Noch einmal zu Heinrich Heines „zwey chinesischen Gelehrten“

Heinrich Heine’s „Two Chinese Scholars“ RevisitedTwenty-five years ago, the author published a treatise dealing with the two Chinese mentioned by Heinrich Heine in The Harz Journey as well as in a private letter. These men served as teachers for Wilhelm Schott, the future first professor of Chinese at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat of Berlin. Since then, a number of scholars turned to this topic and consider the two of them as pioneers of Chinese immigration to Berlin, Prussia or Germany respectively. Most of these scholars interpret certain facts according to their own liking, though there are no sources at all to support their suppositions. The present paper addresses all these misinterpretations. Moreover, newly discovered contemporary reports about the two Chinese are quoted verbatim.