Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée
Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée was born in Paris in 1949. She studied philosophy, literature and classics at the Paris University and completed her Masters degree in Classics. When she was 20 she met Claude Larre s.j. while he was working on his PhD thesis on the Huainanzi and making a translation of the Laozi. As a result of his influence she began to study Chinese, working with him on Chinese classical texts. She also studied modern Chinese with a native speaker and spent a year in Taiwan to further her studies.
In the early 1970s Elisabeth embarked on a study of Chinese medicine, and together with Dr Schatz and Father Larre, began the first study group of the classical medical texts in Paris. This lead to the founding of the European School of Acupuncture in Paris in 1976. Elisabeth co-authored A Survey of Chinese Medicine, published in 1979. Under the auspices of the Ricci Institute in Paris, Elisabeth also published numerous booklets on the seminal texts of Chinese medicine and philosophy including Rooted in Spirit (Lingshu chapter 8) and Suwen chapters 1-11.
In the mid 1980s Elisabeth began to accompany Father Larre on his teaching engagements in both the UK and the US. Her encyclopaedic knowledge of the medical texts and Father Larre’s subtle understanding of the background culture and philosophy combined to produce a unique teaching team.
Elisabeth worked closely with Father Larre on the Grand Ricci dictionary, managing the project as Father Larre’s health declined. The first edition – two volumes of single characters – was completed in 1999. The second edition of seven volumes was finally published at the time of Father Larre’s death in December 2001. This awsome achievement is testament to an inspiring collaboration which lasted over 30 years.
Elisabeth continues to teach worldwide, working with both classical medical and philosophical texts.
Claude Larre sj (1919-2001)
Father Larre was born in France in 1919. After taking a degree in Law at the Sorbonne, he entered a Jesuit Seminary at the age of 20. He spent five years in China at a very turbulent point in its history (1947-52), finally leaving for Hongkong when all foreign priests were expelled. He returned to France to study Chinese Philosophy at the Sorbonne. In 1957 he left for what was to be a nine year stay in Vietnam, first as Director of the Jesuit School for Vietnamese Language and later as Professor of Oriental Philosophy at the universities of Saigon and Dalat. His links with Vietnam lasted throughout his life, in his dedication and support for Vietnamese refugees in France.
On his return to France, he pursued further Chinese studies at the Sorbonne culminating in his doctorate in Philosophy and Sinology. His dissertation was on Huainanzi chapter 7, Jing Shen Xun, A Commentary on Jingshen.
In 1971, he founded the Ricci Institute in Paris, a centre for research on the Chinese language and civilisation. The last ten years of his life were focussed especially on the production of the Grand Ricci Dictionary of the Chinese Language, the largest dictionary of Chinese into any European language. It was finally published a month after his death, in seven volumes, and contains 13,500 single characters and 300,000 Chinese compounds.
In 1977 he made a translation of Laozi’s Daodejing, returning to the same subject with a new translation in 1994. In 1981 he wrote Les Chinois. His specific publications on Chinese medicine (some co-authored) include the Survey of Chinese Medicine, The Way of Heaven (Suwen chapters 1 and 2), Rooted in Spirit (Lingshu chapter 8) and Suwen chapters 1-11. With Elisabeth Rochat he has also co-authored translations and commentaries on Zhuangzi and Huainanzi, and presented a study of the Mawangdui funeral banner.
With the founding of the European School of Acupuncture, in Paris, in 1976, he began a period of teaching on Chinese philosophy, Chinese language and traditional Chinese medicine in various countries in Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The European school of Acupuncture has been running regular programmes ever since.
Sandra Hill
Sandra Hill studied fine art at St Martins School of Art and went on to post-graduate studies at Chelsea College of Art. At that time she developed an interest in Oriental Philosophy and its influence on modern art, and after graduation travelled to the Far East, where she lived in Hong Kong and later in Japan for several years.
In Japan, Sandra continued her work as an artist while studying martial arts and shiatsu. On her return to the UK in 1978, she enrolled in a full time acupuncture course at the International College of Oriental Medicine where she was taught by Peter Deadman and Julian Scott, as well as J. D. van Buren.
Soon after graduating in 1983, Sandra met Claude Larre and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée, and with Peter Firebrace established a series of seminars in London to bring their teaching on the classics to an English speaking audience. In 1987 she co-founded Monkey Press with Peter Firebrace and Caroline Root.
Sandra taught at ICOM for several years before establishing the Orientation clinic and seminar programme with Peter Firebrace. She coauthored A Guide to Acupuncture with Peter Firebrace; authored Reclaiming the Wisdom of the Body and Oriental Paths to Health, as well as coauthoring the Schumacher Briefing The Roots of Health with Romy Fraser.
Sandra was a founding member of the European Journal for Oriental Medicine, which was created when the journals of the Traditional Acupuncture Society and the Register for Oriental Medicine merged. By bringing together the four existing acupuncture registers in a common publication, EJOM provided the ground for the establishment of the BAcC.
Sandra lives in London, where she continues to teach and treat patients, while developing her work as an artist.
