Background
Lindqvist was born in Lund in 1932.
林西莉
Lindqvist was born in Lund in 1932.
She is a professor and author of several books on China. She was interested in China because it had such a long history. She first visited the country when she was 28 with letters of recommendation including one from the King of Sweden.
She went to see all the porcelain and paintings she had read about and to study the country.
She also learnt to play the stringed instrument called the Guqin. She ate the same diet as her hosts which was low in protein.
Lindvqist became ill and she lost her hair but continued to study. They wrote books on China together that were published in 1964, 1979 and 1980.
In 1970 she was working as a teacher when they asked if anyone could teach Chinese.
Lindqvist rose to the challenge and taught 18 students successfully for the first year. in 1974 she started to write the book Kingdom of Characters which was not complete until 1989. In 1991 she wrote a book titled, China: Empire of Living Symbols which traces how Chinese characters used today can be traced back to stone age markings made on bone. Her 2006 book is titled Qin which is about the seven silk stringed instrument that Lindqvist had first seen in China in 1961.