Russian Sinology – Oral History. Vol. 2

Сборник интервью с ведущими российскими китаеведами XX – XXI вв.

Еditor: Golovachev Valentin

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Москва, 2015, 572 p.

The 2nd volume of the book series “Russian Sinology – Oral History” contains 10 interviews with prominent Russian sinologists: Vladilen G. Burov, Leonid S. Vasiliev, Nadezhda A. Vinogradova, Vilya G. Gelbras, Artem I. Kobzev, Pavel M. Kozhin, Yury L. Krol, Boris M. Novikov, Elvira A. Sinetskaya and Mikhail L. Titarenko. The interviews were recorded in 2011–2015 as part of the unique international project “Sinology – Oral History,” which includes 25 countries and territories, such as Russia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, Sri Lanka, US, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Japan, etc. The collected interviews are published online, in scientific periodicals and as the book series in India, PRC, Taiwan, Japan and Russia. The Russian language interviews are also broadcast by the “Radio Taiwan International” and 12 of them are printed in the 1st volume.
The interviews deal with detailed records of professional activities and lives of these esteemed sinologists born between the 1920s and the early 1950s: their biographies, educational background, career, research work, reminiscences on their teachers, colleagues and students, their views on China, on the history of the domestic and global Sinology, on Russian-Chinese relations, etc. Taken as a collective evidence, these highly personal records present a broad picture of the socio-political, ideological, economic and personal environment, which affected the studies on China and Chinese language, visits to China and international exchanges, experienced by the Russian sinologists in Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The interviews give a new dimension to the analysis of both common features and specifics of the domestic Sinology at various stages of its evolution, including its dramatic ups and downs. They also allow the researchers save the invaluable achievements of the Russian Sinology, and make them a more attainable part of the global Sinology.
The interviews are collected and edited by a group of scholars from China Department at the Institute of Oriental Studies and from the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Science, supported by RHSF Grant № 12-21-10000 “Sinology – the Oral History” (International Academic Contest by RHSF (Russia) – National Scientific Council (Taiwan)) and by the Research and Educational Center for China Studies and Cross Taiwan-Strait Relations of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University.
Professor Shih Chih-yu from the NTU made a great personal contribution as the initiator and academic partner of this project.