On June 23-25, 2011, Prague hosted the International Round Table" The Epistemology of China Studies: Oral History Perspective", organized on the basis of the International Sinology Center of the Jiang Jingguo Foundation of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University*.

The round table was a seminar of curators of the international project "Sinology oral History". The project was initiated in 2002 by Professor Shih Zhi-yu of the Taiwan Strait Research and Education Center of the Department of Political Science of the National Taiwan University Now the project is also patronized by the Sinica Academy In the beginning, Professor Shih Zhi-yu, using working and personal contacts with colleagues in the Far Eastern region, began collect material on the oral history of Sinology in Japan, Korea, and Singapore, and then conduct detailed interviews with distinguished Sinologists in other countries. The project's geography is constantly expanding. We have accumulated significant, unique material that allows us to take a fresh look at the history of si right now-

* Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Centre, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.

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nologies in the XX century. Several countries participating in the project are preparing to publish interview texts at once, and in the future - consolidated publications in Chinese and English.

At the moment, the Project 1 website contains the texts of interviews taken from Sinologists from the following countries (arranged in the order indicated on the website): South Korea (16 interviews); Japan (15); Vietnam (11); Singapore (1); USA (5); France (2); Russia (15); Taiwan (15); India (17); China (5); Mongolia (1). A number of interviews are being prepared for publication, and many are in the process of being translated into Chinese.

The prospects for studying the collected material also seem more than promising, since for the first time researchers will have at their disposal so many recordings of very lengthy interviews with the most distinguished sinologists from different countries. It seems that this may allow us not only to write a truly universal history of world Sinology in the twentieth century, but also to introduce representatives of various national schools to the activities of their colleagues, many of whom they probably have not even heard of. World synology, which is now becoming more global thanks to the Internet, can thus also get its own global history, which allows us to hope that the future synology will not lose its connection with its traditions, with the national schools from which it grew. It is hoped that the memory of the great, though extremely fragmented, Sinology of the twentieth century will not only not disappear, but will also become the common intellectual baggage of Sinologists of the next generations, who will use the methods and traditions developed by national schools in their work.

Olga Lomova, Head of the International Sinology Center of the Jiang Jingguo Foundation, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (Prague), was the first to give a welcoming speech. It should be noted that the reports presented at the round table were on average quite lengthy and usually accompanied by a lively discussion.

Shih Chih-yu (National University of Taiwan) as the "godfather" and general coordinator of the project, he introduced the audience to its history, the main stages of development, the difficulties faced by the participants and the current situation. He stressed that when he started interviewing Japanese Sinologists in 2002, he did not expect the project to reach the international level and develop so dynamically. According to the speaker, the main idea of the project is to make national schools of Sinology more well-known and understandable to each other, and their achievements more accessible to sinologists around the world.

Of course, the project was not without difficulties - for example, in Japan, it was decided to interview science veterans over the age of 90, who are treated almost like deities by others-both because of their scientific achievements and because of their advanced age. As a result, it was often extremely difficult to arrange a meeting, the interviews themselves are on average shorter than in other countries - interviewers did not dare to bother the elders with long conversations, much less insist on repeated recording sessions. In Korea, it was easier to take interviews, although there was a "pitfall": students were hired to take interviews, who did not dare to deviate from the list of questions, often could not" talk " respected professors. It turned out that many project participants faced similar problems - scientists were often not interested in talking to students, they did not tell them much, and they were burdened with interviews. In many cases, much better results were obtained if the interview was conducted by colleagues, acquaintances, or students of the interviewees, who found it easier to find the right topics and conduct a conversation. On the other hand, many scientists told students what they did not tell their colleagues - wanting to explain a particular question that, in their opinion, the young person taking the interview had no idea about. This also often gave interesting results. The participants of the" round table " came to the conclusion that, of course, a lot depends on the personality of the interviewee, his mood and life experience, and general recipes can hardly be developed.

At the moment, interviews have already become the object of research: about 50 theses have been written on their basis over the past five years (most of them - about 40 - in Japan). This gives us confidence that the results of the project will be in demand in the future.

