zhong*’

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