Erik Zürcher

Erik Zürcher (13 September 1928, in Utrecht – 7 February 2008, in Warmond) was a Dutch Sinologist.

From 1962 to 1993, Zürcher was a professor of history of East Asia at the Leiden University.

He studied Sinology, Buddhism, specializing in Chinese religions.

[1] He was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1975[2] and an Associate of the Academie des Belles Lettres et des Incriptions of the Institut de France.

His son Erik-Jan Zürcher (born 1953) is a professor of Turkish languages and cultures at the University of Leiden[3] and former director of the International Institute of Social History.