Jin Qicong

Jin Qicong or Aisin-Gioro Qicong (7 June 1918 – 10 April 2004) was a Chinese historian and linguist of Manchu ethnicity who is known for his studies of the Manchu and Jurchen languages. His works include the first modern dictionary of Jurchen (1984), various books about the Manchu people, and editions of the poetry of his great-great-grandfather Aisin-Gioro Yihui (1799–1838) and his wife Gu Taiqing. Life Jin was born in Beijing, China in 1918. His father, Jin Guangping (1899–1966), was a sixth-generation descendant of the Qianlong Emperor's fifth son, Yongqi (Prince Rong). Both his father and his second daughter, Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun, are also renowned scholars of Manchu and Jurchen. His eldest daughter, Jin Shi 金適 (Aisin-Gioro Hualiyasun), who is a professor at China Agricultural University in Beijing, has also engaged in research into Jurchen. Jin Guangping entered Peking University to study Chinese Literature in 1939, but the following year went to Japan to study at Tokyo University, where he studied Jin dynasty history under Mikami Tsugio 三上次男 (1907–1987) and Mongolian and Qing Dynasty history under Wada Sei 和田清 (1890–1963). He graduated in 1944, and returned to China where he worked as a teacher at various Beijing middle schools for fourteen years. In 1958 he joined the staff of the newly founded Inner Mongolia University, where he remained for the next twenty-five years, eventually reaching the position of professor. His main area of research and teaching was Mongolian history, but he also carried out research into the Jurchen and Manchu languages.