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History of Sinology at the IOM Print E-mail
15/05/2006

Sinology at the IOM

After the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (now IOM) was established in 1956, the major Sinological forces were concentrated within the Department of Far Eastern Studies created at the same time and headed for long by V.M.Stein. The senior generation of the Sinologists was represented at the Department by V.M.Stein himself, who studied economics and the history of Chinese economic theory (major work - Guanzi. Research and Translation [Гуань-цзы. Исследование и перевод]. Moscow 1959), P.E.Skachkov (The Bibliography of China [Библиография Китая]. Moscow 1960), V.S.Kolokolov (A Short Chinese Russian Dictionary [Краткий китайско-русский словарь]. Moscow 1935) and B.I.Pankratov, a leading expert in Chinese life and culture who worked at the Department of Conservation.

Subsequently, thanks to the remarkable enlargement of the staff the Department was divided into several groups, each having its special aim or academic direction. One of the first to be set up was the group headed by L.K.Pavlovskaya which, in 1958-62, ran a great project for the compilation of a catalogue of books in Chinese. Another group of scholars described and researched into the Dunhuang collection. Their work resulted in the thorough description of the Dunhuang collection published as a book entitled The Description of Chinese manuscripts from the Dunhuang Collection [Описание китайских рукописей Дуньхуанского фонда], edited by L.N.Menshikov, in 1967.

By that time, another group, aimed at the description of Chinese block-prints, had prepared the result of their own work that was later published in 3 volumes. The group included I.S.Gurevich, J.L.Kroll, E.S.Stulova, and B.B.Vakhtin as the head. A separate group, headed by E.I.Kychanov processed the Tangut collection.

Concerning academic directions, I should say that it was the scholars of literature who made their name first. In 1963, L.N.Menshikov published a pioneering book Chinese Manuscripts from Dunhuang. Texts of Buddhist Suwenxue Literature [Китайские рукописи из Дуньхуана. Памятники буддийской литературы сувэньсюэ], Moscow 1963. The direction was later developed by his other editions such as Pienwen “Requital for Favour” [Бяньвэнь о воздаянии и милости] (Moscow 1972) and The Lotus Sutra Pienwen [Бяньвэнь по лотосовой сутре] (Мoscow 1984). Thanks to these publications, L.N.Menshikov made the study of Buddhist suwenxue literature his own priority.

E.S.Stulova proceeded in a similar way. At the collection of Chinese block-prints she found a rare Buddhist Taoist text belonging to the pao chüan (lit. “precious scroll”) genre. She translated it and edited as a monograph The P’u-ming Pao-chüan [Баоцзюань о Пу-мине] (Moscow 1979).

The academic way of O.L.Fishman, a pupil of acad. V.M.Alekseev, was rather different. She inherited her teacher’s interest in the later Old Chinese narratives, from the 17th to the 18th century and focusened first on the life and works of Chi Yün (1724–1805), a writer, scholar and bibliophile. Her study resulted in the monograph, Chi Yün. Notes from a Hut Named Mich-in-Small Compass [Цзи юнь. Заметки из хижины «Великое в малом»]. Tr. from Chinese, with introduction, notes and indices by O.L.Fishman. Moscow 1974. Holding the chosen direction, she later published another book, Yüan Mei. New Writings by Ch’i Hsieh [Юань Мэй. Новые записи ци се] (Moscow 1977), on the narratives by a well-known Qing poet Yüan Mei (1716–97). Her studies were crowned with a monograph Three Writers of China. From te 17th to the 18th Century. P’u Sung-ling, Chi Yün, Yüan Mei [Три китайских новеллиста. XVII–XVIII вв. Пу Сунлин, Цзи Юнь, Юань Мэй] (Moscow 1980).

Mediaeval Chinese poetry was studied by B.B.Vakhtin, ancient poetry by M.E.Kravtsova, the latter’s work resulted in the monograph Poetry of Ancient China [Поэзия древнего Китая] (St Petersburg 1994).

Another direction carried out by Petersburg Sinologists may be characterized as historical and historical-philosophical. It was initiated by V.M.Stein with his book about Guan-zi. The next generation of historians of China marked their appearance with the book by E.I.Kychanov An Account of History of the Tangut State [Очерк истории тангутского государства] (Moscow 1968). The same, “marginal”, direction was taken by M.V.Vorobyov who issued the book The Jurchens and the Jin State [Чжурчжени и государство Цзинь] (Moscow 1975). To the same area belongs the book by A.S.Martynov, The Status of Tibet from the 17th and 18th Century [Статус Тибета в XVII–XVIII вв.] (Moscow 1978). A different way, the historical-philosophical and cultural-historical one, was preferred by J.L.Kroll who showed it in his first book, Sima Qian as a Historian [Сыма Цянь – историк] (Moscow 1970) and developed this approach in his fundamental research of the treatise by Huan K’uan, Debate on Salt and Iron [Спор о соли и железе]. The study of the ancient period of Chinese history was carried out by K.V.Vassiliev who worked at the Department of Ancient Eastern Studies. In 1968, his book The Charts of Fighting States [Планы сражающихся царств] was issued.

To the recent achievements of the historical studies two monographs belong, such as that by I.F.Popova, Political Practice and Ideology of Earky T’ang China [Политическая практика и идеология раннетанского Китая] (Moscow 1999), and by V.M.Rybakov, Chinese Criminal Code of the T'ang Dynasty With Explanations. T'ang lü shu yi [Уголовные установления Тан с разъяснениями. Тан люй шу и], in 3 volumes. St Petersburg 1999, 2001, 2005.

In addition to the two principal directions, some others were developed, too. Thus, traditional ideological systems of China were studied. A.S.Martynov edited two collections of papers such as Buddhism, State, and Society in the Countries of Central and Eastern Asia from the Middle Ages [Буддизм, государство и общество в странах Центральной и Восточной Азии в средние века] (Moscow 1982) and Buddhism and State in the Far East [Буддизм и государство на Дальнем Востоке] (Moscow 1987). M.E.Ermakov published his translation of the book by Hui-chiao, Lives of Eminent Monks [Жизнеописание достойных монахов] (Moscow 1991, 2005), and A.S.Martynov published two-volumed book Confucianism [Конфуцианство] (St Petersburg 2001).

Linguistics is studied by two researchers, I.T.Zograph and I.S.Gurevich. Both experts focusen on the study of Middle Chinese. The recent work by I.T.Zograph is entitled Middle Chinese. A Structural Typological Description Среднекитайский язык. Опыт структурно-типологического описания] (St Petersburg 2005). I.S.Gurevich published her translation and research into Lin-chi lu [Линь-цзи лу] (St Petersburg 2001).

Dr A.S.Martynov

Translated by A.Zorin; proofread by S.Wickham-Smith

Last Updated ( 12/04/2009 )

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