N° 2, juin 2004

No. 02, June 2004
Editor’s note
The EFEO’s monthly Newsletter of the French School of East Asian Studies, already
available in French on our website, now appears in an English-language version (PDF
format). This is part of a plan to translate the entire website so as to ensure a wider
distribution of information to all those who collaborate in EFEO activities.
Paris
Symposiums, missions and meetings
The EFEO’s director, Franciscus Verellen, will be in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore
from June 6 to 17. He will visit the EFEO centers in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, and will
meet with the director of the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore) and
the teaching staff of the Islamic University of Jogyakarta.
[email protected]
Jean-Luc Coffion, chief financial officer, will be attending a meeting of financial officers of
the ESCSCP in Lyon, June 9 to 12.
[email protected]
June 21 to 23: International conference on “Hydraulics and society in North China,”
organized by Marianne Bujard and Christian Lamouroux, with the support of the Chiang
Ching-kuo Foundation. Examples of water management and the appropriation of water
resources by rural communities in Shaanxi and Shanxi will be presented. Some twenty
Chinese and French scholars―all present at the conference along with a dozen worldwide
specialists―are involved in this research program that was started at the end of 1998 and has
produced four volumes making available materials gathered on the sites concerned:
inscriptions, manuscripts and research reports (published by Zhonghua shuju/EFEO, 20022003).
[email protected]
June 18: Lecture by Dominic Goodall of the Pondicherry center, at the Academy of
Inscriptions and Belles Lettres: “Le rituel de méditation et représentations plastiques de
divinités indiennes à l’époque médiévale” (Meditation ritual and sculptural representations
of Indian gods during the medieval period).
[email protected]
Frédéric Girard will give two lectures “Les études sur la pensée japonaise en France”
(Studies of Japanese thought in France), at the Symposium on Japanese Philosophy, Nanzan
University, Nagoya, June 7 to 9, and “L’espace bouddhique et Nishida” (Buddhist space and
Nishida,” at Inalco, June 26.
[email protected]
François Grimal will be in Paris from June 1 to 13.
[email protected]
Liu Liyan, research fellow at the Institute of History and Philology (Academia Sinica,
Taipei, Taiwan), will be a visiting scholar of the EFEO in Paris, beginning on June 25.
[email protected]
The monthly seminar of the l’EFEO-Paris will take place on June 28 (12:30-2:00 p.m.) at the
Maison de l’Asie. Presentation by François Bizot : “Y a-t-il un bouddhisme d’Asie du SudEst ?” (Is there such a thing as Southeast Asian Buddhism?).
[email protected]
June 30, meeting of the Academic Council (2:00p.m.) and the Board of Governors (4 p.m.)
of the EFEO.
[email protected]
Library
The center for documentation and information on Laos voted unanimously to approve the
handing over of its collection of documents to the library of the EFEO. This collection, the
only one of its type in France, comprises monographs, periodicals, and maps. Duplicates of
works already in the library will be sent to Michel Lorrillard, director of the Vientiane
center. Christophe Caudron will be in charge of curating the documents.
[email protected]
Photo Library
The collection of images on glass plates taken by Henri Marchal, in Cambodia in the 1930’s
and 1940’s are being catalogued.
[email protected]
Publications
Promotion
Alexandre Botino wants to improve the marketing of works published by the EFEO by
featuring them in reviews and newsletters, and also at scholarly meetings. Please send him
the titles of likely outlets (in western or Asian languages), and inform him of events that
seem to you appropriate places to showcase the publishing activities of the EFEO.
[email protected]
New publication
Jacques LEIDER, Le Royaume d’Arakan, Birmanie. Son histoire politique entre le début du
e
e
XV et la fin du XVII siècle (The Burmese Kingdom of Arakan: Its political history from the
beginning of the 15th to the end of the 17th century), 544 p., maps, index, abstract
(Monographies 190).
[email protected]
EFEO website
The new bilingual (French-English) EFEO website will go online in mid-June: http://www.efeo.fr
[email protected]
Maison de l’Asie
June 4, 2:30 p.m. (first-floor function room) dissertation defense by Peter Skilling
(Bangkok): Des Mahâsûtra tibétains aux manuscrits et aux inscriptions d’Asie du Sud-Est.
Considérations sur les Mahâsûtra des Mûlasarvâstivâdin (Tibetan Mahâsûtras in southeast
Asian manuscripts and inscriptions. Some comments on the Mahâsûtras of the
Mûlasarvâstivâdin).
[email protected]; [email protected]
Activities in the Overseas Centers
Pondicherry
S. L. P. Anjaneya Sarma, researcher at the Pondicherry center, will take part in the “His
holiness Sri Jagadguru Kanchi Paramacharyal 111th Jayanthi celebration” at Secundrabad,
and in the “Sastrasadas” on the occasion of the Chandrasekharendrasaraswati Jayanti at
Kancipuram.
G. Vijayavenugopal, researcher at the Pondicherry center, will be traveling to the Karnataka
region to collect Tamil inscriptions.
