Jacques Pimpaneau

Jacques Pimpaneau (1934-2021) has taught Chinese language and literature for nearly 35 years at Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales). A lover of the Chinese performing arts, he conducted pioneering research into puppetry (Des poupées à l'ombre) and Chinese theatre (Promenade au jardin des poiriers). From his stays in China (1958-1960) and Hong Kong (1968-1971), as well as a strong aversion to the Maoist regime and all forms of state authoritarianism, he brought back the magnificent collection of the Musée Kwok-on, which he showed to the public in a former workshop in the Marais district until this magnificent collection of objects on Asian religions and theatres left for Lisbon in 1999. Keen to address his students and the general public first and foremost, he published numerous translations and many works providing an introduction to classical Chinese culture, such as Mémoires de la cour céleste : mythologie populaire chinoise ; Lettre à une jeune fille qui voudrait partir en Chine ; Anthologie de la littérature chinoise classique ; Li Yu : la Chair comme tapis de prière (with Pierre Klossowski) ; Ji Yun : Notes de la chaumière des observations subtiles ; Biographies des regrets éternels : vies de Chinois illustres ; Les Mémoires historiques de Sima Qian, etc. He has also directed some twenty documentaries on spectacles and religions, in China as well as in India and Tibet.