SOCIETY AND THE STATE IN CHINA: XXXIX NAUCHNAYA KONFERENTSIYA, MOSCOW: Vostochnaya litra, 2009, 502 p. (Scientific Notes of the China Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Issue 1)

In March 2009, for the 39th time, the China Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences brought together experts on China from all over Russia and beyond. This amazing event in scientific life dates back to 1970. During this time, Moscow has become the capital of another state, some of the colleagues of the once unified country have turned into "foreign guests". Sinologists who gathered for their professional meetings during the years when the "cultural revolution" was raging in China, now track the steady pace of developing China. The conference was timeless. I think one of the reasons for this is that it offers participants a broad range of issues. The title is elegantly and concisely worded to cover any subject related to China - from linguistics to economics, from history to current politics, from religious studies to exact sciences, as well as archaeology, philosophy, and literary studies. Even the geographical scope of China is an optional condition for participation in the conference, where Japanese, Mongolian, Vietnamese, and Turkologists present their research.

But, of course, the most important factor in the longevity of this scientific forum is the dedication of scientists from the China Department to its idea. Even in the most difficult and financially unsecured years, in the early 1990s, the conference organizers sought opportunities to ensure that the next collection of abstracts and reports was published on time and that each author had a free copy. This is the merit of the head of the Department A. A. Bokshchanin, compilers of collections A. N. Khokhlov, N. P. Svistunova, E. A. Sinetskaya, A. I. Kobzev, S. I. Blumchen, A.D. Dikarev.

The conference materials have been published by Vostochnaya Literatura publishing house for several years, which has expanded the range of readers of the collections - they have become available through the bookselling network. Since 2009, the collection of materials of the conference "Society and the State in China" is simultaneously "Scientific Notes of the Department of China of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences".

The peer-reviewed first issue of "Scientific Notes" turned out to be quite festive. It opens with congratulations on the 85th birthday of Lev Petrovich Delyusin and the 80th birthday of Stanislav Kucera. In addition, there are articles by A. N. Khokhlov " Academician S. L. Tikhvinsky at the beginning of his creative career (on the 90th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding Sinologist)", R. N. Demin and A. I. Kobzev "Chinese textology as a strict science (on the 80th anniversary of the birth of V. S. Spirin)", A. I. Kobzeva and M. Yu. Ulyanov " Taoist temperament and Confucian style (dedicated to the 65th anniversary of A. M. Karapetyants)".

The materials of the collection are grouped into the following sections: "History", "Taiwan", "Philosophy and Ideology", "Religion and Culture", "Yijin Studies", "Science of China". I must say that classification is always a non-trivial task. In addition, apparently, there was a significant thematic variation in the proposed materials, so there was a reason for A. I. Kobzev's article " Lao Tzu and the Buddha "not to be placed in the category" Religion and Culture", but to find a place for it in the section"Philosophy and Ideology".

The entire variety of topics, ideas, and information published in the collection cannot be covered in a review. Therefore, the reviewer's choice of works will be subjective.

I will start with an article by E. A. Sinetskaya about the works of the writer Zhou Weihui "Baby from Shanghai turned 30 years old". This topic is not new; several years ago it was already mentioned in the study of A. N. Zhelokhovtsev. But the scandal associated with the frankness of the plots, I accompany-

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Zhou Weihui's creative work is constantly fueling interest in her. E. A. Sinetskaya translates this interest from literary studies to the social plane, moreover, to sociology with a gender bias. She claims that the two most acclaimed novels of the writer can help to create a socio-psychological portrait of a certain layer of Chinese youth (its external parameters: place of residence-Shanghai, circle of acquaintances-foreigners, age-30 years). To recreate this portrait, Sinetskaya relies on the thoughts of M. K. Mamardashvili, P. Ya. Chaadaev, N. A. Berdyaev, G. V. Florovsky. In the collective portrait of these young people, she sees the phenomenon of Chekhov's Darling, who is "not free in her states", since she is completely dependent on the next man she loves.

The researcher also draws attention to the problem raised by Russian thinkers of the "lack of free initiative in our social development", which consists in the fact that people, both in Russia and in China, unconditionally follow the strong government, which for some time has been writing the word "West"on its banners. Signs of the same cultural imitation of the West, which, by the way, goes in line with the current political course of the PRC, Sinetskaya captures in the manner of behavior of the heroine of the novels of the Chinese writer Coco. From being completely sexually uninhibited to demanding that men pay their bills in restaurants, her ramblings fit the definition of"tragicomedy of unborn souls."

