Tag Archives: Manju

Obituary: Martin Gimm (1930–2025)

In Memoriam Martin Gimm (1930–2025)

Martin Gimm was born on May 25, 1930, in Waltershausen, Thuringia, and passed away on December 22, 2025 at Rösrath (near Cologne). After completing his secondary education and musical training as a pianist and later organist he studied musicology, mathematics, philosophy, and Oriental studies at the University of Jena from 1949, before turning his attention to East Asian studies at the University of Leipzig in 1951. There he studied Sinology, and after transferring to the Free University of Berlin in 1953, he continued with Chinese and Manchu (with Walter Fuchs) and Japanese. From 1959 to 1963, he worked as director of the German Cultural Center in Taiwan and, starting in 1960, taught as an associate professor at three universities in Taipei, where he also continued his Manchu studies (with Guanglu [in Manchu: Kunggur 廣祿‎ (1900–1973)], and Puru 溥儒 (1896–1963) a cousin of the last emperor). After returning to Germany in 1963, he earned his Ph.D. with a comprehensive dissertation on the Yuefu zalu 樂府雜錄, a collection of essays on the Music Office, by the Tang author Duan Anjie 段安節. In 1969 he habilitated in Cologne and in 1970, after his teacher Fuchs’ retirement, Gimm succeeded him as ordinary professor of Chinese and Manchu at the University of Cologne, the only place in Germany where the study of Manchu language and literature was officially available for a degree, until his retirement in 1996.

Martin Gimm was a good teacher, but his passion was research; in this respect, he was similar to his teacher Fuchs. Retirement gave him the opportunity to work through much of what he had accumulated over the years, and not a year went by without several substantial publications. Until two weeks before his departure, he worked tirelessly, even though his health and mobility were declining.

Gimm was extraordinarily knowledgeable, meticulous in detail, even fastidious, and it was easy to see from his numerous footnotes that Paul Pelliot and Walter Fuchs were his role models—he, too, loved the “bibliographic giant finger.” As a person, he was friendly, open-minded, and helpful, although he seemed reserved, even somewhat shy; he was reluctant to appear in public and at conferences. His friends and students will miss him greatly.

In honour of his outstanding achievements as a Manchurist, the PIAC awarded him the PIAC Prize for Altaic Studies in 2019.

As a full bibliography of Gimm’s publications was published in 2019 which includes his numerous contributions to Sinology and musicology, only some highlights in the Manchu field are presented here:

