127Nanjing University Institute for the Studyof Asian Classics in Chinese
ZHANG Bowei*

Institute for the Study of AsianClassics in Chinese, Nanjing University
was founded in 2000. In the past
decade, under the leadership of Director
Prof. Zhang Bowei, it shows a strong
momentum of development. Currently,
there are four full-time research faculties, several part-time researchers andconsultants. When established, theInstitute takes study on and collation of
Sinographic Texts as its main objective.
The so-called 域外漢籍 “Asian Classicsin Chinese” or “Sinographic Texts”, or“The History of Publications and theInterchange of Literature in the Chinese
Cultural Sphere” mainly includes threetypes: the foreign scholars’ historic
books written in Chinese language, theChinese classics’ foreign publications ortranscripts, and the lost ancient Chinese classics found overseas. However, theresearch work of the institute is not only limited to the study of classics, butalso the study of cultural exchange and cultural interaction carried andenriched by the classics.
In the past ten years after the establishment of the Institute, the main
research outcomes are reflected in the “Two Books One Journal”. The
so-called “Two Books” include Book Series of Materials of Sinographic Texts	  * ZHANG Bowei 張伯偉 is professor of Classical Chinese Literature at School ofLiberal Arts, Nanjing University.

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域外漢籍資料叢書書 and Book Series of the Study of Sinographic Text 域外漢籍研究叢; the so-called “One Journal” is Journal of Studies on SinographicTexts 域外漢籍研究集刊. Since 2005, Professor Zhang Bowei edits the world

first academic journal focusing on the research of Sinographic Texts: “Journalof Studies on Sinographic Texts”. This journal is published annually, publishedby Beijing Zhonghua Book Company, mainly focusing on academic research.
It assembles academic papers and book reviews on language, literature,history, religion, ideology study in Chinese. Each volume of the “Collection”
has 400,000–500,000 words in length, and the authors of the articles span themainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, Japan, Vietnam,Singapore, the United States, and other countries. So far, the “Journal” hasbeen published in 15 volumes.
In 2007, Nanjing University Institute for the Study of Asian Classics in
Chinese held “The First International Conference on Sinographic Texts
Studies” in mainland China in East Asia. More than a hundred scholars fromcountries and regions including Korea, Japan, United States, mainland China,Hong Kong, and Taiwan attended this conference, and submitted approximately one hundred high-quality academic papers. This conference attracted
widespread attention from scholars at home and abroad, and drew numerous
responses from the field of Sinographic Texts studies. (For more information,please see “Notes of Attending Nanjing University International Conferenceon Sinographic Texts in East Asia” by Mizuguchi Motoki, and “InternationalConference on Sinographic Texts in East Asia” by Kono Kimiko [publishedon The Journal of Oriental Studies, vol.105, 2008].) In 2009, A Collection ofPapers Presented at the First Nanjing University International Conference onSinographic Texts in East Asia was published by Zhonghua Book Company.
Ten years later, in the year of 2017 Nanjing University witnessed “TheSenond International Conference on Sinographic Texts Studies” held inNanjing, and more than 100 scholars from all over the world attend theconference, especially many young scholars participated this great enterprise.
The collections of this Conference will be published by Zhonghua Book
Company next year.
In 2005 and 2010, on periodicals Study and Exploration and Chinese
Social Sciences Today, the Institute launched two discussions among scholars
at home and abroad on Sinographic texts studies, including the intension andextension of the studies, the object of study, study method, research topics,
and the significance of the studies. These discussions helped to deepen theunderstanding of Sinographic Texts studies.
For example, Liu Chunyin, the director of the library for the Institute ofChinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, says: “In 2000, Nanjing
University formally established the Institute for the Study of Asian Classics inNanjing University Institute for the Study of Asian Classics in Chinese

