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Abel-Rémusat and the Secret History of Sinology’s Origins
Mark Elliott (ES '81, EAS MA ‘84) examines Abel-Rémusat's career, focusing in particular on Abel-Rémusat's methods for learning and translating Chinese and the crucial place of Manchu therein.
When:
November 20, 2014 4:30pm to 6:00pm
In the last twenty years, Western scholars have begun to pay more attention to the importance of Manchu-language sources in the study of the history of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The recent discovery of the value of these materials ought more properly be regarded as a rediscovery, however, since in the early 19th century the first European sinologists had already begun to take a serious interest in the Manchu language, noting then its value for the study of Chinese history and the classics. The pioneer in this regard was the remarkable Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1788-1832). It was two hundred years ago that Abel-Rémusat was appointed to the first academic post for Chinese studies in the West, a chair in Chinese and Manchu language and literature created at the Collège de France. In his capacity as professor there, and later as a fellow of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and curator of Oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Royale, Abel-Rémusat helped lay the foundations of both modern Sinology and modern Manjuristics.
Mark Elliott (ES ’81, EAS MA ‘84) is the Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Department of History at Harvard University, and Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. He is the author of two books, The Manchu Way (Stanford, 2001), and Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World (Longman, 2009), along with numerous articles. Apart from Qing history and Manchu studies, Elliott’s research and teaching interests focus on the long relationship between the Chinese heartland and the peoples living in the northern frontier.
Series: CEAS Colloquium Series
Nicola Di Cosmo is the Henry Luce Foundation Professor of East Asian History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), which he joined in 2003. His main areas of research are the relations between China and Central Asia from ancient times to the modern period, the history of foreign dynasties in China, and, more generally, frontier relations seen from archaeological, anthropological, and historical perspectives. Recently he has also published on climate change and the Mongol empire. Before joining the Institute for Advanced studies he was a Research Fellow at Cambridge University and taught at Harvard University (1993-99) and at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand, 1999-2003). He has written on Inner Asian history, Chinese history, and military history and he is the author and co-author of several books, including Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (2002), A Documentary History of Manchu-Mongol Relations (1616-1626) (2003), and Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China (2006). He also edited or co-edited several books including Warfare in Inner Asian History, 500-1800 (2002), Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries and Human Geographies in Chinese History (2001) and Military Culture in Imperial China (2009, A Choice Outstanding Academic Title). - See more at: http://ceas.yale.edu/events/nomads-and-climate-chinese-history-scientific-arguments-and-new-perspectives#sthash.GURHeZb5.dpuf
Ideas that climatic events were behind the appearance of nomads as raiders and conquerors of settled lands have been around for a long time. Unfortunately, historical records are seldom direct in linking cause and effect, and such theories remained highly speculative. Recent advances in historical climatology and other applications of modern science to the past are changing that picture. But does the input of science produce better history, or just a different version of it? This question will be discussed in relation to the history of nomadic conquests of China and in particular to the rise of the Mongol empire.
Nicola Di Cosmo is the Henry Luce Foundation Professor of East Asian History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), which he joined in 2003. His main areas of research are the relations between China and Central Asia from ancient times to the modern period, the history of foreign dynasties in China, and, more generally, frontier relations seen from archaeological, anthropological, and historical perspectives. Recently he has also published on climate change and the Mongol empire. Before joining the Institute for Advanced studies he was a Research Fellow at Cambridge University and taught at Harvard University (1993-99) and at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand, 1999-2003). He has written on Inner Asian history, Chinese history, and military history and he is the author and co-author of several books, including Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (2002), A Documentary History of Manchu-Mongol Relations (1616-1626) (2003), and Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China (2006). He also edited or co-edited several books including Warfare in Inner Asian History, 500-1800 (2002), Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries and Human Geographies in Chinese History (2001) and Military Culture in Imperial China (2009, A Choice Outstanding Academic Title).
- See more at: http://ceas.yale.edu/events/nomads-and-climate-chinese-history-scientific-arguments-and-new-perspectives#sthash.7eYBtmwX.dpuf
Ideas that climatic events were behind the appearance of nomads as raiders and conquerors of settled lands have been around for a long time. Unfortunately, historical records are seldom direct in linking cause and effect, and such theories remained highly speculative. Recent advances in historical climatology and other applications of modern science to the past are changing that picture. But does the input of science produce better history, or just a different version of it? This question will be discussed in relation to the history of nomadic conquests of China and in particular to the rise of the Mongol empire.
Nicola Di Cosmo is the Henry Luce Foundation Professor of East Asian History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), which he joined in 2003. His main areas of research are the relations between China and Central Asia from ancient times to the modern period, the history of foreign dynasties in China, and, more generally, frontier relations seen from archaeological, anthropological, and historical perspectives. Recently he has also published on climate change and the Mongol empire. Before joining the Institute for Advanced studies he was a Research Fellow at Cambridge University and taught at Harvard University (1993-99) and at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand, 1999-2003). He has written on Inner Asian history, Chinese history, and military history and he is the author and co-author of several books, including Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (2002), A Documentary History of Manchu-Mongol Relations (1616-1626) (2003), and Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China (2006). He also edited or co-edited several books including Warfare in Inner Asian History, 500-1800 (2002), Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries and Human Geographies in Chinese History (2001) and Military Culture in Imperial China (2009, A Choice Outstanding Academic Title).
- See more at: http://ceas.yale.edu/events/nomads-and-climate-chinese-history-scientific-arguments-and-new-perspectives#sthash.7eYBtmwX.dpuIdeas that climatic events were behind the appearance of nomads as raiders and conquerors of settled lands have been around for a long time. Unfortunately, historical records are seldom direct in linking cause and effect, and such theories remained highly speculative. Recent advances in historical climatology and other applications of modern science to the past are changing that picture. But does the input of science produce better history, or just a different version of it? This question will be discussed in relation to the history of nomadic conquests of China and in particular to the rise of the Mongol empir
Ideas that climatic events were behind the appearance of nomads as raiders and conquerors of settled lands have been around for a long time. Unfortunately, historical records are seldom direct in linking cause and effect, and such theories remained highly speculative. Recent advances in historical climatology and other applications of modern science to the past are changing that picture. But does the input of science produce better history, or just a different version of it? This question will be discussed in relation to the history of nomadic conquests of China and in particular to the rise of the Mongol empire.
- See more at: http://ceas.yale.edu/events/nomads-and-climate-chinese-history-scientific-arguments-and-new-perspectives#sthash.GURHeZb5.dpuf
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