Ji was proficient in many languages including Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, English, German, French, Russian, Pali and Tocharian, and translated many works.

[2] Soon after his arrival, Ji founded the Department of Eastern Languages at Peking University and was helped with working on and developing it by Jin Kemu.

[4] During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), he secretly translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit into Chinese retaining the poetic format, risking the punishment which befell those convicted as "intellectuals".

[2][3] In 1978, Ji became vice president of Peking University and director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Research Institute on South Asia.

[7] The Ji Xianlin Collection consists of 24 volumes containing articles on ancient Indian languages, Sino-Indian cultural relations, Buddhism, comparative and folk literature, essays, translations of literary works, and more.

Only by learning from each other's strong points to make up for shortcomings can people constantly progress, the ultimate target of which is to achieve a kind of Great Harmony.

[3]Ji cultivated the appearance of a farmer or worker rather than a scholar, wearing bleached khaki suits and cloth shoes, and carrying an old leather schoolbag; he is also similarly reputed as treating people of all walks of life with equal respect and sincerity.

[1] Often cited as fearless in his pursuit of academic truth, shown not only by daring to translate Ramayana during the Cultural Revolution, but also by his 1986 article, written against the advice of his friends, "A Few Words for Hu Shih", who at that time was in disrepute and whose work was shunned by most scholars.

Ji, however, felt that academic progress required acknowledging not only Hu Shih's mistakes, but also his contributions to modern Chinese literature.

His article was sufficiently convincing to many scholars that it caused a re-evaluation of the development of modern Chinese literature and the role of Hu Shih.

[2] Ji limited himself to his own experiences, suffering, and guilt during the period, and refrained from speculating on the broader political context of the Communist Party's mass campaign, or the role of Mao Zedong in it.

Mukherjee paid a visit to the ailing 97-year-old Ji, who is the first Chinese to receive the honour, at a military hospital where he has been staying and presented the medallion and award certificate.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is reported to have told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Ji was his mentor.