Despite the researcher's obvious sympathy for the novelist, the article leads to a paradoxical conclusion: the writer, whom Western literary studies has glorified as almost the only free author in China, demonstrates uncertainty and lack of freedom by the behavior of her heroine. However, E. A. Sinetskaya opposed this interpretation of her research, emphasizing that in the social portrait of Chinese thirty-year-olds like Koko, she was particularly interested in the theme of their inherent cultural divide and how Koko overcomes it through meeting an American of Japanese-Italian origin, in whose personality, as it turned out, different cultural worlds organically converged.

The publications of the researchers V. S. Morozova (Chita) "Traditional Chinese culture as the basis of spiritual values of modern Chinese society" and U. A. Berzini (Riga) "Traditional Chinese discourse in the modern political discourse of the PRC (problem statement)"have interesting similarities. The authors, who work on similar empirical material, have demonstrated two ways of understanding it-in the cultural-country-specific and political-science key. V. S. Morozova's research method allowed her to conclude that "the traditional culture of China, characterized by a long and continuous development, is incorporated into the modern policy of the PRC" (p. 280). In turn, U. A. Berzina, who uses the political science method of critical discourse analysis, comes to the conclusion that the modern political language of China is interdiscursive and that this should be taken into account in interstate communication.

At the intersection of history, politics and linguistics, an article by A. V. Lukin (Moscow) "The arrival of the concept of "democracy" in China and its first interpretations"is also written. The work is based on a large number of sources and materials. It is a pity that this carefully selected bibliography does not contain the remarkable book by L. N. Boroch "Confucianism and European Thought at the Turn of the XIX-XX centuries "(Moscow, 2001), as well as her other publications. Fact: the phrase mingzhu meaning "democracy"was first used in Chinese in 1864 in a book translated by the missionary V. A. P. Martin. A.V. Lukin disputes the opinion about the Japanese source of this concept in Chinese.

The article by L. N. Borokh (Moscow) "Reflections of Liang Qichao on the Political Role of Buddhism" is based on one of the thinker's works written at the beginning of the XX century. Following Liang Qichao's text step by step, the author shows how Buddhism attracted Chinese intellectuals of that time. Liang Qichao believed that Buddhism does not encourage belief in prejudice, brings good to everyone at once, does not shut itself off from solving worldly affairs, answers questions of faith as fully as possible, aims at equality, teaches people to rely on their own strength. Although the researcher did not go beyond these ideas, in my opinion, it would be interesting to understand how Liang Qichao's judgments about Buddhism correlate with the Chinese reality of those years.

The article by M. S. Khayutina (Munich) "Reception of fugitives in the multistate system of Ancient China: preliminary observations" takes us back 2.5 thousand years. Historians of antiquity most often operate with epochs and other large quantities. And here, it would seem, a microcosm-the issues of legal regulation of the extradition of refugees in the VII-VI centuries BC.

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The author notes that the politicians of that time not only enjoyed the hospitality of foreign countries, but also sought to introduce this practice into the legal framework. However, the same attention to detail based on the source is also typical for the research style of CP. Coachmen, to whom Khayutina gratefully addressed her article.

The article by P. M. Kozhin (Moscow) "Varieties of bronze ritual utensils of the Shang and Zhou eras" reflects the scientist's concern that, against the background of the introduction of new bronze objects of the Shang and Zhou periods into scientific circulation, " many fundamental issues related to this mass production are still not resolved, and many that arise in connection with with the advent of new factual materials, not even delivered" (p. 15). The author believes that to determine the chronology and social significance of bronze ware, the criteria defined earlier and reduced to taking into account the specifics of vessel shapes, the style of ornamentation, and partly the content of inscriptions are important. However, according to the scientist, Guo Mogo himself concentrated on deciphering inscriptions, and this approach continues to dominate today. P. M. Kozhin offers archaeologists possible ways and criteria for grouping the Shan and Zhou ritual cauldrons on the basis of "rational processing of forms", considering that this could be the beginning of a new process of understanding objects that is adequate to the objects themselves.

Two articles by A. I. Kobzev - "Lao Tzu and Buddha -' the coincidence of two in one' or 'the bifurcation of the one'?" both "Chinese and Western Sinology" are devoted to global issues. I'll start with the second one. In fact, this is a historical sketch of the development of knowledge about China in China itself, in the West and in Russia over a period of 2.5 thousand years. Such a grandiose project, full of names and facts, is undoubtedly useful as an attempt to generalize globally the activities of Chinese researchers from different times and peoples. From a scientific point of view, it is interesting that A. I. Kobzev combined such traditions of studying China as, for example, gosyue and Sinology, which many scientists, primarily Chinese, are divided in different directions.

