A Preliminary Statistical Analysis of the Present Situation (1997) of Manchu Studies Worldwide

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In publishing the following statistical research on Manchu studies, it is absolutely necessary to underline that the data herein quoted are only provisional and in no way complete. This analysis surely contains omissions, and should therefore be considered as a purely orientative guideline. We excluded from it all private publications, dissertations or any other publication not officially available to the public. This refers particularly to the so-called neibu-editions in China, which are not available to scholars outside the country. Nevertheless, more than 5,300 titles have been found and around 400 journals and series have been checked, which can offer a general survey on Manchu studies carried out in the past and present, and allow some interesting conclusions. In the following table, the single countries are listed according to the decreasing number of publications; the first number refers to publications issued till 1987, the second number after the "/" refers to publications in the decade 1988-1997.

It is immediately evident from this table that China occupies the first place in Manchu studies. Particularly striking is the increase of publications in the last decade: in the field of Religious Studies and Ethnographical Studies the number has approximately tripled (62/188 and 119/316), and an analogous increase is observed in Language Studies too (90/226). This clearly shows the meliorated research conditions in comparison with the past. In addition, we must take into consideration that researches on the Manchu people started - on a large scale - from the late 70s and early 80s only, as seen from the journals and series devoted exclusively to Manchu studies published in China:

Manzu wenxue (滿族文學) (from 1979, Dandong)

Manzu wenhua (滿族文化) (from 1981, Taipei)

Manzu wenxue yanjiu (滿族文學研究) (1982-1983, Shenyang)

Manzu wenxue yanjiu (滿族文學研究) (1982-1983, Shenyang)

Manzu yanjiu (滿族研究) (from 1985, Shenyang)

Manyu yanjiu (滿語研究) (from 1985, Harbin)

Manxue yanjiu (滿學研究) (from 1992, Changchun [I], Peking [II-III-...]

It is noteworthy that the same phenomenon is also observable outside China: in the USA, for example, the "Manchu Studies Newsletter" was published only for a short period (1977-1982, four issues), followed by the recently founded "Saksaha" (1996). In Europe, Manchu scholars united their efforts and started two serials, i. e. "Aetas Manjurica" (from 1987), and "Shamanica Manchurica Collecta" (from 1992). In Japan, one of the internationally renown Manchu journals is published since 1991 (Manzokushi kenkyū tsūshin 滿族史研究通信)

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As in almost every country, the main interest of Manchu scholars in China is concentrated on historical studies, while Manchu cartography and literature (i. e. literature written in Manchu language) are placed at the end of the list.

In the second place, up to the mark, Japan is found. Historical researches are dominant, followed by linguistic studies. A characteristic of Japanese Manchu studies is the never interrupted tradition, even though the most fertile period of scientific research - due to the political situation - was that of the 30s and 40s of our century.

In the West, Germany occupies the first place with its long tradition in every field of

Manchu studies. We have to underline the relatively high number of Literary Studies (9 in the last decade), and the studies in Ethnography and Cartography - the last thanks to the researches of the late professor Walter Fuchs, to whom is also due the exceptionally high number of Literary Studies. In this field Germany, with its 52 publications before 1988, ranks second after China.

After Germany, Russia (incl. former Soviet Union) is found - a fact which can be explained in the long and continuous neighbor-relations with China. Besides history, Russian scholars were mainly interested in Manchu language studies, often connected with Tungus linguistics in general. It is interesting to note that in the last ten years, studies on Manchu shamanism have sensibly increased (5/8); it is one of the few examples in the worldwide classification of Manchu studies where the number of researches published in 1988-1997 is greater than that of the last two centuries.

In the USA, Manchu studies are still a very young but promising field, where researches are mainly devoted to history, followed by language and literary studies. First results are seen in such praiseworthy researches like Evelyn S. Rawski's "The Last Emperors" (University of

California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 1998), where Qing history is seen, at last, under its double reality of Manchu-Chinese diarchy.

"Manchuology" in Korea is mainly devoted to linguistic researches, most of them published in "Altai hakpo". Studies on Manchu literature are continuing in a comparatively great quantity, while historical studies based on Manchu material are relatively rare.