  • The edition of a Manchu translation of the classical Chinese literary anthology Wenxuan 文選 according to mss. in Leningrad and Cologne (1968), and of the Manchu version of the Qing literary anthology Guwen yuanjian 古文淵鑑 (1969) as well. The original works are both highly esteemed and considered selections of models of excellent literary style.
  • “Manchu translations of Chinese novels and short stories. An attempt at an inventory” (1988). Only a few such novels were printed in Manchu, therefore the identification of the respective manuscripts is of considerable value for the study of Manchu literature. A pioneering study!
  • The Qianlong emperor as a poet. Remarks on his writings (1993; new edition 2024). The volume is particularly strong as a bibliography, presenting an annotated survey of the emperor’s works, both in the original and in translation.
  • “Hans Conon von der Gabelentz and the first Manchu grammar in Germany” (1997). On the first scholarly grammar of Manchu.
  • “Chinese dogs and dogs’ names. On a trilingual series of portraits by the court painter Giuseppe Castiglione” (2002). This paper supplements Zhuang Jifa’s and Walravens’ earlier studies.
  • Conon von der Gabelentz and his translation of the Chinese novel Jin ping mei 金瓶梅. (2005). Gimm rediscovered the manuscript of Gabelentz’s translation, believed lost after WWII. The Manchu translation was praised for its superb style and therefore occasionally credited to a brother of the Kangxi emperor (which is but a legend).
  • Hans Conon von der Gabelentz: Jin Ping Mei. The first full translation into German from Manchu. (2005–2013). The German translation is clear and fluent and lacks the flowery terminology often found in translations from the Chinese, thus giving a true representation of the Manchu version. In 10 volumes. While this study edition was published in a very small number, a revised and annotated, illustrated version with an introduction was prepared by H. Walravens: Ein Herzensbrecher und seine Frauen (Jin Ping Mei 金瓶梅). for the trade (2024. 1985 pp., 200 woodcuts)
  • “Elementary Manchu grammar, edited from Georg von der Gabelentz’ manuscript” (2010). Georg v. d. Gabelentz, the author of an outstanding Chinese Grammar, never finished his basic Manchu grammar, mainly owing to his premature death.
  • “On the Manchu Rouputuan 肉蒲團.” (2011). Introduction to an edition of the Manchu translation of this erotic novel in the Berlin State Library (now in Cracow). The manuscript believed lost after WWII was rediscovered by the referee in the Jagiellonian Library and edited for publication.
  • Georg von der Gabelentz in memoriam. Materials on his life and work. (2013) Gabelentz Jr. was a highly gifted linguist; his special interest focused on East Asia, and he worked mainly on the Chinese and Manchu languages. Among his students were Wilhelm Grube (1855–1908) and Otto Franke, both later professors of Chinese at Berlin University.
  • P. Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. and the secret files on the court case of 1664–1665 in China. The secret Manchu documents on the trial of the German Jesuit missionary Adam Schall (1591–1666). (2021). Schall was in an influential position as advisor to the emperor, and his adversaries therefore accused him of having willfully jeopardized the imperial family and the empire by manipulating the burial rites for Prince Rong and falsifying the calendar.
  • The case of Prince Rong in the trial against Father Adam Schall (2018).
  • The secret shamanism of the Qing emperors. (2018).
  •  “Some additions to the history of the Buddhist canon in Manchu translation” (2020) provides additions to H. Walravens’ previous study (2007).
  • A selection of Gimm’s articles Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur der Qing-Dynastie provides a reprint of nine papers on Qing history (2023).

Biobliographical information is to be found in

Ad Seres et Tungusos. Festschrift für Martin Gimm zu seinem 65. Geburtstag am 25. Mai 1995. Hrsg. von Lutz Bieg, Erling von Mende und Martina Siebert. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2000. (Opera sinologica 11.)

H. Walravens: Sinologie in Köln. Von Adam Schall bis in die Gegenwart. Biobibliographien. Berlin: Staatsbibliothek 2017. 250 pp. (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Neuerwerbungen der Ostasienabteilung. Sonderheft 48.)

H. Walravens: Verzeichnis der Veröffentlichungen von Professor Dr. Martin Gimm. Norderstedt: BoD 2020. 48 pp. 4°

H. Walravens: Skizze der deutschsprachigen Mandschuristik vom 17. bis Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Mit Briefen von Erich Haenisch (1880–1966) und Gottfried Rösel (1900–1992) an Walter Fuchs (1902–1979). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2025. 186 pp. (Asien- und Afrika-Studien der Humboldt-Universität 69.)

Hartmut Walravens
January 2026

Obituary: Michael Weiers

In Memoriam
Michael Weiers
(December 26, 1937 — July 17, 2025)

Michael Weiers was born in Bernried am Starnberger See, in one of the most beautiful landscapes of Bavaria, on the second day of Christmas of the year 1937. His grammar school years (the proper German term is Gymnasium) offered him a broad exposure to the world of classical languages as Greek and Latin were a mandatory part of the grammar school curriculum.

This exposure to the intellectual heritage of Europe is a core objective of the idea of humanism, a worldview the foundations of which are rooted in Classical antiquity.

It must have been this education in combination with the proximity of Bavaria to Italy (by far not only in the sense of geography, but also determined by those immaterial sentiments of life [“Lebensgefühl”, as the Germans would say] as reflected in Baroque decorative arts and religious life) that made the young Michael Weiers explore Italy during his university years. From 1958 onwards, he did not only attend university in Munich and (later) Bonn, but also spent years in Rome and Naples.

The subjects he studied truly reflected both the spirit of Renaissance Man, or, equally true, the ideals of the late 19th century idea of a linguist and philologist commanding a vast array of languages. He took courses in Semitic studies, followed by Manju, Mongolian, Chinese and Tibetan studies, and he broadened his horizon by taking classes in Turkology, Islamic studies, Central Asian studies in Language and Culture, as well as Comparative Religious studies. Throughout his academic life, his most productive focus was centered in the fields of Manju and Mongolian studies, assisted and supported by all the other fields he was interested in during his formative years at university.

