author
James Legge
1815–1897
A pioneering bridge between Chinese and English literary worlds, this Scottish scholar and missionary devoted much of his life to making the Confucian classics and other ancient texts accessible to Western readers. His translations helped shape how generations of English-speaking readers first encountered Chinese thought.
3 Audiobooks
The Chinese Classics — Volume 1: Confucian Analects
by James Legge
About the author
Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, on 20 December 1815, James Legge became a Scottish missionary, linguist, and one of the best-known early translators of Classical Chinese into English. He studied at King's College, Aberdeen, and later at Highbury College in London before going out under the London Missionary Society.
Because China was not yet open to European missionaries when he left Britain, he first worked in Malacca and then spent many years in Hong Kong. Alongside missionary and educational work, he immersed himself in Chinese language and scholarship. He became especially known for his translations of major Chinese works, including the Confucian classics, and his careful notes and introductions made those texts more approachable for English-language readers.
In 1876 he was appointed the first Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford, a post he held until his death on 29 November 1897. Today he is remembered less for controversy than for patient, lasting scholarship: a reader of ancient texts who opened a door between cultures and left behind translations that continued to influence the study of Chinese philosophy and religion for decades.