Bulletin Number Three 1983

unearthed from dated tombs, which serve as an index. Q. Have researchers in museums participated in the actual excavation work at kiln sites? A. In the past, we were mainly involved in kiln site investigations, sometimes taking w ith us univer­ sity Archaeology majors. In recent years, we at the Palace Museum also take part in the excava­ tion projects carried out in other provinces. The project at the Longquan kiln in Zhejiang repre sents a jo in t effort o f Zhejiang Provincial Com mittee for the Preservation o f Archaeological Material, Palace Museum o f Beijing, The Museum o f Chinese History, Shanghai Museum, and the Institute o f Archaeology, The Chinese Academy o f Social Sciences. Because the scale o f this exca­ vation project is very large, each o f these units has had to work on several kiln sites. Q. What has this large-scale project yielded so far? A. Excavations have continued for four years. Reports based on findings o f the respective excavation sites and samples have been completed by the various units. However, as there are differ­ ences in their findings, conclusions cannot yet be drawn. The Longquan kiln sites spread over an extensive area. Before Korea's salvage o f the Xin'an sunken ship o f the mid-Yuan Dynasty, Longquan ware tended to be attributed to an earlier period. Now there are three schools o f thought - Southern Song, Song/Yuan, and Yuan. Dating o f many o f the Longquan ware unearthed in Sichuan Province is also no easy task, and we certainly need further discussions to arrive at some more definite conclusions. Q. A History o f Chinese Ceramics, o f which you are the editor and co-author, is a breakthrough in many respects. Would you please tell us the significance and characteristics o f the book ， and your experience in the actual editing and writing? A. Before embarking on the task, we held a meeting and invited nearly one hundred people to attend. A t the meeting, it was felt that a new, compre­ hensive history o f Chinese ceramics should be compiled. Despite its long years o f development, it was not un til the thirties that the first history o f Chinese ceramics appeared, w ith many gaps yet to be filled in. Some dynasties, for instance, were only briefly touched on. With so many relics unearthed during the past twenty years or so, we unanimously agreed that the time had come for us to write a new history based on these findings. As a first step, we drew up an outline, which was distributed to the provincial units. Unfortunately, because the number o f persons involved in the writing o f certain parts was too many, the tone, style and standard were not always uniform. Worse still was that some people departed from the outline previously agreed upon. As a result, the book had to be revised thrice and for certain parts, we even had to rewrite the whole section. It took us as long as four years to finalize the draft and put it into print. A ll the data obtained before 1980 have been included in the book and more up-to-date material w ill be added in revised editions. Q. Are other publication projects being planned? A. The Wenwu Press is considering the publication o f twenty volumes o f colour catalogues o f Chi­ nese ceramics. With the establishment o f the Purple Forbidden City Press by the Palace Museum, we shall be able to publish illustrated catalogues or monographs o f the collections, by dynasty or by type. Q. May we know the actual size o f the ceramics collection o f the Palace Museum? Will the Cera mics Gallery o f the Museum mount any special ， thematic exhibitions? A. The total collection is 350,000, o f which the Qing Dynasty collection accounts for about 300,000 items. In the Qing collection, there are many duplicates which are mostly utensils o f the Qing palace and seldom go on display. Others that are suitable for display range from 40,000 to 50,000 items. The Ceramics Gallery, measur­ ing 600 square meters, can house less than 700 exhibits at one time. The aim o f the exhibitions is to show the development o f Chinese ceramics. Owing to the shortage o f exhibition area, we are unable to hold any special or thematic exhibi­ tion for the time being. Q. Would you enlighten us on the training o f new blood in this field? A. Normally we provide on-the-job training for our assistants. Sometimes the young professionals are asked to write papers on certain topics and through such exercises, they get to know how to go about collecting data. Supervision w ill be given them during their training. A t other times they are asked to assist in different research projects, so that they may have a chance to go through the whole process o f research, under the guidance o f supervisors. In fact, that was how 16 ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS