John Fryer (sinologist)

John Fryer (6 August 1839, Hythe, Kent, England - 1928), also known as Fu Lanya (Chinese: 傅蘭雅), was an English sinologist who was first Louis Agassiz Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

His schooling was obtained at Prospect House Academy in Hythe, where his family's difficult circumstances had him working at the local brewery, cleaning boots and knives and running errands.

[2]: 4 In 1861, Fryer accepted an opportunity offered by the Church Missionary Society to superintend St Paul's College, in Hong Kong, arriving there on board the Prince Alfred in July that year.

[3] Notwithstanding considering himself but "half-educated",[2]: 7  Fryer had set his sights on grandeur, writing, in 1870, I want to be named among those who are foremost in enlightening and administering the Great Empire.

[1][2] He collaborated closely in his work with natural scientist and district magistrate Xu Jianyin, as well as mathematicians Li Shanlan and Hua Hengfang.

[3] In 1896, Fryer left the Arsenal to become the University of California's first Professor of Oriental Language and Literature, at Berkeley,[3] where, in 1900, the department introduced courses in elementary Cantonese, Japanese and Kuan-hua conducted by Walter Fong, Yoshisaburo Kuno and himself, respectively.