Ji Xianlin (born Aug. 6, 1911) graduated from Tsinghua University in Western Literature in 1934 and during this period he touched for the first time the German Literature, in the form of Hoelderlin’s poem. However, in Germany he decided to study something completely different and went to Goettingen University, and studied Sanskrit, Pali und Tocharisch; There he studied with Ernst Waldschmidt and obtained his doctoral degree with Emil Sieg in 1941. After the WWII, he was able to return to China after 10 years in Germany. There he became a professor at Beijing University and soon he established the Indology, the study of the history, languages and cultures of India, in China. In 1978 he became the vice president of the Beijing University and the founding director of the Institute for South Asia Study of the CASS.