The Lunyu 論語 and Its Neighbours

Nov, 20/2020

This symposium brings together scholars working in the fields of Chinese commentarial traditions, medieval Chinese literary culture, and manuscript culture from the Chinese empires and its neighbors from the 6th to the 12th centuries. Since the very end of the 19th century, major discoveries of manuscripts have been made in the cities of Dunhuang, Turfan, and Khara-Khoto. Dunhuang and Turfan are located in the extreme western areas of today’s China (Gansu and Xinjiang, respectively). They represent historically important points of communication between the Chinese empire and cultures located to the west, and were at times under the direct control of the empire. The city of Khara-Khoto was a border town in the northern part of the Tangut Western Xia state from the 11th through the first half of the 13th century. The texts recovered from Khara-Khoto hence were written in both the Chinese and the Tangut scripts, and have been crucial for the reconstruction of the Tangut language.

Taken together, the manuscripts recovered from these areas testify to the interactions between the Chinese cultural sphere and neighboring political entities, as well as local cultures. These sources are written in a variety of scripts and languages: classical and vernacular Chinese, Written Tibetan, Sogdian, Old Uighur, Sanskrit, to mention but a few. Their content is equally diverse, including not only Chinese classics with commentaries, such as the Analects of Confucius 論語, the Canon of Odes 詩經 (the most ancient extant collection of Chinese poetry), but also Buddhist sutras and texts such as the Text of a Thousand Graphs (Qianzi wen 千字文), a poem used as a primer to teach Chinese. This event gathers experts in all these topics, exploring the many interactions as written sources testify them.

Watch the flyer!

The event was recorded and can be watched here!

The organizers thank the Penn Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations for its support.

Schedule
Nov 21, 2020 - 9:15AM-Noon EST
9:15 Introduction by Paul R. Goldin and Maddalena Poli
9:30-10:00 Charles Sanft – Lunyu 論語 and Its Neighbors in the Han Northwest
10:00-10:30 Chris Foster – A Master on the Move: Early Medieval Lunyu 論語 Manuscripts Throughout the Sinosphere
10:30-11:00 Bryce Heatherly – Image and Text in Woodblock-Printed Commentaries of The Diamond Sutra 金剛經 (Fourteenth-Fifteenth Century)
11:00-Noon Comments by Michael Puett and Q&A

Nov 22, 2020 - 9:30-Noon EST
9:30-10:00 Christopher Nugent – Prime Lunyu 論語
9:30-10:00 Andrew Meyer – The Lunyu 論語 in the 'Mysterious Learning 玄學' Tradition of the Early Medieval Period
10:30-11:00 Nikita Kuzmin – Beyond Buddhism: How Did the Tanguts Learn about Confucius?
11:00-Noon Comments by Imre Galambos and Q&A

Affiliations
Speakers
Christopher Foster, SOAS
Bryce Heatherly, the University of Pennsylvania
Nikita Kuzmin, the University of Pennsylvania
Andrew Meyer, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY)
Christopher Nugent, Williams College
Charles Sanft, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Discussants
Imre Galambos, Cambridge University
Michael Puett, Harvard University

The Lunyu 論語 and Its Neighbours

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