The speaker also noted some other features of working with participants from different countries: for example, the main part of the arguments of Mongolian scientists revolves around the problems of the history of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and the differences in its interpretation that existed and still exist between Chinese and Mongolian scientists. Vietnamese interviews are more imbued with official ideology than any other.

1 http://140.112.150.151/RAEC/act02.php.

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Shi Zhi-yu also said that at the beginning of the project, he was criticized by colleagues who believed that collecting and publishing interviews with Japanese sinologists of the older generation was propaganda of Japanese colonialism and imperialism. However, criticism quickly began to give way to interest, and now the project is actively supported not only by Taiwanese, but also by a number of official scientific organizations of the PRC, which indicates that the project has already done a lot to improve mutual understanding between different sinological schools.

Rina Marva, Professor at the College of Jesus and Mary (University of Delhi) and Secretary General of the Association of Asian Scholars, gave a report on the history of Indian Sinology in the 20th century. Despite the traditionally strong Tibetology that the British colonial authorities supported for geopolitical reasons, sinology in India was relatively poorly developed. The first Chinese studies center was founded in 1937 with the participation of Rabindranath Tagore Chin Bhavan (Chinese House) in Santiniketan, West Bengal. The first head of this center was Tan Yun-shan (1898-1983), invited by Tagore, who can be called the father of Indian Sinology. However, sinological studies still did not gain much momentum, which played a sad role in 1962, when the Indian government was not ready for a conflict with China, largely due to almost complete ignorance of this country. It was only then that the government began to invest heavily in the development of Chinese studies, and many universities began to establish centers for Chinese studies and teaching, although there are still not so many Indian Sinologists who are fluent in the language.

A significant influence on Indian Sinology was exerted by Tibetan refugees, among whom a fairly large percentage of highly educated people. Tibetan scholars in India (mostly grouped around the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and the Library of Tibetan Books and Archives) have managed to establish extensive research activities, and they publish many books, including those on Sinology. They often work together with their Indian colleagues, advising them on various issues. However, Indian scientists do not consider Tibetans as part of Indian science, considering them a separate national school of Oriental studies.

The project's Indian participants have taken 18 interviews with older Chinese scholars, and they are preparing to publish them as a separate book.

Shi Zhi-yu's second report focused on the history and peculiarities of Chinese studies in Taiwan. According to him, the peculiarity of Taiwanese Sinology is that throughout its history - the period of colonialism, or the "cold war" - Taiwanese Sinologists were forced to maneuver between Japanese, American or Chinese views on China, both on general issues and in particular. Frequent changes in courses (one scientist could change his fundamental views on a particular issue several times in his scientific life) caused by changes in the political situation, as well as the issue of Taiwan's self-determination and Taiwanese culture, strongly influenced the objectivity of research and formed a stable idea that any opinion expressed about China always has one or another political side. the background. On the other hand, this approach has made Taiwanese researchers much more flexible in the methodological sense, they are less likely to hold on to old views and easier to perceive new ones.

Many Taiwanese Sinologists stand for Taiwanese self-determination, believing that Taiwan has its own path, separate from China. Shi Ming (b. 1918), who first expressed the idea of a non-Chinese Taiwanese nation in his works, in his youth fought on the mainland with the Japanese under the banner of the CCP. He believed that the Taiwanese proletariat was much more pro-Taiwan than the Taiwanese bourgeoisie, and that Taiwan stood out from mainland China in that it did not carry the burden of centuries-old feudalism on its shoulders. Therefore, for a better (in Shi Ming's understanding - socialist) future, Taiwan should dissociate itself from the mainland and everything Chinese. Shi Ming fiercely criticized the Kuomintang precisely as a representative of feudal and colonial China, unable by its very nature to modernize Taiwan.

The so-called 2-28 Incident, the anti-Kuomintang speech in Taiwan that began on February 28, 1947, has had a great impact on the worldview of many scientists. During its brutal suppression, several thousand Taiwanese were killed, and the Kuomintang forces established a regime of terror on the island. Many Taiwanese then became disillusioned with the Kuomintang, began to perceive its power as colonial, in no way fundamentally different from the Japanese. It was after these events that Liao Wen-gui (1905-1952), who was later called the "father of Taiwanese independence", changed his attitude to the issue of Taiwan and

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he moved from the position of Chinese nationalism in the interpretation of Sun Yat-sen to the side of Taiwanese nationalism.

