Prague, Oct 17 (CTK) – Czech sinologist Jaromir Vochala, 90, received the Artis Bohemiae Amicis (Friends of the Czech Art) award from Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL), Simona Cigankova, the minister’s spokeswoman, told CTK on Tuesday.
Vochala’s “creative enthusiasm, just like his systematic nature and professionalism, are lifelong inspiration for generations of Czech sinologists and Chinese experts in Bohemian studies, as they help to maintain the high level of Czech sinology,” Herman said.
Cigankova said Vochala represented the Czech Republic abroad multiple times as a leading expert in linguistics, grammar of translation and pedagogy of both standard and classical Chinese.
Vochala also studied Chinese script and its teaching and developed a systematic description of its minimal graphic elements, making use of the new method in his Chinese-Czech and Czech-Chinese dictionary.
He taught several generations of Czech sinologists and co-authored several Chinese language and script textbooks.