A woman cries at the mourning ceremony for Ji Xianlin held at Peking University yesterday.(Photo source: Global Times) Photo Gallery>>>

    By Wen Ya and Du Guodong

    BEIJING, July 13 -- More than 3,500 people came to Peking University (PKU) Auditorium yesterday to mourn Ji Xianlin, one of China's most celebrated scholars, who died Saturday at the age of 98.

    Top government leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao entrusted the university to deliver their condolences to Ji's relatives and to lay their wreaths for the great scholar, according to a statement released on PKU's website yesterday.

    As a world-recognized linguist, paleographer, historian and writer, Ji was honored by the governments of both China and India for his trailblazing academic achievements and efforts in linking the cultural exchanges of the two countries.

    He was well versed in 12 languages, and his works ranged from ancient Indian languages, Sino-Indian cultural relations, Buddhism, comparative and folk literature to essays and translations of literary works.

    He Jiancheng, Ji's former colleague at PKU, was among the mourners yesterday.

    He told the news portal Sina. com he was in "deep sorrow."

Ji Xianlin. (Photo source: Global Times) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Ji was rigorous in his academic work and teaching, and strict with himself and others. He was vigorous and diligent," he said.

    Ji died of a heart attack at the PLA General Hospital. Despite his advanced years, his death came as a shock to many people including his son Ji Cheng.

    "Yesterday, he suffered a heart attack and doctors failed to save him. He didn't leave any words. He was in hospital for treatment for his heart disease but his death was quite unexpected," Ji was quoted as saying by the Beijing News.

    Qian Wenzhong, a student of Ji and a history professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times he was sad he had not seen Ji in his final hours.

    “He had been happy, though, as he had spent the past two months with his son,” he said.

    “Ji was an outstanding scholar with many achievements. He had an upright character and a good personality, which many of his contemporaries lacked,” Qian said.

    “He never stopped thinking, all the way through his life.”

    Ji's nurse, surnamed Yue, said she found it hard to accept he had gone.

    "Ji loved reading and Chinese calligraphy. His ward was equipped with a TV, but he seldom watched it," she told the Beijing News.

    Ji had seemed quite well in the days before he died and spoke to her yesterday morning, she said.

    Wang Bangwei, a professor at the School of Foreign Languages at PKU, said in an article on the campus website he was stunned when he heard the news.

    "I hadn't been able to find the time to see him recently, but I had planned to see him at the end of the month. Now it's too late. It's my fault, an unpardonable fault," he said.

    "We can talk much about Ji's academic achievements, which were important but not the most important. He loved the country, loved the people and loved his students," Wang said.

    "That impressed me most."

    An employee surnamed Zhang from PKU said Ji's death was natural.

    "He experienced a perfect life and did well to live to his 90s, he did not suffer at all," she told the Global Times yesterday.

    Zhang said she first met Ji at the university 20 years ago.

    "I admired him so much that I dared not speak to him," she said.

    "But then we talked and it was very relaxed."

    Born in 1911 in Qingping county, now the city of Linqing, Shandong Province, Ji was admitted to Tsinghua University in 1930, majoring in German.

    In 1935, he went to Gottingen University in Germany as an exchange student to study ancient languages and received his doctorate in 1941.

    Professor Kurt Von Figura, president of the university, sent a message of condolence to PKU Saturday.

    "I received the bad news this morning. On behalf of my university, I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to you, his family and friends."

    In 1946, Ji joined PKU as a professor and established the Department of Eastern Languages and Literature.

    From 1978, he was director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Research Institute of South Asia and vice-president of PKU.

    In 2006, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Chinese government for his unique contribution to the field of translation. Two years later, the Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan, an honor established in 1954 to recognize distinguished scholars. He was the first Chinese to receive the award.

    In the late years of his life, Ji was confined to hospital with health problems, but still produced several works, including his autobiography and several pieces of prose.

    Over the course of his life, he got lots of titles including "Intellectual Arbiter," "Master Academician" and even "National Treasure", although he did not think much of it.

    (Source: Global Times)