Evgenij Ivanovich Kychanov (1932–2013): The Life of a Tangut Studies Pioneer

Abstract

On 24 May 2013 the world lost an outstanding researcher and natural-born talent, Evgenij Ivanovich Kychanov. Evgenij Ivanovich was born on 22 June 1932 in the small town of Sarapul on the River Kama in Udmurtia. His father, Ivan Kuzmich Kychanov, was an engineer land manager, who at the time was working as head of the Kama Basin Agrarian Brigade (Zemotriad); his mother, Galina Pavlovna (nee Zylyova), was a kindergarten teacher. Evgenij Ivanovich’s parents came from families of lower middle-class craftsmen and sturdy peasants, who had experienced firsthand all the hardships of revolution, wars and the dispossession of the kulaks. In 1950, after finishing the No 16 all-boys secondary school in his native town, Evgenij Kychanov set off for Leningrad with the intention of enrolling in either the History or Philology Faculty of Leningrad State University. However, due to a serendipitous coincidence he entered the Oriental Faculty instead. Before submitting his documents, Evgenij Ivanovich met a third-year student, Boris Mikhailovich Novikov (now an Associate Professor at St Petersburg State University), in the main building and the two struck up a conversation. After some brief consideration, the newcomer decided to devote himself to the study of Chinese history. Evgenij Ivanovich’s student years were tough, like those of the whole post-war generation, but full of a spirit of romance and true friendship. His group included others who would become prominent scholars – Vladislav Semyonovich Kuznetsov, Vitalij Yepifanovich Larichev, Ernst Vladimirovich Shavkunov and Yurij Vladimirovich Zuev – and Evgenij Ivanovich’s bonds of warm comradeship with them would last a lifetime. Kychanov enjoyed learning and it came easily to him. He was one of the most brilliant students not only in his Faculty, but in the whole University. For his diploma thesis, “The Peasant Movement in Guangdong and Hunan Provinces during the First Civil Revolutionary War” (supervisor L. A. Berezny), he was awarded the University’s first prize. In the spring of 1955, the Oriental Faculty recommended Evgenij Ivanovich for a post-graduate position in the Oriental Manuscripts Section of the Institute of Oriental Studies (USSR Academy of Sciences) specialising in Tangut Studies. After passing the competitive entrance