James Legge

James Legge
Missionary to China
Born(1815-12-20)20 December 1815
Died29 November 1897(1897-11-29) (aged 81)
Oxford, England
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen
Chinese name
Chinese理雅各
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǐ Yǎgè
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationLéih Ngáah-gok

James Legge (/lɛɡ/; 20 December 1815 – 29 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–1873) and was the first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University (1876–1897). In association with Max Müller he prepared the monumental Sacred Books of the East series, published in 50 volumes between 1879 and 1891.