After the evacuation of the Kuomintang army, which was defeated in the civil war, contradictions between the local and foreign populations began to grow in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek's army veterans, who had gone through a long war with Japan, were primarily anti-Japanese, and this attitude, along with anti-communism, for a long time became an important part of the worldview of that part of Taiwanese society that chose Chinese self-determination. For example, Yu Tsung-hsien (b. 1930), who once headed the Chinese Institute of Economics and Business, in an interview with the project referred to the Japanese as "devils" (gui-tzu).

At the same time, many local residents, especially after the "2-28 incident", were anti-Chinese, considered the newcomers to be the colonial army and refused to recognize their national or cultural ties with them. Younger generations had to choose one position or another. Ye Ji-cheng (b. 1943), a pro-independence activist, recalls in an interview how fierce the disputes between intellectuals of Taiwanese and "mainland" origin were. He explains this by fundamentally different life experiences and different historical paths of these two communities.

Taiwan's close ties with the United States played a major role in shaping the worldview of the Taiwanese elite, which led to several generations of Taiwanese students being educated in American universities starting in the 1960s. Today, almost most of the members of the Taiwanese cabinet have academic degrees obtained in the United States, and American methodology also dominates scientific research. A huge influence on the Taiwanese elite was provided by scientism. At the same time, there are many Taiwanese humanitarians who support the Sinicization or Taiwanization of scientific terminology and methods that seem too Westernized to them.

Many areas of science (including, of course, Sinology) have long been considered politically dangerous and were directly controlled by the Kuomintang. Some scientists recall that this is why their careers were often quite bizarre - their Kuomintang supervisors valued them primarily for discipline, dedication and efficiency, and did not particularly consider their personal or scientific interests when appointing them to a new position. The Institute of East Asian Studies was particularly controlled. According to Zhang Huang-ching (b. 1935), the institute's departments dealing with Communist China were funded by the national security agencies and staffed mainly by members of the army's political staff, immigrant students, or intelligence officers. The latter were also responsible for the internal security of the institute. Representatives of all three factions were similar in their views - they were anti-Japanese and anti-communist, hostile to the idea of Taiwanese independence. However, this did not prevent them from waging a fierce inter-factional struggle within the walls of the Institute.

Almost all intelligence agencies, for obvious reasons, also had their own Sinology departments. Sinology received considerable funding, but in essence it was one of the tools in the civil war. It wasn't until the 1970s that signs began to emerge that Taiwanese Sinology might also have an academic dimension. However, the new synology centers (think tanks) at universities were also initially based on money allocated in the national security budget. Since the 1990s, when the creation of such centers became particularly active, many of them were directly linked to the specific policies for which they worked and for which they worked.

Taiwanese scientists, according to the speaker, are characterized by the ability to easily adapt and change their positions under the pressure of circumstances. Most of them are fluent in several languages and easily write for different audiences (Chinese, Taiwanese, world), although this requires completely different approaches.

The report [by V. G. Ganshin] (IDV RAS) was devoted to the current state of implementation of the project "Sinology-Oral History" at IDV RAS. Taking into account the specifics of the" multipolarity " of Chinese studies in Russia, it was decided to create two parallel project implementation centers - on the basis of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (curator - V. G. Ganshin) and the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (curator - V. Ts Golovachev). This, on the one hand, made it possible to reach a wider circle of Sinologists, but on the other hand, the lack of coordination between the two centers created many difficulties.

The report of S. V. Dmitriev (Institute of Chinese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) was devoted to the current processes in world Sinology, the history of Russian sinology in the XX century, and the results achieved by the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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in their work on the project "Sinology oral history". The text of the report is largely

It was prepared by the curator of the project at the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences - V. TS Golovachev, who, unfortunately, could not come to Prague.

The modern scientific world, thanks to the fall of various kinds of "iron" and "bamboo" curtains, as well as the increasingly widespread introduction of computer technologies, is rapidly globalizing; sinology is no exception. Despite the fact that this discipline, unlike mathematics or biology, is still far from becoming a truly global science, and many scientists have little idea what their colleagues in other countries are doing, this process is irreversible. Especially much was said about "global Sinology" after the attention of scientists from different countries began to increasingly attract the work of Chinese sinologists.