During his university years (and later on), he had the privilege to attend classes held by the most prominent authorities in their respective fields. His curriculum vitae lists, among others, Herbert Franke, Helmut Hoffmann, Joachim Kissling, Giuseppe Tucci, Luciano Petech, Francesco Gabrieli, Alessio Bombaci and Walther Heissig, many of whom were later to become prominent contributors to the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC), or, in the case of Walther Heissig, one of the founding fathers of the PIAC.

In his scholarly work, Michael Weiers had a strong interest in the rule-based foundations of language in general, and their many expressions in linguistic and philological practice. His Ph.D. dissertation in 1965 on the historical grammar of preclassical Mongolian was considered outstanding (Latin: egregie) and was honoured with the Prize of the Association of Friends of the University of Bonn (short in German: “Geffrub-Preis”). He rose through the ranks of the University of Bonn which would become his life-long intellectual home base from where he undertook numerous expeditions. To name just one example, he conducted field work among the Moghol in Herat, Afghanistan (1969–1972); basis of an authoritative monograph and series of papers which qualified him for the post of professor in 1972. He would hold this status until his retirement in 2003.

One field in which he made singular contributions was the study and research of the so-called Old Manju Archive Materials, or Jiu Manzhou Dang 舊滿洲檔 being the precursor to—and sometimes erroneously taken for—the more widely known Manwen Laodang. He was the only European scholar working on this subject which traditionally was considered a Chinese and Japanese domain. His field work in Taiwan in 1971 brought a rich harvest of Manju and Mongolian materials, source for many of his later papers.

In his publications (his bibliography lists approximately 350 titles, the last one published recently, in 2022), he covered a number of fields. The languages of the Mongolian language family were but one of his fields of interest. He also was either editor or co-editor of journals like Zentralasiatische Studien or series like Aetas Manjurica, to name just two examples. Besides his scholarly work, he had a keen interest in disseminating the knowledge of his field to broader audiences. He contributed at least a dozen or more articles to the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, a flagship of German encyclopediae with roots in the Age of Enlightenment. Yet, the encyclopedia as such was not only a means of disseminating knowledge, it was also subject of his research he conducted on the lexicology and lexicography of Mongolian and Manju. It is no wonder at all that he also contributed the article on “Mongolian Lexicography” in Wörterbücher. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie (Dictionaries. An International Encyclopedia of Lexicography).

Michael Weiers attended three Meetings of the PIAC, in 1974, 1977 and 1984.

One of his closest colleagues broke the news of Michael Weiers’ departure to the author of these lines with the words “the ranks are thinning out”. True this is, and deeply saddening as well. The community of Altaic scholars mourns the loss of an outstanding peer.

Oliver Corff
Secretary General
July 20th, 2025

In Memoriam Giovanni Stary

– A Sublime and Humane Ambassador of Manju Scholarship –
Giovanni Stary
(March 27, 1946 – October 19, 2022)

Giovanni Enrico Stary (he rarely used his middle name) was born in Merano in South Tyrol, on March 27, 1946. It may be a coincidence that he was born in a city known through the ages as a residence of scholars and writers alike; it may be another coincidence that South Tyrol, an autonomous province in northern Italy, being home to Germans and Italians, enjoying a strong regional culture, is a prominent model of a region where multiple languages and cultures co-exist in a community. In a wider sense, this may also be said of the Manju nation, their language, culture and religion, subject of the life-long academic interest of Giovanni Stary.

