Posts written by Bill M. Mak

Dunhuang

It was disappointing to leave Germany practically on my third day after arrival, immediately after I delivered my report at the conference, three days before it officially ended. This was because I was invited to another major conference in China. The conference took place in Lanzhou and Dunhuang. This was a conference that I, as the Director of Chinese Research Center, could not miss out on. Since Dunhuang is the very topic that we focus on this semester, the visit was particularly timely. Our goal at the ISF Academy was to share the colourful and multicultural heritage of Dunhuang to the ISF community as well as the wider public. Officially, this “International Silk Road Scientific Conference” has a really interesting background and was officially named “ANSO Silk Road Forum” in conjunction with the  “2nd ATES Open Science Conference”. As an international conference organised mainly by scientists of different disciplines, the way they extended an invitation to those in humanities was particularly noteworthy. The conference was divided into six panels – Climate, Geography, Urban and Population Change, Exchange of Ancient Technology, and Genetic Studies. I attended the conference as a speaker in the Panel for “Exchange of Ancient Technology”, which is by nature interdisciplinary. The number of participants in the conference was well over 100. My panel presentation was titled “Sino-Indian Astronomical Knowledge Transmitted on the Silk Road — From Kumārajīva to Amoghavajra”. It was well-received by the audience. The organisers of the conference reached out to me for further collaboration. Before I was invited to this conference, I knew nothing about the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) or the Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk Road Civilization Development (ATES). They seemed to receive some support from the Chinese government’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, but not exclusively so. All in all, it was a fascinating conference with exciting topics and new possibilities. I look forward to more works coming out from this alliance. The first part of the conference was held in Lanzhou University, and the second part in Dunhuang. The topic of pre-modern science and technology in Dunhuang caught my attention since over a decade ago, when I first noted the astronomical artwork on the 61^st Mogao Caves. It was an incredible experience to be able to visit and see the fantastic frescoes in real life. I am truly grateful to my many friends in China, the organisers – The Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) and Lanzhou University for this meticulously organised conference, and the hospitality of the Dunhuang Academy.

ANSO Silk Road Forum + 2nd ATES Open Science Conference @ Lanzhou University

CCTV of the Dunhuang Conference

An unusual police robot at the Mogao Caves

法蘭克福大學

開學第三週，又出國了。這次是因為英國Christopher Cullen古克禮教授和其妻子Catherine Jami詹嘉玲教授的邀請，參加法蘭克福主辦的第16屆國際東亞科技史會議 (ICHSEA)，並在分組會議發表一篇文章。分組主題為「東亞古籍翻譯的歷史與實踐」，而我的題目是「印度天文學著作的漢譯問題」，主要取材於『九執曆』和『宿曜經』。由於今年在Brill出版了相關的文章，所以準備沒有太大壓力。古克禮教授是過去劍橋李所的總監，跟弘立書院也頗有緣分。所以這次邀請不好推卻，而且疫情過後，第一次跟國際學者交流，也是不容錯過的機會。這次國內參加的學者特別多，中科大的石雲里教授是國際東亞科技史學會的會長，所以他和他幾乎整個近十人的團隊也都來了。會議亮點包括台灣學者祝平一教授的主題演講，還有德國漢學家法蘭克福大學漢籍特藏展覽。比較遺憾，來自香港的，就只是我一個。這次德國之旅比較匆忙，但我也趁機去了一趟柏林Humboldt Forum，在法蘭克福時也看了美術館，大飽眼福。

與Dr. Corinna Wessels-Mevissen參訪柏林Humboldt Forum

第16屆國際東亞科技史會議分組報告：「印度天文學著作的漢譯問題」

法蘭克福大學漢籍特藏展覽

I was on the road, once again, on the third week of semester. The timing was not ideal but it was beyond my control. I was invited to the 16th International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia (ICHSEA) by Prof. Catherine Jami to present a paper in her panel, titled “Translating East Asian Sources: Historical Studies and Research Practice”. My paper was titled “Sino-Indian Astronomical Texts in Translation – Authorial Intention vs. Readers’ Interpretation”. It focused mainly in two translingual East Asian astronomical texts: the Nine Seizers Canon (Jiuzhi li 九執曆) and the Treatise on Lunar Mansions and Planets (Xiuyao jing 宿曜經). Writing this paper was not too stressful as I published two book chapters precisely on these two texts in a Brill volume edited by Dagmar Schäfer et al. This was the first time I participated in an international conference with funding not from a university, namely, as Director of Chinese Research Center of the ISF Academy. There are some ISF ties here as well, since Prof. Catherine Jami is the wife of Prof. Christopher Cullen, who was the former Director of the NRI. Because of various publishing projects, it made sense for me to meet the academic couple. Furthermore, this was the first time I would be interacting with international scholars since the pandemic had passed. Frankly, speaking the conference was not as seamlessly organised as I would have expected from one organised by our German colleagues. But it was a good occasion to see so many scholars nonetheless, especially the large number of Chinese scholars, including those from USTC. Prof. Shi Yunli, who represented not only USTC, but also as the chairman of the International Society for the History of East Asian Science, and his team of almost 10 scholars. Some highlight of the conference included Taiwanese scholar Chu Pingyi’s 祝平一keynote speech and the special Chinese collection of Prof. Alfred Forke at the University of Frankfurt am Main. Unfortunately, I was the only scholar from Hong Kong, with another being a Chinese PhD student who was pursuing a degree in Hong Kong. My German trip was a hasty one. I managed nonetheless a side trip to Berlin to see the fantastic Humboldt Forum, and the visit to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt was delightful.

Visit to Humboldt Forum with Dr. Corinna Wessels-Mevissen

Special collection of Prof. Alfred Forke at the University of Frankfurt am Main

Bencao Collection of Prof. Alfred Forke at the University of Frankfurt am Main

My presentation at the ICHSEA