Before the twentieth century, Chinese sinology, with all its traditions and centuries - old history, either did not exist at all in the eyes of most Western scientists, or was an exotic pseudoscience-an object rather than a subject of research. Even in the mid-twentieth century, Chinese sinology was actually represented by several English-speaking authors: little more was known about the underwater part of the iceberg than that it existed.

The situation has been changing rapidly since the early 1990s. The end of the Cold War, a certain liberalization of life in the PRC and the informatization of the scientific space made a real breakthrough in the field of relations between Chinese sinology and the outside world. World Sinology has suddenly discovered that Chinese science is developing at a tremendous rate, increasing its indicators both quantitatively and qualitatively. In China, after many decades of isolation from the outside world, coupled with traditional distrust of foreigners, more and more scientists began to change their opinion of world Sinology. They realized that this branch of science is not a "servant of imperialism and colonialism", but many scientific schools that have existed for centuries, developed original methods and achieved extremely important results, the assimilation of which can not harm Sinology in China itself. Moreover, Chinese scientists, having had the opportunity to travel around the world and meet their colleagues, very soon became convinced that most of them are very knowledgeable people who love China wholeheartedly. Both sides began to realize that it was not only unconstructive, but also impossible, to ignore each other's existence any longer.

Now Chinese scientists are becoming more and more interested in national Sinological schools. In 1996, the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages opened the Chinese Center for Foreign Sinology, which publishes the journal "International Sinology" with a number of publications devoted to Russian research in this field. In 2004, the Center for Foreign Sinology Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was founded. Since 2008, it has been participating in the project "Sinology-Oral History".

Thus, the project initiated by Professor Shi Zhi-yu fully meets the requirements of the time: it allows not only to acquaint representatives of various national Sinological schools with the results of their foreign colleagues ' activities and thus make the accumulated experience of various schools the property of world Sinology, but also to preserve the outgoing traditions of the great Sinology of the XX century, to make them part of sciences.

A total of 12 interviews were conducted and published on the Internet in 2008-2011 by employees of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.2 The maximum duration of one interview was calculated for 8 hours, but in reality it varied from 2 to 8 hours. The total working time of audio recordings was 64 hours, and the volume of transcribed text of audio recordings was about 26 a. l. (or 720 A4 pages). In the future, it is planned to continue interviewing and publish the collected materials in a separate book. In 2011, recordings of interviews with selected Sinologists will be broadcast on Radio Taiwan International Central Broadcasting System in Russian, under the special heading "Sinology-Oral History". On June 15, 2011, Taiwan International Radio already broadcast audio recordings of "15 interviews with V. Malyavin".

In the final part of the report, a brief history of Russian Sinology in the XX century was presented, and basic information about the scientists who took part in the project was given. The report aroused great interest of the audience, and many questions were asked about various details of the history of Russian sinology,

2 In addition to the project website, they can be found on the website of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences: http://www.ivran.ru/projcct-modcrnization-models/57.

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organizations of sinology centers. All this once again emphasized the importance of implementing the project on the oral history of Chinese studies.

Olga Lomova made a presentation on the first steps of Chinese studies in the Czech Republic. Despite the fact that Jaroslav Pruszek (1906-1980) is rightly considered the founder of the so-called Prague School of Sinology, there are several other names associated with the study of China in the Czech Republic, whose significance may not be so great, but which also should not be forgotten.

František Csupr (1821-1882) was a prominent Czech academic and public figure, philosopher, politician and journalist, one of the key figures of the Young Czech movement. In science, he is known for being the first Czech scientist to take an interest in Eastern religions. It is this topic that his main three-volume work "Ancient Indian Teachings"is devoted to. Within the framework of this study, he also examines the Tao te Ching in detail, translating the title of this fundamental treatise of Taoism as "The Path to God and Honesty". Of course, Chupr did not know Chinese and worked (however, very in-depth) with the available translations of the text into Western languages. The main task of his work was, paradoxically, the revival of Christianity, which, in his opinion, had fallen into decline. According to Chupr, all religions have the same foundation, and knowledge of Eastern religions should help his compatriots strengthen their Christian faith. Chupr was a committed humanist and wanted to see, in particular in Taoism, traces of this particular philosophy, which is generally not peculiar to Chinese culture. Despite this and despite the author's lack of special training, his book played a certain role in arousing interest among the Czech intelligentsia in the East, and in particular in China.

