Séraphin Couvreur


Séraphin Couvreur was a French Jesuit missionary to China, sinologist, and creator of the EFEO Chinese transcription. The system devised by Couvreur of the École française d'Extrême-Orient was used in most of the French-speaking world to transliterate Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, after what it was gradually replaced by pinyin.

Biography

Couvreur arrived at the Catholic Jesuit mission in Hejian, Cangzhou. Also there worked Léon Wieger, another French Jesuit missionary.

Works

His edition of the 書經 Chou King , with French and Latin translations, was used by Pound in the Rock Drill section of the Cantos.