Ernst Faber - 1839 - 1899
Herr WU in Hongkong hat uns zum 26.9.2016 den folgenden Aufsatz zur Verfügung gestellt. Faber starb vor 117 Jahren -  viel zu früh. 

Ernst Faber – His unexpected Encounter with Japan

von: WU, Kin Pan
Doktorand der Philosophie an der Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn,
and Pastor of Chinese Rhenish Church, Hong Kong Synod

26th September, 2016 is the 117th annual commemoration day of the missionary Rev. Dr. Ernst Friedrich Ludwig Faber’s (花之安/ pronounces as Fa Ji-On in Cantonese/ Hua Zhi’an in Mandarin, 1839-1899) death, who served in China as a well-known sinologist. However, his ideas were somehow widely spread in the East Asian society, especially in Japan and Korea, because of the rooted Confucian culture in both cultures. In this short passage, I will describe about how Ernst Faber connected to Japan, in the sense of his own impression of Japan and the influence of his literatures on Japan.

A. Faber’s own impression on Japan

Although there were only few direct indications that Faber was deeply interested in Japanese matters, his impression of this country was rather positive. Generally, Faber appreciated Japan’s development after the Meiji Reformation. He thought that Japan was raising her influence “into the position of the Britain of the East”.