129Chinese, which is the first specialized research institution on Sinographic
texts in the world. Till now, it has published the Journal of Studies on
Sinographic Texts as well as the ‘Book Series of the Study of Sinographic
Text.’ This institute promotes a systematic study on the dissemination, collation, cultural exchange of Sinographic texts, focusing on the research area on
Sinographic texts by exploring the significances of the Sinographic texts inrelation to the study of the entire Sinosphere.” (Cited from “EditorialPrinciples for Summary: Using The Summary of Bibliography of Vietnam
Hán Nôm Documents and its Addendum as An Example,” Information
Management for Buddhist Libraries, No.46, December 2007, p.72.)
Professor Shizunaga Takeshi from the Department of Literary Studies atKyushu University in Japan also once states, “As for academic research, there
is no ‘national border!’ However, in reality, as with scholars studying
Japanese literature, Chinese scholars who study their own literature are also
trapped in a blurry view that is sealed off by a diversity of invisible nationalborders. In such an academic context, we saw the rise of a new researchmethod for sinology in mainland China—that is, the ‘study of Sinographic
texts’ proposed by Professor Zhang Bowei, director of the Institute for theStudy of Asian Classics in Chinese at Nanjing University. I personally thinkthat this method is built upon the critique of the traditional research methodthat only focuses on one’s own literature and domestic literary documents. Itis a new academic paradigm that shows one’s attempt to break the ‘national
border’ of academic research. Professor Zhang Bowei’s proposal of thisconcept, illustrates that his hope that China-based researchers of Chinese
literature would be able to break the shackles of the ‘national border,’expanding one’s view of vision to Japan, Korea and other neighboring countries that have preserved texts written in Chinese language. Therefore, the‘study of Sinographic texts’ is not a glorious buzzword, on the contrary, it isa methodology for all of us to understand the ‘way of ruling’ of China and theentire East Asian area. The so-called ‘sinology,’ therefore, should not be afield that only focuses on domestic China, but should also encompass morediversified perspectives and various ways of thinking that are border-crossing
for the consideration of China in relation to the entire East Asian region—thisshould be the essence of ‘sinology’.” (Cited from “A New Method in theField of Chinese Studies,” in Tōhō [Oriental], no.348, Feb 2010, published byTōhō shoten in Japan.)Professor Shizunaga Takeshi also points out, “In 2005, the Journal ofStudies on Sinographic Texts edited by Professor Zhang Bowei in Nanjing
University was officially founded. Subsequently, led by Professor Zhang
Bowei, Dr. Jin Chengyu, Dr. Cai Yi and others have launched a book series
entitled the ‘Book Series on the Study of Sinographic Texts.’ Therefore, with130

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the publication of the journal and the book series every year, the Institute for
the Study of Asian Classics in Chinese from Nanjing University has been
continuously providing academic community with the latest research resultsin the field of the study on Sinographic texts.” (Cited from “SinographicTexts as an East Asian Commonality,” Bungaku kenkyu [Studies in Literature],
no. 107, October 2010, published by Kyushu University.)
Chen Qinghao, researcher of the CNRS also pointed out that:In 2000, the Institute for the Study of Asian Classics in Chinese wasfounded in Nanjing University, which can be seen as the beginning of a
new era for the study of Asian Classics in Chinese. In 2005, the institutelaunched the Journal of Studies on Sinographic Texts. From the sameyear, two sets of books, Book Series of Materials of Sinographic Texts
and Book Series of the Study of Sinographic Text, started to be chiefly
complied by the institute. Since then, a complete research system for thestudy of Sinographic Texts s in Chinese has been formed. Furthermore,in 2007, the International Symposium on the Study of Sinographic Texts
in Chinese has been successfully held, followed by the publication of theconference papers. As the first specialized research institution in thisfield at home and abroad, the Institute, which bases its study onphilology, pays attention to accumulating materials and cultivating
research talents. With abundant materials, as well as collating information and research achievements published in the relevant bulletin and twoseries, the Institute has a promising future. (Thoughts at three decades ofthe overall study of the Chinese culture，Book Review by Zhonghua Book
Company, 2011 (5) )At present, adhering to the academic idea proposed by Prof. Zhang Bowei,
which regards the circle of the Chinese culture as a method, the Institutedeals with research problems in the realm of the Chinese culture. Hereupon,a brand-new literature foundation has been built. Taking extensive masteryand in-depth understanding of literature as the premise, the Institute put
forward a number of issues with new academic significance. It will get rid of
the chronic illness haunting the humanistic studies in East Asia over the past
century which follows the Western academic ideas and methods to observeand study the Oriental learning. It will also provide the international
academic community with academic ideas and methods different from theWest. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that such research ideas will be
revolutionary and epoch-making for the East Asian literature and cultural
studies.