PhD Student, Department of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg

Academic Career

• Since 2020 PhD Student, University of Heidelberg
• 2020 M.A. Sinology/Chinese Studies, University of Tübingen
• 2019 B.Ed. Sinology/History, University of Tübingen
• 2018-2019 semesters abroad at Peking University
• 2017 semester abroad at Peking University (ECCS)

Research Focus
In his research Jonas Schmid examines the Huogong qieyao 火攻挈要 (Essentials of Gunpowder Warfare), a treatise written around 1643 by the Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell and his Chinese collaborator Jiao Xu. His focus lies on the process by which European knowledge of gunpowder weaponry was introduced to late Ming China and blended with local knowledge and technologies. He is an associated researcher of the project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China: Convergences and Divergences in the Light of the Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior; 1640) and the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612),” supervised by Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel.

Chinese cannon barrel on public display at the Veste Coburg (Coburg Fortress), Germany. Tors / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0-DE.

Other Activities
During his undergraduate studies, Jonas Schmid was part of the student council of the Department of Sinology. From March to July 2019 he was giving a tutoring class on Classical Chinese for the sophomore students of the Tübingen Chinese department. In September 2019 he presented his ideas on teaching Classical Chinese to non-native speakers at the 21st Biennial Conference of the Chinese Language Teachers’ Association of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

“Summary of the General Principles of Gunpowder Warfare” in the first book of the «Huogong qieyao» 火攻挈要 (Essentials of Gunpowder Warfare), compiled by Tang Ruowang 湯若望 (Johann Adam Schall von Bell) and Jiao Xu 焦勗, 1643; facsimile edition in the «Haishan xianguan congshu» 海山仙館叢書 (Collectanea from the Sea Mountain Immortal’s Lodge; 1847), www.wdl.org/zh/item/11403/.