Chinese Studies

Sub-Committee on Education and Research, UNESCO Memory of the World Programme

Due to its activities in teaching and research contributing to the spirit and scope of SCEaR's agenda, but especially because of the project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China”, the Department of Chinese Studies of the University of Tübingen has been honoured to be appointed in 2016 a Corresponding Institution of the Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCEaR), UNESCO Memory of the World Programme (MoW).

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel (hans-ulrich.vogelspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de)
Dr. Cao Jin (Caojin1031spam prevention@gmail.com)

Activities:

  • Research project on "Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China: Convergences and Divergences in the Light of the 'Investigations of the Earth's Interior' (1640) and the 'Hydromethods of the Great West' (1612)," focusing on a recently discovered manuscript considered lost for some 350 years, i.e. the Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell’s (1592-1666) selective translation of Georgius Agricola’s mining classic De re metallica (1556; see also SCEaR Newsletter Nov. 2016).
  • Special teaching courses providing students with the necessary skills and expertise to read and understand Chinese late imperial archival documents, and instructing them about the critical use and evaluation of such historical memories.
  • Promotion and spread of global Manchu studies on the basis of Manchu primary sources from the 17th to 19th centuries.
  • Teaching courses about intercultural encounters and early global history centering on comparative approaches, mastering of different languages, and use of primary sources from different cultural backgrounds.
  • Underlining in teaching the great value of primary sources and providing instruction on the availability and critical utilization of internet-based databases and libraries for getting access to material and information, including items from the MoW registers.