Bulletin Winter 1978

Publication of A Sung Bibliography A Sung Bibliography was recently published by the Chinese University Press and will be distributed in Europe, United States and South America by Columbia University Press of New York. The publication of A Sung Bibliography brings to fruition the important international project for the dynastic handbook started by Professor Etienne Balazs of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in 1954. The editing work of A Sung Bibliography was carried on by Professor Yves Hervouet of the College de France, concurrently Director of Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, when Professor Balazs died in 1963. The book was completed in 1976 culminating a joint effort of 80 international sinologists over a quarter of a century. The project arose from the idea that it is impossible to meet a modern and scientific inventory of the most voluminous history of humanity without (a) adequate works of reference, which are practical enough to meet the needs of present day scholars; and (b) without the coordination of individual research. Among the most urgently needed reference books are dynastic handbooks, which for practical rather than methodological reasons, would make available to those engaged in research all that it is useful to know about a given period. The Sung Dynasty was selected for various reasons, the most important being: (1) most of the Chinese imperial institutions took on their definitive form during this period, which can be considered as the beginning, in China, of what corresponds to modern times; (2) the intrinsic importance of the period in widely different domains such as printing, navigation, technical skills, science, literature and philosophy; and (3) the vast amount of material available, which can be quite alarming for anyone engaged in individual research. The Sung Dynasty handbook comprises three parts. The first part, "Introduction—Generalities", consisting of several titles, was started by Professor Balazs and completed by Mme. Francoise Aubin, and published by Mouton of Paris, 1971; the second part, "Biographies", was completed by Professor Herbert Franke and a book in 4 volumes entitled Sung Biographies, was published by Frank Steiner Verlag, 1976; and the third part is A Sung Bibliography which has now been published. The Bibliography includes 660 items arranged according to the order of the Ssu-K'u Ch'üan-Shu ( Classics, Histories, Philosophers, Belles- Lettres and Ts'ung-shu. The system used in Classifications of Chinese Classics by the Kyoto University is adopted. There is also a 3-part index consisting of Index of Titles of Books, Index of Names and Index of Subjects. 20