EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts
keynote 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 14 ote speech The prospects for development of Russian sinology depend on the general condition of science in the country. Today, funding is provided on the project basis. We still have to unleash work for exploring the condition of the world sinology and its most im- portant part — the works by our Chinese colleagues. Another big task is to undertake translations of contemporary Chinese literature, both the prose and poetry. In this context, we should mention the successfully proceeding Russian-Chinese project, under which 100 contemporary Chinese novels will be translated and published in Russia, while 100 novels by Russian authors will be translated and published in the PRC. Our main task is to improve understanding between our two nations. Today, when hundreds thousand citizens of Russia and the PRC contact one another, Russian people must know the his- tory, economy, laws, as well as traditional and modern culture as well as its folk customs and eti- quette specifics. To offer such knowledge to our people is a professional duty of Russian sinologists. In 2018, we, together with the Chinese party, will celebrate the two important dates: Septem- ber 1, the 400 th anniversary of establishment of Russia-China diplomatic ties, and October 1–40 years of the reforms which made the PRC a leader of the contemporary world. Before I conclude, I would briefly address one phenomenon which raised concerns among our public. All of us are Internet users and over there, we saw an article by Alexander Gabuev — “Gos- udarstvo ushlo iz kitaistiki: Chto ostalos ot rossiiskoi shkoly kitaevedeniya” [The state has with- drawn from sinology: What is left of the Russian school of Chinese studies]. As a matter of response, it was followed by another article, written by a Chinese expert on Russia Yan Guodong: “ Eluosi hanxue di weiji” [The crisis of Russian sinology], published in Waiguo shehui kexue [Social sci- ences abroad], 2015, No. 6, pp. 68–73. Yan Guodong participated in re-publication of Academician V. P. Vassiliev’s “Essays on the history of Chinese literatures” realized by the Petersburg sinologists in 2013 and including the full translation of the given book into Chinese, performed by Yan Guodong (St. Petersburg: the Confu- cius Institute at the Saint Petersburg State University, 2013, 334 p.). As evidenced by the said articles, both authors see the main sign of the “crisis” in our sinology in its insufficient funding. They, however, do not refer to the number of major works on China fi- nanced by the Russian Humanities Fund, or to the joint Russian-Chinese projects that are organized and financed by the Fund, which receives impressive amounts of money allocated by the state for these purposes. In Russian, we have a term “moaners” — that is, the people always complaining about something. In his “Unknown Man’s Story” Anton Chekhov wrote: “Our generation is com- prised entirely of neurotics and moaners”. As for the contemporary moaners, I would respond to them by a quotation from a famous Petersburger and writer Daniel Granin, who wrote: “Since you put hand to the plough, be so kind to serve honestly, drudge to the finish, and, please, do not moan and do not complain” (“The Homonym”). That the afore-mentioned moaning is absolutely groundless is evidenced by the profound ana- lytical collective monograph under the editorship by Dr. N. L. Mamaeva on “Osnovnye naprav- leniya yi problem rossiiskogo kitaevedeniya” [The major vectors and problems of the Russian sinology] (M., “Pamyatniki istoricheskoy mysli”, 2014. 380 с.) and the work by V. Zhouravleva, P. E. Skachkov’s disciple, who published the continuation of her tutor work: “Bibliography of China” — Philosophy and socio-political thought. Ethics. Esthetics. Military Thought. Mythology. Religion. 1958–2008. (M., “Forum”, 2015). So, the Petersburg school of sinology is the basis of the Chinese studies in Russia. It stands on the solid platform of Bichurin’s attitude to Chinese sources, Vassiliev’s approach to Russia’s rela- tions with China, and Alexeev’s view of Chinese culture in the context of other world cultures. Let us wish all colleagues from this school, whose guests we are today, further success for the benefit of Russian and European sinology. And, of course, let me wish full success to our Congress and good health, well-being and creative uprising to all its participants!
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