Wang Bi
Rudolf G. Wagner studied sinology, Japanese studies, political science and philosophy in Bonn, Heidelberg, Paris and Munich between 1962 and 1969. Wagner was head of the student government (AStA) of Ludwig Maximilian University Munich from 1968–1969, where he completed his dissertation on the Buddhist studies topic “Hui-yuan慧遠's Questions to Kumarajiva鳩摩羅什” in 1969. As Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund, he did research for one year each at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. From 1972 on, Wagner was Assistant Professor of Sinology at the Free University Berlin for five years. His habilitation thesis “Philology, Philosophy and Politics in the Zhengshi正始 Era”, which he completed at the Free University Berlin in 1981, deals with the Laozi 老子commentary by Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249). It was published in English and translated into Chinese.