Category Archives: History of scholarship

Impossible dates in manuscripts

Posted on 10/01/2010 by imre

Every now and then we come across impossible dates in Chinese manuscripts and inscriptions, which refer to years in reign periods that never existed. The common explanation for these is that the place where the manuscript was written was remote … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Dating, Dunhuang, epigraphy, History of scholarship, Palaeography | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A mysterious manuscript about the discovery of Dunhuang manuscripts

Posted on 09/18/2010 by imre

The mysterious manuscript referred to in the title is a little notebook written in a cursive caoshu hand and is currently located at the Gansu Provincial Library. The title Dunhuang xianhua 敦煌闲话 (Idle Chat about Dunhuang) is included in the notebook so … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th century, Aurel Stein, books, Dunhuang, exploration, History of scholarship, Japanese, Otani expeditions | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Chinese books, starting at the end

Posted on 08/07/2010 by imre

William B. Langdon’s catalogue of Nathan Dunn’s Chinese collection (A Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Collection, Now Exhibiting at St. George’s Place, Hyde Park Corner, London 1843) has been one of the best-sellers of its time, selling about a 100,000 copies. … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, books, History of scholarship | Tagged | Leave a comment

Criticism of Chen Mengjia by fellow scholars

Posted on 03/10/2010 by imre

Reading on the history of simplified characters I came across a small book called 1957年文字改革辩论选辑 (Shanghai: Xin zhishi, 1958) which contains a series of articles from contemporary periodicals about the writing reform. I was surprised to find two vicious articles … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th century, archaeology, Chinese writing, History of scholarship | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Chinese seals found in Ireland

Posted on 02/02/2010 by imre

A while ago I published an article called “The story of the Chinese seals found in Ireland” (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2008, 18: 465-479) about a group of Chinese porcelain seals discovered in different locations throughout Ireland during the … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, archaeology, Chinese writing, History of scholarship, Palaeography, Seals | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment