China has long been a country with many ethnic groups and multiple cultural traditions,therefore,China studies must include researches on non-Han ethnic groups and their cultures.It is based on such a common understanding that the School of China Studies of Renmin University of China has been actively promoting and organizing researches on the language,history,geography,religion and culture of ethnic minority groups of China's frontier regions ever since its inception.The school has also made the decision to establish the Institute for Historical and Philological Studies of China's Western Regions.With strong support from the university as well as the society,the Institute has now been established after a year of preparation.We are now launching the“Monograph Series of Historical and Philological Studies of China's Western Regions”.These publications present academic approaches,pursuits and achievements of the Institute's members and their colleagues and friends all over the world.We hope the Monograph Series will serve the scholarly community as an academic platform for rallying scholars both within and outside China to improve and ensure the flourishing of historical and philological studies of China's western regions.
Three main considerations prompted the School of China Studies at Renmin University of China to choose the historical and philological study of China's western regions as one of its core research fields to be especially promoted.
First,the development of research on China's western regions was inseparable from the formation of China as a nation state.During the late Qing,the aggression of Western colonialist and imperialist powers brought about unprecedented and severe crisis in China with the insecurity of its frontier regions.It was during such a time many Chinese scholars devoted their time and energy in“the geographic and historic studies of the northwest regions.”Their work made significant contributions to preventing Chinese territory from being taken away by western colonialists,to the establishment of China as modern nation state,and to defining the national borders of China.Since such research was vital to the formation of China's identity as a nation state and the definition of its national boundary,it should be sincerely viewed as an integral part of China studies.It is particularly necessary for us to deepen our own understanding of China and its cultural traditions and give it a new definition befitting contemporary circumstance by means of promoting China studies in the time of modernization and globalization.It goes without saying that studies of China's western regions should be continuously promoted as an important component of China studies in this particular time period for facing the new challenge of modernization and globalization.
Secondly,the study of China's western regions,specially the historical and philological study of the region,is a highly internationalized scholarship that involves many different academic disciplines.Putting emphasis on historical and philological studies of China's western regions will advance the goal of promoting China studies into an internationalized discipline of high scholarly standard.In the West,historical and philological study of China's western regions is a field with both a long tradition and great prestige.
In China,due to the lack of new materials and methodological innovation,the“geographic and historic studies of the northwest regions”began to decline after the Jiaqing and Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty.Meanwhile,study of China's western regions in the West made great progress along new paths.As represented by the French scholar Paul Pelliot,a generation of well-known European,Russian,Japanese and American Sinologists and others of Central Asian studies took possession of large numbers of precious ancient manus and artifacts from China's western regions,especially from Dunhuang and Turfan.Not only that,they also implemented new historico-philological approaches to deal with these newly acquired manus in various languages and s.
By comparing the phonetics of Classical Chinese with that of ethnic minorities and foreign languages they were highly successful in deciphering and interpreting these multi-lingual documents and manus.Their accomplishments not only surpassed that of traditional Chinese“scholarship on the northwestern regions”of the Qing dynasty but have also left a magnificent chapter in the history of China studies in western academia.Despite the fact that Chinese studies in the world has now been highly diversified in terms of methodology and content,historical and philological study of China's western regions remains an interdisciplinary field that is very influential and capable of attracting and rallying scholars from various countries all over the world.Although the object of China studies is China,the methodology and academic standard of China studies should be internationalized.In order to foster dialogue among scho-lars of China studies within and outside China,and to truly connect Chinese scholarship with the rest of the world,we must emphasize and strengthen the historical and philological study of China's western regions.
Thirdly,Chinese scholars have certain advantage over western scholars when entering the field of historical and philological studies of China's western regions-not only do the large number of ancient Chinese documents about China's western region provide an irreplaceable foundation for researches on history and culture of the region,in addition many of the languages of the region are still in use by minority ethnic groups within the borders of China today.Chinese scholars should have played an important role in this field.Indeed,the study of China's western region in China did experience a brief period of glory with the leadership of outstanding scholars such as Chen Yinke,Wang Guowei and Chen Yuan and etc.during the 1930 and 1940s.Regrettably,this tradition has not been sustained and developed.
