Richard Wilhelm

Richard Wilhelm (1873–1930) was a German theologian, sinologist, and missionary who became one of the most important Western interpreters of Chinese culture and thought in the early twentieth century. Although he traveled to China as a missionary, he dedicated much of his life there to deeply studying Chinese language, philosophy, and literature, eventually producing translations and retellings that brought Chinese wisdom to a wide European audience. He is perhaps best known for his landmark translation of the I Ching, but his contributions to Chinese folklore scholarship are equally significant.

Among his lesser-celebrated yet enduring works are his collections of Chinese fairy tales and folk stories, which he gathered and rendered into German from oral and written Chinese sources. These stories draw on a rich imaginative tradition — featuring heavenly kingdoms, shape-shifting creatures, cursed families, and moral tests that reveal character. In The Bird with Nine Heads, a princess is swept away by a storm and must be rescued from a monstrous creature dwelling underground, blending adventure with themes of courage and loyalty. The Cave of the Beasts follows a group of sisters who outwit terrifying monsters through cleverness and solidarity, echoing structural similarities to European tales while remaining distinctly rooted in Chinese storytelling conventions.

Wilhelm’s folk narratives also explore the origins of everyday phenomena through mythological explanation. Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies traces the ancient rivalry between two household animals back to a forgotten act of human ingratitude, offering a moral underpinning that is characteristic of the Chinese folk tradition. Similarly, The Morning and the Evening Star presents a celestial origin myth explaining why two stars — the brothers Tschen and Shen — can never appear in the sky at the same time, a consequence of a quarrel that echoes themes found across many world mythologies.

Wilhelm’s retellings are notable for their fidelity to the spirit of Chinese cultural and philosophical values — themes of harmony, consequence, and the natural order run throughout his work. His translations helped establish a serious scholarly and literary interest in Chinese folklore in the West at a time when such material was largely unknown to European readers. His legacy endures both through his major philosophical translations and through these vivid, carefully preserved folk narratives that continue to offer a window into traditional Chinese storytelling.