Rediscover Karl Friedrich Neumann

A small-scale exhibition of the Books of the Last Empire was held in the Nuremberg University Library， Germany， in the winter of 2012. On display were ancient Chinese literature works， books on history， art， philosophy， Chinese medicine， religion， etc.， including the Chinese pharmacological bible Compendium of Materia Medica， the earliest Chinese painting textbook Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting， and the world’s first Chinese grammar book—the precious Arte de la lengua mandarina —written by Brother Francisco Varo of the Spanish Dominican Order in Fujian in 1682 and published in Guangzhou in 1703.

It attracted great attention from the German public and media despite the small number of exhibits totaling about 30. A man named Karl Friedrich Neumann is closely linked to the explanation as to when and how these valuable Chinese books came to Germany， and， thus begins the rediscovery of this little-known German sinologist.

On March 28， 1830， the British sailing ship “Sir David Scott” set sail on the long journey to China. Count Franz Graf von Pocci， a German painter in the 19th century， depicted various kinds of passengers on the ship in a cartoon： a gentleman happily haranguing， a professor attentively reading， a daredevil holding a rifle， a careerist clenching a map， an explorer holding high a telescope， etc. The painter used his imagination and exaggeratedly pictured Neumann as the most visible sculpture at the bow. His complacent look and confident smile indicated his great expectations of this long journey.

The 37-year-old Neumann had plenty of time to look back upon his unhappy childhood and troubled youth during the voyage. In 1793， he was born into a poor Jewish family. His mother died young and his father was determined to get rid of him after marrying another woman. So when Neumann reached 13， his father declared him an adult and drove him out of the family home to live by himself. Neumann did some odd jobs and finally turned to his uncle in Frankfurt for shelter. This uncle treated him just like a son and sent him to a business school. Neumann showed extraordinary talent in language and acquired Latin， Greek， English and French by his own efforts.

At the age of 24， recommended by an influential friend who appreciated his talent， he was admitted to the famous University of Heidelberg and started to study theology and philosophy. After graduation， he began teaching at middle school and intended to take an academic road. However， his ideal was mercilessly smashed by the harsh reality. The school fired him because the conservative Kingdom of Bavaria could not allow him to preach in the classroom the doctrine of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. After several unsuccessful job interviews， he decided to leave Germany for some time and traveled around Europe. He was attracted to the emerging “Craze of the East” when arriving in France and started to learn Chinese in Paris.

In 1829， he traveled to London， the center of studies of China at that time， read extensively， collected historical materials concerning Asia， and made up his mind to go to the East for further exploration. He luckily got a steamer ticket from the captain of a China-bound East India Company ship， who took him on as a French tutor. Before departure， he sorted out a catalogue of Chinese books from collections of the Royal Asiatic Society and the London Missionary Society and began his journey to China with the sole purpose of collecting books on the catalogue.

The ship drifted at sea for nearly five months， before， finally， in early September， 1830， Neumann arrived in Macau and one month later reached Guangzhou， where he stayed for three months until the ship sailed back to Europe. Before the Opium War， the only trade relations China had with the outside world were with Britain. Due to the policy of seclusion the Qing government pursued， foreign traders arriving in Guangzhou could only trade with the designated “Sup Sam Hung” （trading companies） and were forbidden to live in Guangzhou（staying in the Portuguese colony of Macau）. Even so， Neumann managed to learn Cantonese and bought more than 6，000 volumes of Chinese books on language， history， philosophy， literature and miscellaneous books， which he regarded as “the priceless treasures representing the great achievements of ancient Chinese literature and thought”.

With the return date to Europe approaching， however， a troublesome problem emerged that the Qing government banned exports of all books. Thus， Neumann had to resort to bribing customs officials. He declared these books as “paper” and successfully brought them back to Germany. More than 2，400 out of the 6，000 volumes of books were purchased by the Prussian Royal Library in Berlin in 1832， while the remainder， over 3，500 volumes， were taken by Neumann to Munich. Instructed by King Ludwig I and through hard negotiation， the Bavarian Royal Library got the precious books free and Neumann was compensated with the professorship of literature history and sinology at the University of Munich.

In fact， as early as 1829， Neumann was recognized as a sinologist by the University of Munich and made a catalogue of Chinese books for the Bavarian Royal Library. However， the professorship did not diminish his passion for enlightenment and the revolution he had kept in his heart since his youth. He was fired by the university due to participation in the 1848 revolution and had to move to Berlin， where he continued his studies， while engaging in publication of his own academic books until his death in 1870.

The German Oriental Society， the first academic organization engaged in sinology in German history， was founded in 1842. Neumann wrote quite a few articles for the society’s journal. However， China at that time was too busy to pay any attention to such a foreign organization that focused on the study of its culture. In August 1842， the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking. Western guns broke open the Chinese civilization， which had been developing independently for thousands of years.

China embarked on a painful road of resistance and development more than a hundred years ever since. In the mid-19th century， the Industrial Revolution brought great leaps in science and technology in Europe， and Europeans no longer worshipped and envied China； instead they succeeded in plundering the ailing “Celestial Empire”with its strong technical and military advantage.

Although Neumann spent only three months in China， the 6，000 volumes he took back to Germany promoted an increasing interest in the spiritual world of China among German academics， and laid a rich material foundation for future study in Germany. Over a hundred years later， the exhibition of a small group of these precious books jointly organized by the Confucius Institute of Nuremberg-Erlangen， the Nuremberg University and the Bavarian State Library， revealed the legendary experience of the German sinologist.

The lesson to be learnt is that human civilization created by all countries in the world can only achieve a diversified but harmonious development through mutual respect and mutual admiration for each other’s culture.