My farewell to Science and Civilisation in China

The author served as General Editor of the Science and Civilisation in China series from 1992 to 2014. He reviews the history of this scholarly project since its inception by Joseph Needham in 1943, and discusses some of the problems that had to be solved in the production of such a complex and far-ranging publication. He illustrates the discussion with reference to three of the books in the series that appeared under his editorship – those dealing with the topics of ceramics, ferrous metallurgy and ethnobotany.

FIRST SEMINAR ‘DYNASTIES AND SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE IN ANCIENT CHINA’. SERIES “COLLOQUIUM STANISLAVI. TERMINOLOGY DESCRIBING POWER AND KINSHIP IN ANCIENT CHINA”

In a number of issues and problems in contemporary Sinology opinions of experts still differ sharply; this also extends to the ancient history of China. A series of seminars “‘Colloquium Stanislavi’. Terminology Describing Power and Kinship in Ancient China” held in the Chinese Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, is envisioned as a platform for discussions on the most pressing issues, exchanging of views, and development of new terminology. The first seminar on the topic “Dynasties and Succession to the Throne in Ancient China” was held on November 18, 2020, with over 35 researchers taking part in the seminar. Traditionally, 24 dynastic histories are distinguished in the history of China; “dynastic history” being the name of the traditional historical sources describing the rule of a particular house; later the very historical periods were called accordingly. But these traditional denominations, for example, the Shang or Ming dynasty, did not coincide with the surname of the clan that ruled at that time. The discussion clearly revealed two main problems: Firstly, the lack of an adequate term to describe the phenomenon of Chinese history, which is now called “24 Dynastic Stories” and, secondly, the need to determine terminology conveying such major Chinese concepts like dai (代) and chao (朝).

Book Review: Freeman, Carla, editor. 2016: Handbook on China and Developing Countries (Handbooks of Research on Contemporary China series)

Freeman, Carla, editor. 2016: Handbook on China and Developing Countries (Handbooks of Research on Contemporary China series). Basingstoke, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. 579 pp., US$ 61.37 (Paperback), ISBN: 9781786434968.