Sinology for 21st century

The team of sinologists at Charles University continues to work in the spirit of the Prague School related to Jaroslav Průšek. We explore various aspects of linguistic, intellectual and social transformation of China across different periods of time from ancient to present day China. We employ linguistic, literary and historiographic approaches in creative dialogue, always keeping on mind close reading of written sources of various types. An important part of our work is critical reflection on the shifts of meanings and creation of new meanings in the process of intercultural exchange between China and the West going on intensively since late 19^th century.

Modes of existing collaboration

• “Thesaurus Linguae Sericae. An Historical and Comparative Encyclopaedia of Chinese Conceptual Schemes. [on-line]” (http://tls.uni-hd.de/) Main editors: Christoph Harbsmeier (Oslo University) a Jiǎng Shàoyú (Beijing University). (Zádrapa, Maršálek, Lomová)

• Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Center at Charles University (international conferences and workshops, small research grants, visiting professors, publication support; since 1997) (Lomová, Andrš, Hudeček, Klimeš, Maršálek, Zádrapa)

• Asien-Orient-Institut Unversität Zürich (Prof. Wolfgang Behr). Collaboration on scientific projects in Chinese linguistics and joint education of PhD students (Classical Chinese Poetry) (Zádrapa, Lomová)

• Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (Jiří Hudeček)

Key collaborators

• Lukáš Zádrapa

• Jakub Maršálek

• Jiří Hudeček

• Dušan Andrš

Selected outputs

• Zádrapa, Lukáš. Word-Class Flexibility in Classical Chinese Verbal and Adverbial Uses of Nouns. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

• Hudecek, Jiri. Reviving Ancient Chinese Mathematics Mathematics, History and Politics in the Work of Wu Wen-Tsun. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2014.

• Klimeš, Ondřej. Struggle by the Pen. The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949. Brill, 2015.

• Lomová, Olga. Ťing-ťie: poznámky k písním ze světa lidí. In cooperation with O. Dadejík a Vl. Zuska. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, nakladatelství Karolinum, 2015. (English: Jingjie: Remarks on Poetry in the Human World.)

• Zádrapa, Lukáš. Share on publication R.P.E. Sybesma, W. Behr, Gu Yueguo, Z.J. Handel, C.T.J. Huang, James Myers, edd., Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, vol. 1–5, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2016.