Rudolf Dvorak (1860-1920)had a much more direct relationship to science than Chupr. He began his Oriental studies with Hebrew (which, of course, was taught at Charles University in Prague long before), then learned Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and took up Egyptology, from which he finally came to Japanese and Chinese. In 1896 he became a professor at the Department of Oriental Philology, in 1900-1901 he headed the Faculty of Philosophy, in 1915-1916 he was rector of Charles University. For many years, he represented Czech science at all congresses of Orientalists, and was friendly with most of his European colleagues. His main work in the field of Chinese studies is "Religions of China", the first volume of which is devoted to Confucianism, and the second to Taoism. Dvorak was inclined to popularize, he wrote quite a lot of Sinological articles for the Czech encyclopedia. After the First World War, his worldview broke down - he became disillusioned with Western civilization and began to look for" light in the East", which was extremely popular in that era. It is these ideas that permeate his last book - the translation of the Tao te Ching, the first Czech translation of this treatise made directly from the original (Dvorak's text is still used by Czech scientists and students, and has been reprinted several times, despite the fact that at the moment there are 17 Czech translations of the treatise). Dvorak provided the text of the treatise with an extensive commentary in the form of explanations. The scholar saw Lao Tzu as a pacifist philosopher, and in the introduction to the translation, he gave Taoism an extremely high assessment, comparing this philosophy with the teachings of Tolstoy and Tagore. Like many Orientalist theorists of his time, Dvorak had an extremely poor idea of the real China, and therefore largely idealized Chinese civilization, seeing it as a "civilization of the spirit", which he contrasted with Western materialism, greed and worship of technology.

Unfortunately, Dvorak did not train a single Sinologist student, and when Yaroslav Pruszek became interested in sinology, he had to study in Germany and Sweden, since there were no Sinologists in his homeland. However, it is known that the works of Dvorak, and to a lesser extent Chupra, had a certain influence on him.

A. Zadrapova (post-graduate student of the Institute of Economic and Social History of the Karlov University of Philosophy) gave an extensive report on the formation and "golden age" of the Prague School of Sinology (1945-1969), as well as on the Czech part of the project "Sinology - Oral History".

The Oriental Institute, which was to become the center of Czech sinological research, was founded in 1922, and its main goal was to strengthen scientific and economic ties with the countries of the East. One of the main supporters of the creation of the institute was the President of Czechoslovakia Tomas Masaryk. In 1929, the Institute became active, publishing the journal "Archiv orientalni"; in 1952, the Institute became a part of the Academy of Sciences. However, there was no synology at the Institute until the end of World War II.

After the beginning of the German occupation, all universities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia were closed. However, the ban on higher education was by no means as strict as, for example, in Poland

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(where Witold Jablonski, who taught Chinese philosophy and literature to students at home, risked his life without exaggeration: if the Germans found out about the seminars, his participants would be shot). Therefore, Jaroslav Prusek, a prominent Czech Sinologist despite his youth, managed to organize the teaching of Chinese language 3 and other sinological disciplines in one of the private institutes (which was not prohibited). It was assumed that students were acquiring purely practical knowledge, but in fact they received a good academic training. These courses were quite popular, and it was these students who later formed the backbone of post-war Czechoslovak Sinology. Since 1944, teaching at the Institute became impossible, and the seminar moved to Pruszek's apartment.

Everything related to China was very popular among the Czech youth of those years, of course, mainly because the stubborn struggle of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders resonated in their hearts. At the very beginning of the occupation, several important books were published, which also aroused many young people's interest in China. First of all, it is a collection of translations of classical Chinese poetry (from the Shih Ching to Tang lyrics), "Songs of Old China", published in 1939, prepared by a major Czech translator, also known for translations of Russian, German and French poetry and prose, Bogumil Matezius (1888-1952). Not knowing Chinese, he based his work on German and Latin translations, which does not detract from the importance of his book, which opened up the world of Chinese poetry to the Czech public. In 1940, the continuation of the publication "New Songs of Old China" was published; in 1949, after the war and shortly before the translator's death, he published the collection "Third Songs of Old China", the footnotes for which were prepared by Ya.Prushek. In 1940, J. Prusek published his book "My Sister-China" (Prusek, 1940), which is a detailed and fascinating story about the author's journey to China in 1932-1934. Books on sinology did not stop being published during the entire period of occupation.

