As I have mentioned earlier, China's Tibetan study,
in a broad sense, has a very long history. Its beginning can
be traced back about two thousand years. However, only after
the founding of new China was a modern and scientific system
of Tibetan study established. The essential differences
between the new and the traditional Tibetology are: first,
today's Tibetan study analyzes and studies the Tibetan
nationality and all facets of Tibetan society with the help
of scientific theories; as a result, the traditional Tibetan
study has been raised to a higher level. Second, new Tibetan
study breaks with the traditional which stressed only five
major subjects (technology, medicine, phonology, Hetuvidya
and philosophy) and five minor subjects (poetry, ornate
terns, prosody, opera and calendar). The new study also
involves politics, economics, nationality, history,
religion, philosophy, language, character, literature, art,
law, social system, education, archaeology, folk custom,
medicine, calendar, technology, etc. The social science
subjects constitute the backbone, while natural science is
also included, making for a comprehensive academic system.
Owing to the necessary limits of this article, the fruits
accomplished by new China's Tibetan study cannot be
elaborated upon, one by one. The following is just a brief
introduction.
According to incomplete
statistics, in the past 45 years, articles contributed by
China's Tibetan study circle totaled about six thousand.
Some of them are published in special journals for Tibetan
study, such as Tibetan Study in China , Study of Tibet,
China's Tibet, New Development of Foreign Tibetan Study,
Study of Tibet's Social Progress, Culture of the land of
Snow, Study of Tibet's art, Education in Tibet and Buddhism
in Tibet. Some are included in related academic journals and
papers, and some have become books.
The
academic works written by China's Tibetan study experts and
scholars are numbered in the hundreds, including A
Comprehensive History of Tibet, A Concise history of the
Tibetan Nationality, On the System of Merging Politics and
Religion in Tibet, A Brief History of the Relationship
Between the Mongolian and Tibetan Nationalities, Government
of the Qing Dynasty and Lamaism, Biographies of Dalai Lamas,
Tibet is an Inseparable Part of China. Also included History
of China's Resistance Against Foreign Interference in Tibet,
History of Revolution in Tibet, Formation of Feudal Serfdom
in Tibet, History of Religion in Tibet, The Development of
Buddhism in Tibet, History of Tibetan Literature, A Brief
Introduction to Tibetan Language, A General Account of
Chinese and Tibetan Languages, Tibet of Modern China, and
Tibet: Development and Reform Under a Nontypical Dualistic
Structure. All these works answer questions about Tibet in
various fields; in addition, dozens of reference books,
including dictionaries and catalogues also were published.
Especially important and catalogues also were published.
Especially important is the Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary,
produced by a working team involving nearly 60 Tibetological
experts headed by late Pr. Zhang Yixuan. This dictionary has
53,000 entries of more than three million words in both
Tibetan and Chinese languages. Among dictionaries of its
kind published both at home and abroad, Tibetan-Chinese
Dictionary contains the most entries. It is an
encyclopedia-like reference book of very high academic
values. After publication, it won plaudits from both
domestic and overseas academicians, who consider it "a
milestone in the development of Tibetan study."
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