Cecilia Lindqvist

Cecilia Lindqvist (Chinese name: Lin Xili 林西莉; 4 June 1932 – 28 September 2021) was a Swedish Sinologist. She was a professor and author of several books on China.

Biography Cecilia Norman was born in Lund in 1932. 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.

In 1991 she wrote a book entitled 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 entitled Qin is about the seven-stringed zither that Lindqvist had first seen in China in 1961. She died on 27 September 2021.

Works China from the Inside (with Sven Lindqvist ) (1963) Asian Experience (with Sven Lindqvist) (1964) Traveling with Aaron (1969) What Would Mao Say? (with Sven Lindqvist) (1979) China (with Sven Lindqvist) (1980) Characters Kingdom (Bonnier, 1989). China: Empire of Living Symbols (1991) Qin (Albert Bonnier, 2006).