After the liberation, in 1945, a congress of Czechoslovak Orientalists was held in Prague, where a number of organizational decisions were made regarding the revival of science in Czechoslovakia, and the monthly magazine Novy Orient was established. The main objective of the journal was to publish articles by young scientists. The general mood of the new magazine, and indeed of the entire Czech Oriental studies of those years, was anti-colonialism, sincere sympathy for the new states in the East. Many Orientalists were Communists or, like Pruszek, sympathized with them, but science developed quite freely, as evidenced, in particular , by the congratulations published in one of the first issues received from Chiang Kai-shek.

In 1945 Pruszek became an associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University, founded the Department of History and Philology of the Far East; since 1948-he is a professor of Chinese and Japanese language and literature; since 1952-Director of the Oriental Institute (acting - since 1948) , since 1955-academician. Systematic lectures began at the university. Sinology was also taught at Palacki University in Olmutsu. In 1948, the Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia, in 1949 the PRC was proclaimed, and Czech Sinologists began to receive greater support from the government. In 1949. Prague was visited by a large Chinese delegation, which included such prominent figures of Chinese culture as Guo Mo-jo, Ai Qing, Xu Bei-hong, Zheng Zhendo and others. Pruszek was well acquainted with many of them. In 1950 1951 The first Czechoslovak delegation headed by Prusek visited China, and 27,000 books for the library were brought to Prague. The idea of organizing a library of Chinese literature was expressed back in 1949, during the stay of the Chinese delegation in Prague, it opened on October 25, 1952 and was named after Lu Xun. By the 1960s, it already had about 55 thousand volumes, now 60-70 thousand.

The 1950s were marked by close contacts of Czechoslovak scientists with their Chinese colleagues; there were no contacts with scientists from Western countries at all, and there were also few contacts with Sinologists from other countries of the socialist camp (perhaps, except for Poland). Many Chinese students came to study in Czechoslovakia, and a significant number of Czech students went to China. Many of them returned and became sinologists. At this time, translations of Chinese literature, including modern ones, dominated among Sinological publications - this was the area closest to Prushek, who very carefully supervised and directed his young colleagues. Some Sinologists (such as Augustine Palat (b. 1923)) were sent to China for diplomatic work.

3 The first textbook of the Chinese language for Czechs was also written by Prusek and published in 1938 (see: [Ucebnice]).

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In 1960, the World Congress of Orientalists was held in Moscow, where Czech scientists for the first time had the opportunity to have extensive contact with their colleagues from other countries. Many of them were then invited to give lectures at various universities in Western Europe. The 1960s, which were marked by political liberalization in Czechoslovakia, were also an extremely productive time for Czechoslovak Sinology, its "golden age". Everything changed after 1968, when the Prague Spring was crushed by Soviet tanks. Many Sinologists were forced to resign from their institutions; Yaroslav Prushek published an open letter strongly opposing the entry of Soviet troops, after which he was removed from office and his books banned. The Eastern Institute was completely redesigned and attached to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, students were taught only Chinese, enough to read the official press, but no more. Sinology in Czechoslovakia entered a long period of stagnation, which lasted essentially until the fall of the communist regime in 1989.

Within the framework of the project "Sinology - oral history", Czech colleagues conducted 10 interviews with a total duration of 23 hours, the volume of the transcribed text is about 285 pages. Especially valuable information can be found in an interview with Augustin Palat, who, despite his advanced age, gave a detailed and clearly structured picture of the history of Czech Sinology, which in fact he witnessed almost all of it.