[email protected]
Bangkok
François Lagirarde will make a presentation on the activities of the EFEO’s Bangkok center
at a seminar on Franco-Thai collaboration in scholarly research (Century Park Hotel,
Bangkok, June 3 to 4). This seminar is being organized by the French Embassy to Thailand
and the Thai Commission for Higher Education in the Ministry of Youth, Education and
Research.
[email protected]
Louis Gabaude will also be participating in the same seminar on Franco-Thai collaboration,
and then will be in Uttaradit and Phrae from June 9 to 12.
[email protected]
Yangon
Jacques Leider will be in Paris from June 16 to 22.
[email protected]; [email protected]
Siem Reap
June 15 to July 7: Christophe Pottier will take part in the summer program of the University of
Sydney as part of the GAP research program (Greater Angkor Project, APSARA-EFEO-USYD).
May 20 to early June: Under the auspices of the archeological mission entitled “Recherches
sur l’aménagement du territoire angkorien” (EFEO-APSARA-MAE), Christophe Pottier has
directed a short, unscheduled investigation of a previously unstudied archeologic site. Tuol
Ta Méas, located in the Western Baray, consists of a cluster of remains that suggest the
possibility of a prehistoric settlement. The site is at present emerged, an exceptional situation
even at times of low water. As much information as possible was collected before the site
disappears again beneath the water of the Baray for several years.
The library of the center has just received from Paris CD-Roms of photographs relating to
Cambodia from the EFEO archives. They will soon be available for consultation.
The installation of the center’s computer network is almost completed (Internet connection
in ADSL). The e-mail addresses for the Siem Reap center have been changed; old addresses
on the camintel.com server will soon be deactivated:
Christophe POTTIER (director of the centre) : tel. (855) (16) 635 037 / tel.-fax (855) (63) 964 226 /
[email protected]; [email protected] – Sok RAMO (library and offices) : tel. (855) (63)
964 360 / (63) 760 525 / [email protected] – Pascal ROYÈRE (Baphuon EFEO/FSP) :
tel. (855) (12) 630 690 / tel.-fax (855) (63) 964 099 / [email protected]; [email protected] –
Jacques GAUCHER [email protected] – Gérard DIFFLOTH : [email protected]
Phnom Penh
On April 19 the team of the Fonds pour l’Édition des Manuscrits du Cambodge (EFEOFEMC) transported to Wat Unnalom the manuscripts that had, until then, been kept in the
Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, in the mondop of the Silver Pagoda. The cataloguing,
restoration, and microfilming started in May, and should be finished in July. The
manuscripts will then return to the Silver Pagoda. This collection, mostly made up of Pali
texts, consists of about 200 items. The titles in this collection will be indexed following the
pattern used for the manuscripts of Wat Saravann (whose library is run by the EFEO), and
those in the National Library, the National Museum, and Phnom Penh University. All these
were restored and microfilmed by EFEO-FEMC in 2002 and 2003.
[email protected]
Bruno Bruguier has just reached an agreement with the filmmaker Jean-Claude Lubtchansky
concerning photographs taken during his stay in Cambodia, especially those of mural
paintings in the monastery of Wat Tani, which has just been demolished. These photographs
will be stored in the photo library.
Under the leadership of Bruno Bruguier, a team of investigators from the office of
inventories and prevention of illegal trafficking will visit archeological sites designated by
the Cambodian Ministry of Culture in the province of Battambang.
[email protected]
In mid-June Bertrand Porte and his collaborator Sok Soda will undertake a ten-day mission
to the Cham Sculpture Museum in Da Nang (Vietnam).
[email protected]
Kuala Lumpur
Po Dharma Quang will be in Kuala Lumpur until June 13 June to coordinate the center’s
projects of scholarly cooperation.
[email protected]
Jakarta
During their stay in Jakarta from June 10 to 15, Franciscus Verellen, Director, et Pierre-Yves
Manguin will meet with the new director of the National Center for Archeology, Mr. Tony
Djubiantono.
[email protected]
Pierre-Yves Manguin will be in Indonesia for the third season of excavations at the site of
Batujaya (West Javat), July 9 to 17. He will also participate in the seminar on “Archeology
of Southeast Asian Ports” organized by the Asia Research Institute at Singapore National
University, June 13 to 14.
[email protected]
Peking
The 53rd lecture in the HAS (History, Archeology, Society) series organized by the Peking
center will take place (French, with Chinese translation) in the Rare Books Department of
the National Library of China on June 5 at 9:15 a.m. Frédéric Barbier, Director of Studies at
the EPHE, will discuss the history and evolution of the publishing systems of France and
Germany: “Habermas et l’éditeur” (Habermas and the publisher).
Meng Sihui, researcher at the Palace Museum, will be in Paris from June 21 to July 20
taking part in the scholarly exchanges organized by the Peking center for the study of the
religious iconographic collections at the EFEO, the Guimet Museum, and the BNF (French
National Library).
[email protected]
If you encounter difficulties displaying or printing this Newsletter, or no longer wish to
receive it, please inform Isabelle Poujol.
[email protected]