EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

The tradition of Asian and African studies at St. Peters- burg University can be traced back to 1818, when the Per- sian and Arabic languages started off to be taught here. The Faculty of Oriental Languages was established in 1854 by an imperial edict of Nicholas I. At present, Asian and African studies at St. Petersburg University are mainly concentrated at the Faculty of Asian and African Studies, the Institute of Philosophy and the School of International Relations. St. Petersburg University of is one of the major global centres for studying and teaching the languages, cultures, international relations, economics, religions and history of Asian and African countries. The number of Asian and African languages taught here is unparalleled any- where in the world. Almost 200 highly qualified specialists including 2 academicians, 35 professors and 60 associate professors are engaged in the Asian and African studies at St. Petersburg University. The Oriental Department of the University Library is оnе of the oldest of its kind in Russia. It was established in 1819, when several manuscripts in Persian, Turkish and Tartar as well as а number of books оn Oriental studies were donated to the Imperial University of St. Petersburg by the Kunstkamera and by the Asian Museum. The lib­ rary is now well-stocked with books and materials total- ing 285 000 items, including 50 000 manuscripts and xy- lographs. St. Petersburg University is hosting the Centre for Chinese Studies, the Confucius Institute, the Ho Chi Minh Institute, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Re- search on Korea, the African Studies Centre, the Thai Cabinet, the Nusantara Centre, and the Indian Informa- tion Centre. St. Petersburg University publishes “Vestnik of St. Pe- tersburg University: Asian and African Studies”, an aca- demic quarterly. It is one of Russia’s leading journals in this sphere of learning. “Vestnik” welcomes contributions in Russian or English from international scholars in all areas of Asian and African studies. Asian and African Studies at SPbSU Chinese Studies at SPbSU The Chinese studies commenced at St. Petersburg University in 1855. Acad. V. P. Vasiliev, S. M. Georgievsky, Acad. V. M. Alexeev, G. V. Yefimov, Ye. A. Serebryakov, S. Ye. Yakhontov, Ye. A. Torchinov were the key figures for the development of sinology at St. Petersburg Universi- ty in the 19th and 20th centuries. Currently, more than 40 scholars are researching and teaching the Chinese language, literature, culture, religion, history, politics and economics. Among them, there are 5 full professors, 10 associate professors, and over 25 lecturers. The num- ber of students studying Chinese as their major exceeds 200 people, while 300 students study Chinese as a second foreign language. Our alumni include such outstanding sinologists as Acad. B. L. Riftin, N.A.Speshnev, L. N. Men- shikov, V. V. Petrov and many others. B. G. Doronin, M. E. Kravtsova, B. M. Novikov, I. F. Popova, A. A. Rodionov, N. A. Samoylov and A. G. Storozhuk are the leaders of the University’s sinology today. St. Petersburg University regularly holds international conferences “Issues of Far Eastern Literatures”, “History and Historiography of Asian and African Countries”, “Languag- es of the Far East, South East Asian and Western Africa”, and “Way of the East”, which are important platforms for scholarly discussions in Chinese studies.