Vlasta Mladova (Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague) reported on an attempt to organize a Chinese language department in Prague in 1921. The idea was initiated by the Czech Ambassador to the Far East, František Chvalkovski, and the representative of the Republic of China, State Councilor Han Ru-jia. The Institute of Higher Sinological Studies, established shortly before in Paris4, was to be taken as a model. The idea was discussed by the Faculty of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University with the Minister of Education and Public Enlightenment Josef Schusta. The decision was based on the opinion of Arabic scholar Alois Musil, who noted that the establishment of such an institute in Prague would be more than desirable, but it is necessary to take into account a certain lack of funds, as well as the fact that Prague University does not have specialists in Chinese studies or students who could quickly master the necessary material in order to employees of the institute. Therefore, before starting an institute, it would be advisable to ask for the assistance of the Chinese side - to send a certain number of Czech students to China to get Chinese studies and learn Chinese as soon as possible. Since this task was too difficult in the chaos that China was in at that time, the idea of the institute remained on paper.

The report of G. Geaerts, Director of the Brussels Institute for Contemporary Chinese Studies (Free University of Brussels), focused on the results of recent sociological research conducted in China5. In the survey, researchers sought to find out the attitude of today's Chinese people of different ages, professions and educational levels to such a fundamental category as human rights. Throughout its existence, the European Union has proclaimed respect for human rights as one of the foundations on which Europe's relations with other countries are based, considering that the fight for these rights is one of the most important tasks of the European Union. In this area, as is well known, the international community has had and still has great claims against the PRC, hoping, however, that the economic growth of this country should sooner or later awaken in Chinese citizens the desire to expand their own rights, which so far, with rare exceptions, is invisible. The Chinese government, in turn, also does not deny the importance of the economic factor in the issue of human rights, noting only that the direct application of the European understanding of the term does not apply to Chinese reality, that the issues of survival and material well-being for the Chinese and the Chinese state are in the first place, and the rights of the citizen and The government will take care of the provision after all citizens of the country are provided with a decent quality of life. Therefore, at this stage, the PRC is very sensitive to Europe's criticism of human rights violations in China. And since the importance of contacts with the PRC is growing rapidly and the price of such a painful reaction can be very high, it is of great interest

4 Han Ru-jia was a member of the IHEC Governing Council and served as its de facto head from 1921-1926. For more information on its role at the early stage of the institute's existence, see [Ge Fu-ping, 2007].

5 For the full report, see [Freeman and Geeraerts, 2011].

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the question is whether the Chinese government is right to claim that human rights, which are so important for a European, do not have any serious significance for a Chinese.

The survey showed that the majority of Chinese people are generally satisfied with the degree of respect for human rights in China, the percentage of completely satisfied (24%) is almost twice as high as in Germany and France, 5 times higher than in Poland and Italy, and 12 times higher than in Japan. The percentage of respondents who answered "I don't know" is very high - 23.5%, while in European countries this figure ranges from 0.8% to 2.5%. The percentage of satisfied workers is almost independent of the age of the respondents, and as for professional activity, the highest number of fully satisfied workers is among unskilled workers (29%), and the lowest is among skilled workers (17.5%). As for the level of education, the highest number of satisfied people is among those who have completed secondary education (26.7%), and the lowest is among people with university degrees (15.1%). Oddly enough, people who do not have secondary education are more critical than holders of certificates.

A question was also asked about what, in the opinion of the interviewee, is the main task of the government - maintaining order in the country, combating rising prices, ensuring the right to vote and human rights. The Chinese desire for order (34.9%) and low prices (26.0%) is not too different from the opinion of residents of other countries; but the importance of transparency and human rights was noted by only about 15% (in European countries, this figure is between 40 and 55%). 23.8% of Chinese people were unable to answer the question, compared to 0.1% to 4% in European countries. Interestingly, there are much more supporters of order among young people (15-29 years old), and they pay a little more attention to transparency and human rights (about 21 % (for comparison, only about 10% of people over 50), but they are somewhat less afraid of rising prices. The percentage of respondents who answered "I don't know" among young people is only 11% (among the older group - almost three times more). The dynamics are similar among people with different levels of education: the more educated a person is, the more interested they are in order, they are somewhat more interested in human and civil rights; but they are much less afraid of rising prices, and they are less likely to be unable to answer the question posed. At the same time, as in the cases discussed above, there is no abrupt difference between the distribution of opinions within groups of people with different educational levels; oddly enough, those who have completed secondary school are somewhat less interested in human rights and answer "I don't know" more often than those who have not completed CE. Among professional groups, skilled workers show the greatest interest in transparency and human rights (about 23%); they are most interested in order, but are less afraid of rising prices than other groups.

