East–West Culture through the Eyes of a German Scholar

Pattberg is working on his next book in which he elucidates translations of Chinese concepts and words, such as shengren（圣人）, ren（仁）, and tianxia（天下）, which are often misunderstood in Western culture. In his view, it is not possible to apply Western concepts or terms to Chinese vocabulary. For example, the English translation of shengren is sage or philosopher. But the two words have different meanings. Such translations hence distort the implied meanings of the original Chinese words. Pattberg consequently hopes to explain certain essential Chinese concepts and acquaint Western readers with the nucleus of Chinese civilization, so helping them to understand China’s common values.