In the seventh place we find Italy, where Manchu studies had a short but fertile life in the second half of the last century in Florence. This tradition continues now at Venice University, where a chair of Manchu studies has been established. In Italy special interest is now devoted - after history - to the study of Manchu autochthonous literature, with particular reference to poetry: 12 literary studies were published in 1988-1997, which corresponds to the number of analogous researches published in the last hundred years. (We have to remind that works concerning the Sibe people (錫伯族), carried out mainly in Italy and Russia, are not included in this analysis).

France had a great tradition in Manchu studies in the 18th and 19th century. It was the first European country where Manchu studies started and then spread to its neighbor-countries. This homeland: their interest focused on history, Manchu language and literature. It was in France that the first European Manchu dictionary was published in 1789-1790 by J. J. M. Armot, who also published a Manchu Grammar in 1788. The first Manchu grammar published in Europe, written in Latin by the Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest came out in France in 1696. With a few exceptions, Manchu studies died out in France in our century.

A relatively unexpected low interest in Manchu studies is found in Great Britain, which might be explained by the great impact "pure" Chinese studies and the consequent development of sinology had on English orientalists.

The few materials available from Mongolia allow only a very incomplete survey on the situation of Manchu studies in that country, where scholarly interests seem to be concentrated on Manchu history and language. Noteworthy is the fact that a Mongolian translation of the Nišan shamaness has been published in Ulaanbaatar in 1995.

The attention of Hungary's orientalists toward Manchu studies may be seen as a consequence of the long tradition in Altaic Studies. Hungarian scholars were and are active in all fields of Manchuology, especially in linguistics and shamanic studies. Many references to Manchu folklore and literature are found in their researches devoted to the Tungus people or Altaic studies in general.

An analogous though less developed situation is found in Finland and Poland; in the latter country researches on the Sibe language (錫伯語) are of great value.

In India, we find two collections of reprints of polyglot Buddhistic works including Manchu texts, while in Bulgaria a translation of the "Nišan shamaness" and a manual for studying the Manchu language were recently published. In Belgium, two researches on Ferdinand Verbiest and his "heritage" in the field of Manchu studies were carried out, and from Australia an analysis of the state of Manchu studies worldwide and a research on Sanskrit Loanwords in Manchu must be mentioned (the latter was published in Latvia). The last country connected in some way with Manchuology is Denmark, where the drawings of D. Parrenin's "Manchu Anatomy" were published in facsimile in 1928.

Keeping in mind the limitations of the above table, it nonetheless reveals the constant growth in Manchu studies in the last decade in almost all countries where this very special field has its centers.

The main interests, on a worldwide level, are devoted to historical studies: it is in this field that the most significant discoveries and corrections to traditional Qing historical studies were and can be made, due to the recent accessibility of original Manchu documents which not seldomly show all the corrections or omissions found in their translations into Chinese.

In the second place one finds linguistic studies - and this may be linked (especially in the case of Chinese researches) to the discovery of small "linguistic islands" where the Manchu language is still alive.

Ethnological and Folklore Studies rank third, followed by researches devoted to Manchu autochtonous literature. Especially in this case, great progress has been made in recent years thanks to the discovery of rare literary manuscripts in China, Russia and elsewhere.

Another field in which very unexpectedly great progress has been made is that of Religious, i. e. Shamanistic, Studies. For more than two centuries Manchu shamanism was a very neglected field both in the East and the West, due to lack of documentation. The new situation in China and the discovery of some manuscripts - first of all the epic tale "Nišan shamaness" - brought the number of researches to over 200 in ten years, while in the foregoing three centuries only about 100 researches were published.

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A great help in the progress of Manchu studies was the (still ongoing) cataloguing of Manchu holdings in libraries and university institutes. We can trace a table with the publication Manchu holdings in libraries and university institutes. We can trace a table with the publication dates of catalogues (until 1997), so as to point out what has been done in the past and in recent years in this field:

The most evident conclusion which can be drawn from this table is the very late cataloguing of Manchu works worldwide: the majority of library holdings were catalogued starting from the 80s only - and this, i. e. the knowledge of the existence of Manchu material and its consequent availability, is one of the factors which at last contributed to the recent "revival" of Manchu studies in Europe.