While today Wang Guowei and Chen Yinke are praised as the greatest scholars of Chinese studies,Chinese scholarship on China's western regions is far from advanced in comparison with that of the West and Japan.Instead,few Chinese scholars are capable of participating in discourses of the field,and quite a number of subfields are on the brim of extinction.Such a serious situation is an obstacle for Chinese scholars to raising the quality of academic research to the highest international standard,and it will also hamper the harmonious co-exis-tence and prosperity of various cultures within China.In light of this,we are eager to promote historical and philological studies of China's western regions,to encourage Chinese scholars to play up our strength in this special field,and to close the gap between Chinese scholarship and the best scholarship of the world in this field.We also plan to use the School of China Studies at Renmin University of China as the base for training the next generation of scholars in the field of historical and philological studies of China's western regions and revive the endangered subfields.
It must be noted that Xiyu,or Western Region is a historical concept,with the actual geographic area indicated by this term often expanding or contracting in different time periods.There is a difference between a broadly and narrowly defined Western Region:the latter includes the area south of the Tianshan Mountain,north of the Kunlun Mountain,and east of Cungling and west of the Yumen Pass.Broadly defined,the Western Region includes all the areas beyond the western frontier of the dynasties centered on China proper.In other words,besides those included in the narrowly defined western region,the broadly defined western region included West Asia,South Asia,and even parts of North Africa and Europe.Due to the fact that the western region was an area of frequent migration and mingling of peoples before the modern era,it was a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures.There were countless interactions among various ethnic groups,religions,languages and cultures that had once appeared in this region in history.
Therefore,in studying this region we must view it as a whole,and we should not arbitrarily dissect it along lines of ethnicity,language and territory.However,given to the guiding principle and the current make-up of the Institute for Historical and Philological Studies of China's Western Regions at Renmin University of China,our borrowing of the term Western Region is more out of respect and continuity of Chinese scholarly tradition.Our use of the term is mainly to indicate the vast areas of China's west,and thus is not the same as the term used in the past.The term here includes today's Xinjiang,Tibet,Gansu,Qinghai,Ningxia,and Inner Mongolia.Accordingly,the main object of our study is the histories,languages and cultures of the numerous ethnic groups that have lived within the western borders of China in the past.Framed by the academic interest of current members of our institute,our research emphasis is given to those academic fields which are equivalent to Stu-dies of Central Eurasia,or Central Asia and Inner Asia,especially to Turkology（Old Uigur Studies），Tibetology,Mongol,Manchu and Tangut studies in western academia.
When we use the term“historical and philological studies,”we do not mean to have history and philology（or linguistics in its narrow sense）of China's western regions as the only objects of study.Indeed,we propose to build the field into a syncretic and comprehensive study of the various ethnic groups and cultures of China's western regions.Therefore,we should incorporate into it various disciples and approaches in humanities as well as in the sciences.The reason that we emphasize historical and philological study here is that we strongly believe that all researches on China's western regions have to be carried out on a solid historico-philological foundation.We encourage the application of historico-philological approaches to process and interpret the written documents and other artefacts that have been unearthed in these regions.We believe that only out of such solid historical and philological studies can we produce logical deions and explanations of the histories,languages,religions and cultures of various ethnic groups in China's western regions.We do not object to macro-theoretical construction in the study of China's western regions,neither are we against the introduction of new methodologies and new paradigms into this field.However,we must insist on ha-ving our scholarship based on a solid historico-philological foundation,call attention to the necessity of fundamental research on primary sources,and promote a straightforward and detailed research style.
We sincerely welcome colleagues and friends both within and without China to work together with us to promote and ensure the flourishing of the study of China's western regions!
Shen Weirong
March 22，2007
