   james legge (; chinese: çéå; 20 december 1815&nbsp;â 29 november 1897) was a noted scottish sinologist, a scottish congregationalist, representative of the london missionary society in malacca and hong kong (1840â1873), and first professor of chinese at oxford university (1876â1897). in association with max mÃ¼ller he prepared the monumental sacred books of the east series, published in 50 volumes between 1879 and 1891. ==life== james legge was born at huntly, aberdeenshire, and educated at aberdeen grammar school and then king's college, aberdeen. after studying at the highbury theological college, london, he went in 1839 as a missionary to china, but remained at malacca three years, in charge of the anglo-chinese college there. the college was subsequently moved to hong kong, where legge lived for nearly thirty years. a chinese christian, keuh agong accompanied legge when he moved in 1844. he returned home to huntly, aberdeenshire, in 1846â7, taking with him three chinese students. legge and the students were received by queen victoria before his return to hong kong. thumb|left|legge and his three chinese students legge married twice, first to mary isabella morison (1816â1852) and after she died to a widow, hannah mary willetts (d 1881, nÃ©e johnstone). convinced of the need for missionaries to be able to comprehend the ideas and culture of the chinese, he began in 1841 a translation in many volumes of the chinese classics, a monumental task that he completed a few years before his death. during his residence in hong kong, he translated chinese classic literature into english with the help of wang tao and hong rengan, among others. he was the headmaster at ying wa college in hong kong from 1839 to 1867, and pastor of the union church there from 1844 to 1867. he was third and final editor of the chinese serial, the first chinese newspaper in hong kong. the paper closed in may 1856. in 1867, legge returned to dollar in clackmannanshire, scotland, where he invited wang tao to join him, and received his lld from the university of aberdeen in 1870. while in scotland, he also revisited his native burgh, huntly, accompanied by wang tao. he then returned to hong kong as pastor 
1815_births 1897_deaths 19th-century_translators Alumni_of_the_University_of_Aberdeen British_sinologists ChineseaEnglish_translators Christian_missionaries_in_China Fellows_of_Corpus_Christi_College,_Oxford Inventors_of_writing_systems People_educated_at_Aberdeen_Grammar_School People_from_Huntly Scottish_Christian_missionaries Scottish_Congregationalists Scottish_lexicographers Scottish_linguists Scottish_translators Sinologists