the name East Turkestan to replace the term "Chinese Turkestan" in 1829. In 1835, he was awarded the Demidov Prize. In 1837 he opened the first Chinese-language school in the Russian Empire in Kyakhta which helped improve trade between Russia and China. One of his students was Mikhail Shevelev, a tea trader and shipping entrepreneur. For his sinological contributions, he was elected to the Russian, German, and French Academies of Sciences. See also Chinese Orthodox Church References Sources . Translation of an earlier paper by B. I. Pankratov, with introductory notes. P. V. Denisov, Nikita Iakovich Bichurin: Ocherk zhizni i nachnoi deitel’nosti. Cheboksary, 1977. L. N. Gumilev, M. F. Khvan (compilers), Sobranie svedenii po istoricheskoi geografii Vostochnoi i Sredinnoi Azii Cheboksary : Chuvashskoe Gos. Izd-vo, 1960. N. IA. Bichurin (Iakinf), Sobranie svedenii o narodakh, obitavshikh v Srednei Azii v drevnie vremena / Собрание сведений о народах, обитавших в Средней Азии в древние времена, 3 volumes, Moscow : Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1950–1953. Originally published: St. Petersburg, 1851. Include map in 3 sheets: Karta k istorii narodov obitavshikh v Srednei Azii v drevnii︠a︡ vremena / Карта к истории народов обитавших в Средней Азии в древния времена External links Russian-language biography 1777 births 1853 deaths People from Chuvashia People from Tsivilsky Uyezd Chuvash people Russian Orthodox monks Monks from the Russian Empire Sinologists from the Russian Empire Eastern Orthodox missionaries Eastern Orthodoxy in China Explorers from the Russian Empire Historians from the Russian Empire 19th-century Christian monks 18th-century Christian monks Turkestan Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Demidov Prize laureates Burials at Lazarevskoe Cemetery (Saint Petersburg)