Category Archives: archaeology

Graphic variation in early Chinese writing

Imre Galambos, “Graphic variation in early Chinese writing.” In Gábor Kósa, ed., China Across the Centuries: Papers from a Lecture Series in Budapest. Budapest: Department of East Asian Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, 2017, 33–59. Reading Warring States manuscripts we are … Continue reading

Posted in archaeology, Character variants, Chinese manuscript, Chinese writing, Corrections, Mistakes, Orthography, Scribal habits | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Manuscripts and printing: East Asia

Imre Galambos, “Manuscripts and printing – East Asia.” In Jonathan A. Silk and Stefano Zacchetti, eds., Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Leiden: Brill, 2015, 968–978. Although historically East Asia has been an arena where ethnically and politically diverse states alternated with one another, … Continue reading

Posted in archaeology, books, Buddhism, Codicology, Dunhuang, printing, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Studies in Chinese manuscripts – A new book

My new edited volume came out recently with the title Studies in Chinese Manuscripts: From the Warring States Period to the 20th Century (Budapest: Institute of East Asian Studies, ELTE). It has twelve studies all related to Chinese manuscripts. The bulk … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, archaeology, Dunhuang, Mistakes, Orthography, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Abbot Wang from the Mogao Caves

Abbot Wang, also known as Wang daoshi or Wang Tao-shih, is one of the most infamous figures in the history of Chinese archaeology. He was the Taoist priest (i.e. daoshi) who stayed at the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, taking care … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, archaeology, Aurel Stein, Dunhuang, exploration, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

An English boy in Chinese Turkestan

I just received a hard copy of this paper and am putting it up a PDF so it is more accessible. The paper is about the young English boy who travelled with Tachibana Zuicho to Western China in 1910 on … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, archaeology, exploration, History of scholarship, Japanese, Otani expeditions, published papers, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Aurel Stein’s visit to Japan

Galambos, Imre. “Sir Aurel Stein’s visit to Japan His diary and notebook.” In Helen Wang, ed., Sir Aurel Stein: Colleagues and collections. British Museum Research Publication 184 (2012): 1-9. This paper is based on Aurel Stein’s diary and notebook he kept while travelling in … Continue reading

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Grid lines in medieval Chinese scrolls: Functionality or design?

Medieval manuscript scrolls are often ruled with grid lines to guide the hand of the calligrapher. These lines are a basic feature of most standard Buddhist and Taoist scrolls, which typically have 17 characters per line and 27-28 (or 31) … Continue reading

Posted in archaeology, Chinese writing, Dunhuang, epigraphy, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

An unrecognized photo of Aurel Stein

Last week we went down for a few days to the south of Hungary and while there I wanted to see at a village called Gádoros, near Orosháza, the “museum” of Zsigmond Justh (1863-1894), a talented Hungarian writer who died … Continue reading

Posted in 19th century, archaeology, Aurel Stein, exploration, History of scholarship | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Manuscripts and Travellers in your local bookstore

Sam van Schaik and Imre Galambos, Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012). Our book is finally out. It all started about 5 years ago when Sam asked me if I wanted to join … Continue reading

Posted in archaeology, Aurel Stein, books, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits, Tibetan, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The role of A. O. Hobbs in the third Otani expedition

Putting my earlier articles online: An English participant in the Japanese exploration of Central Asia: The role of A. O. Hobbs in the third Otani expedition (Imre Galambos) In I. F. Popova, ed., Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the … Continue reading

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