Giovanni Stary studied Classical Chinese at the Istituto Universitario Orientale, at Naples. His doctoral dissertation, defended in 1969, was the ouverture to a lifelong occupation with Central Asia and China: “I primi rapporti tra Russia e Cina. Documenti e testimonianze” [Early relations between Russia and China. Documents and testimonies.], later published in Naples in 1974. A German treatise followed soon, in 1976: “Chinas Erste Gesandte in Russland”. Among these earliest envoys are the Manju diplomat Tulišen, whose report Lakcaha jecen de takûraha babe ejehe bithe [“Book of the remote border areas recorded by the embassy”; the title also being interpreted—rather than translated—as “Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars”] (in Chinese: 異域錄). Tulišen and his text have been known in the West since the end of the 18th century. Far less known is the fate of Tuoshi and Daisin missions, the Tuoshi mission being systematically purged from the record under Qianlong; the “Draft History of Qing” (清史稿) neither mentions Tuoshi nor Empress Anna or their encounters in 1731 and 1732 at all, only the “History of Qing from Beginning to End” (清史紀事本末), compiled in the early years of the Chinese Republic by Huang Hongshou, mentions Tuoshi’s mission and encounter with Empress Anna.

Beginning with his dissertation thesis, Giovanni Stary made Manju studies an integral element and later central foundation of his scholarly work. To him, Manju never was an extinct or dead language, and his occupation with and dedication to Manju studies never was what is known in some academic circles, occasionally in a mildly disparaging tone, as Hilfswissenschaft. Rather, Manju studies were to him an essentially contemporary field. Thus, he dedicated a considerable portion of his energy to researching Sibe, a modern, yet endangered branch of the Tungusic languages which is still spoken today in Xinjiang and is mutually intelligible with Manju. He published “Epengesänge der Sibe-Mandschuren” (1988), the “Taschenwörterbuch Sibemandschurisch–Deutsch” (1990) and the “‘Schamanenbuch’ der Sibe-Mandschuren” (1992). Whoever among his wide circle of friends happened to travel to China, or better, Xinjiang, was asked to buy every available publication in Sibe.

Beyond scholarly work, he also disseminated his knowledge and understanding of Manju culture to a broader audience. A representative title is “On the Tracks of Manchu Culture. 1644–1994. 350 Years after the Conquest of Peking” (1995). This book contains more than 200 illustrations reflecting the rich heritage of Manju history, inscriptions and material culture, both in the Manju heartland as well as beyond its borders. The book even offers a rare glimpse into the contemporary life of Cabcal Sibe Autonomous County during the year 1991; at that time, public signboards still showed Sibe Manju texts on top, with their Chinese equivalents below — a vivid demonstration of Sibe being indeed the primary language of Cabcal.

Besides his own writing, Giovanni Stary edited and published numerous sources (e.g. “Ars Poetica Manjurica”, 1989, and “Materialien zur Vorgeschichte der Qing-Dynastie”, 1996, to name just two titles), frequently in collaboration with life-long colleagues.

Giovanni Stary was a faithful friend of the PIAC family; he participated in at least 25 Annual Meetings and was the President of the 28th Annual Meeting which was held in Venice in 1985 (he also published the Proceedings volume of this meeting in 1989). His outstanding academic contributions to the field of Altaic studies were recognized with the Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies, or PIAC Medal in short, in 2006.

Beyond his own research and writing, Giovanni Stary always played a catalytic role in the field. He published dozens of scholarly reviews (the author of these lines counted more than 70 but is not at all sure whether he found all reviews written by him), thus sharing his own broad knowledge of recent work and increasing the visibility of other scholars and their research within the community.

If anything more needs to be said, then that Giovanni Stary was a true bridge between generations of scholars; in prominent position, he mentions Walter Fuchs and Shunju Imanishi as academical teachers. A similar relationship holds true for the author of these lines who, over nearly 20 years, received continuous support and critical feedback from Giovanni Stary along his own humble steps of Manju studies. His guiding spirit will live on and his work will be a source of inspiration to continue Manju studies in a way which demonstrates the lasting significance of the field.

Giovanni Stary was an immediate child of the end of World War II; the peaceful end of the Cold War and the ensuing demise of the Eastern Bloc created a historical window of opportunity for research, academic collaboration and friendship across many borders, as his writings reflect. It must have been painful for him to see this window closing again.

Everybody who knew Giovanni was aware of his frail health in recent years, but everybody was devastated to hear that the wonderful human being he was no longer is with us. Over decades of fruitful collaboration, many of his colleagues become close friends, and we all mourn, with great sadness, his departure.

Oliver Corff
Secretary General
November 5th, 2022.