A question was asked about what is more important in the development of the country - success in the economy or democracy? All age groups showed similar results - 40-50% chose economics, 18-20% chose democracy. For groups with different levels of education, the difference is more noticeable: the greatest importance of democracy is given to people with primary education (about 25%), and the least, oddly enough, to people with higher education (about 12%), while the number of those who could not answer the questions decreases sharply with the growth of the educational level.

The results of the survey are disappointing for Europe: indeed, the vast majority of Chinese people are not very interested in human rights and democracy, and this indicator does not change fundamentally depending on the age, educational level or profession of respondents, therefore, this is a deeply rooted general trend. The extremely high percentage of people who are unable to answer this question suggests that many Chinese people are not familiar with such categories at all, and it is difficult to say how accurately they are understood by those who gave this or that answer.

It seems, however, that this does not mean that the Chinese are so eager for a firm hand and are sincerely ready to give up their rights for stability. It's just that at this stage of economic development, well-being (often basic satiety) is much more important for them, of course, and as long as the state is able to ensure progress in this area, it is trusted. Yes, research has shown that the categories of democracy and human rights are incomprehensible or of little value to the average Chinese, but this only suggests that they do not yet understand their meaning well enough. All Chinese history teaches us that a Chinese person values his family, his field or shop very much, and it is at this micro level, applicable to himself, that he perfectly understands what individual rights are, and is ready to fight even with his own state if it decides to encroach on them.

In general, the round table was held in a very free and friendly scientific environment and was, as it seems, very interesting for the participants and gave them the opportunity to get acquainted with the national schools of Chinese studies, about which they previously had a rather vague idea. As for the project "Sinology - Oral history", the round table fully implemented the following tasks:

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tasks assigned to it - project participants reported on what was done in their countries and got an idea of what others had done, shared their experience. Apparently, the project will continue, which, of course, should have a very positive impact on preserving the traditions of world Sinology and making more active links between different national sinological schools.

list of literature

Ge Fu-ping. Bo Si-he yu Bali Zhongguo xue-yuan (Paul Pelliot and Paris Institute of Higher Sinological Studies) / / Han-xue yan-ju tong-xun (Sinological studies and Communications). August 2007. N 26: 3.

Cupr F. Uceni staroindicke, jeho vyznam u vznikani a vyvinovani nazoru zvlast krest'anskych a vubec nabozenskych. 3 sv., Praha: Fr.A. Urbanck, 1876-1878: 338; xii + 372; 356 s.

Dvorak R. Chinas Religionen. Erster Teil: Confucius und seine Lehre. (Darstcllungen aus dem Gebiete der nichtchristlichen Religiongeschichte, XII Band). Munster: Verlag der Aschendorffsehen Buchhandlung, 1895, vii, 244 s.

Dvorak R. Chinas Religionen. Zweiter Teil: Lao-ts'i und seine Lehre. (Darstcllungen aus dem Gebiete der nichtchristlichen Religiongeschichte, XII Band). Munster: Verlag der Aschendorffschen Buchhandlung, 1903, viii, 216 s., index.

Freeman D., Geeraerts G. Europe, China and Expectations for Human Rights // The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 2011.

Lao-tsiova kanonicka kniha O Tau a ctnosti (Tao-Tek-King) / Prel. R. Dvorak. Kladno: Jar. Snajdr, 1920, 128 s.

Nove zpevy stare Ciny / Bohumil Mathcsius. Praha: Mclantrich, 1940, 51 s.

Prusck J. Sestra moje Cina. Praha: Druzstevni pracc, 1940, 339 s.

Treti zpevy stare Ciny / Bohumil Mathcsius. Praha: Melantrich, 1949, 107 s.

Ucebnice mluvene cinstiny. Zlin: Vyssi lidova skola Tomasc Bati, 1938, 153 s.

Zpevy stare Ciny: Parafrdze stare cinske poesie / Bohumil Mathesius. Praha: Melantrich, 1939, 84 s.

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