The Voluminous Myth of the Number of Chinese Books

UCLA Center for Chinese Studies hosts a talk by Endymion Wilkinson on book production and historical sources in China.

Wilkinson's lecture will be divided into two parts. The first half of the lecture will show how it was that people have come to believe wildly exaggerated ideas of the number of books produced in China before 1912. Dr. Wilkinson will also give his own estimates of book production. The second half of the lecture will summarize his experience over 50 years of trying to provide a comprehensive and realistic account of Chinese historical sources.

Endymion Wilkinson has had a dual-track career: European diplomat (last post, EU Ambassador to China, 1994–2001) and historian of China (Stanislas Julien Prize, 2014). He is currently an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center, Harvard University.

The UCLA Taiwan Studies Lectureship is a joint program of the UCLA Asia Institute and the Dean of Humanities and is made possible with funding from the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education, Ministry of Education, Taiwan, represented by the Education Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.

Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies, Asia Institute, UCLA Dean of Humanities, Taipei Economic and Cultural Organization in Los Angeles