In the article "Lao Tzu and the Buddha" A. I. Kobzev voices new arguments in favor of, as he himself writes, the "old hypothesis" of V. P. Vasiliev and L. S. Vasiliev, finding historical, typological and genetic similarities between the portraits of Lao Tzu and the Buddha. Giving a set of proofs of how one image flowed into another, the scientist sums up his article with the conclusion that " the Taoists carried out a conceptual revolution of historical sequence." In his opinion, "the image of Lao Tzu underwent a process resembling the development of photographic film" (p. 224), for which the gradually refined image of the Buddha served as a developer.

V. Golovachev's article (Moscow) "Education as a factor of ethnic politics during the Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan (1895-1945)", devoted to the events of almost a century ago, helps to clearly place accents in such topical issues of Taiwan as Taiwanization (Bendihua) and the Kuomintang one-China policy. The article makes it clear why some Taiwanese people still remember Japanese times with nostalgia. V. TS Golovachev writes that "during the 51 years of Japanese rule, the inhabitants of Taiwan achieved a much higher level of education than in all the previous 234 years of Chinese rule" (p.219). However, based on examples selected with genuine scientific passion, the author shows that this policy was discriminatory, aimed at weakening cultural and linguistic ties with China. In 1918, "assimilation"was openly proclaimed as the goal of Japan's enlightenment policy in Taiwan.

Reading the article by Yu. L. Krol (St. Petersburg) "Sima Qian's ideas about the" secret benevolence "(yin de)", I want to ask myself, is there a need to hurry if there are Chinese volumes of an ancient historian in the world with their still unsolved message? Yu. L. Krol, a recognized expert on Sima Qian, and on This time I managed to make an exemplary article out of seemingly non-binding phrases, written according to all the canons of a scientific essay. He even enlisted the Tang poet Bo Juyi as an associate. Through a thorough analysis of Sima Qian's use of the terms yin de ("secret benevolence." - translated by Yu. L. Krol) and yin ho ("secret misfortune". - translated by Yu. L. Krol), the author establishes that they always implied the presence of several generations. The "secret blessing" marked the ancestor of the ruling house and was transferred to his descendants in linear time. This is a logical conclusion about Sima Qian's linear ideas about history. Yu. L. Krol does not claim to be a revolution in science, but recalls that the idea of cyclical time in China coexisted with the idea of linear time.

The last ancestor of the ruling house in China, who apparently inherited Yin Ho, and not Yin de, was Yuan Shikai, who served as emperor for only 83 days. About him, about his strange life.

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A. N. Khokhlov (Moscow), as always strictly adhering to the documents, told about his death in the article " China during the presidency of Yuan Shikai: increasing propaganda of Confucianism and an attempt to restore the monarchy (based on press materials and reports from Russian diplomats)." Any work of A. N. Khokhlov is the result of thoughtful work of a historian, as if hiding behind a pile of raw archival material. This article is no exception. In it, the author demonstrated how much new and unexpected things can be seen in a seemingly well-known plot. Thus, the Russian Consul A. T. Belchenko wrote in 1913 that " the birthday of Kung Fu Tzu, completely unnoticed 30 years ago... apparently, it's being made a national holiday." No one would be surprised if these words were marked with the current year. Thanks to the publication of A. N. Khokhlov, the interweaving of interests of different forces in the person of Yuan Shikai also became particularly prominent. (I will admit that the version of Yuan Shikai's death from the experience caused by the lack of support for his monarchical plans always seemed to me like an opera libretto.)

A. A. Bokshchanin (Moscow), Russia's leading expert on the history of the Ming Dynasty, presented a general outline of the succession of the Ming emperors on the throne, taking modern Chinese historiography as a basis, in the article "Chinese Emperors of the Ming Period (1368-1644)". Somewhat paraphrasing the above quote, we can together with the scientist be surprised that " completely invisible 30 years ago, the emperors... apparently, they are made national heroes in China."

The article by A. A. Krushinsky (Moscow) "Hexagram origins of the topic of alternativeness in Chinese logical and methodological thought", as well as most of his works of recent years, is devoted to Chinese logic. The title suggests that the author focuses on two issues:: 1) the phenomenon of alternation (denoted by the Chinese word fan - "inverted") and 2) its manifestation in some pairs of hexagrams. If we assume that the goal of scientific research is to get as close to the truth as possible (and not to please the reader), then the article by A. A. Krushinsky, who relies exclusively on Chinese language sources and tries to move strictly within the boundaries set by the Chinese text, can be considered a work that meets these conditions. Using his own developments in the field of Chinese logical and methodological thought, he reveals the "semantic symmetry" between individual pairs of hexagrams.

In conclusion, despite the large number of centers of Oriental studies that have recently appeared in Russia, it cannot be said that Sinology as a science is experiencing an upsurge. Therefore, relatively small forces of Sinologists should strive for maximum cohesion and cooperation. In this sense, the Society and State in China conference is a forum that promotes a common cause.

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