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Hyacinth | |
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| Иакинф | |
 Portrait byNikolay Bestuzhev, 1830s | |
| Born | (1777-08-29)August 29, 1777 Akulevo,Tsivilsky Uyezd,Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | May 11, 1853(1853-05-11) (aged 75) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (Russian:Никита Яковлевич Бичурин; 9 September [O.S. 29 August] 1777 – 23 May [O.S. 11 May] 1853), better known under hisarchimandrite monastic nameHyacinth, sometimes known asJoacinth orIakinf, was one of the founding fathers of RussianSinology. He translated many works from Chinese into Russian, which were then translated into other European languages.[1]
Bichurin was born in Akulevo to aRussian half-Chuvash priest named Iakov andRussian mother Akulina Stepanova. He studied at a church choir school in Sviiazhsk and later at theKazan Theological Seminary.[2][3] He also studied Latin, Greek and French and his abilities were noticed by Archbishop Amvrosij Podobedov of the Russian Orthodox Church. He taught in Kazan Theological Seminary from 1799 and was anointed a monk in 1800 with the name ofIakinf orHyacinth andtonsured, sent to promoteChristianity inBeijing, where he spent the next 14 years. The genuine objects of his interest wereChinese history andlanguage. He was forthwith accused of lacking religious zeal, and when he appeared in Irkutsk with his lover Natalia Petrova, some of his students reported him. Complaints over other behaviours considered inappropriate for a priest kept coming. After several changes in the Russian orthodox mission, the Synod declared Bichurin guilty on 4 September 1823, stripped him of his archimandrite monk rank and incarcerated him for life in theValaam Monastery. Here he translated a number of ancient and medieval Chinese manuscripts, which had previously been unknown inEurope. In succeeding decades he published many volumes onChinese andMongolian history,geography,religion (including pioneering the study ofChinese Islam),[4] statistics, andagriculture. After the death of Tsar Alexander I and the rise of Nikolai I in 1825, some of Bichurin's friends helped obtain a royal pardon. They also suggested a position for him as an interpreter in the Foreign Ministry. Bichurin then moved to take up a position in St Petersburg. He was elected as a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in 1828 and also became an emeritus librarian at the Petersburg Public Library. In the same year he published a "Description of Tibet in the Modern Age". He continued to clash with the church authorities and refused promotions. Tsar Nikolai I intervened in 1832 and forbade him from refusing promotions and ordered him to live in the Alexander Nevskii monastery.[5]
It was Bichurin who came up with the idea for the nameEast Turkestan to replace the term "Chinese Turkestan" in 1829.[6] In 1835, he was awarded theDemidov Prize.
In 1837, he opened the first Chinese-language school in theRussian Empire inKyakhta which helped improve trade between Russia and China. One of his students was Mikhail Shevelev, a tea trader and shipping entrepreneur. For his sinological contributions, he was elected to theRussian,German, andFrench Academies of Sciences.
It was Russian scholarship, for instance, that introduced for the first time the terms 'West Turkestan' and 'East Turkestan'. In 1829, the Russian sinologist N. Bichurin stated: 'it would be better here to call Bukhara's Turkestan the Western one, and Chinese Turkestan the Eastern [...]'
