Fw: [AASTibet] resource: Endymion Wilkinson's Chinese History: A New Manual

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Gray Tuttle

To: aastibet@list.mail.virginia.edu

Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 1:12 AM

Subject: [AASTibet] resource: Endymion Wilkinson's Chinese History: A New Manual

From: Victor H. Mair <vmair@sas.upenn.edu>

The day has finally arrived!  Endymion Wilkinson's Chinese History:  A New Manual has been published at long last.  Twelve years in the making, it is worth every minute of the wait.

We are all indebted to the previous two editions of the Manual, the blue and the yellow:  this one is red, in keeping with its coverage, which goes up through the PRC.  It is printed in two colors (red for section headings so that they are easily spotted) and in a larger format with double columns and smaller type (which is still easily readable).  Consequently, although it has fewer pages (xxiii, 1,124) than the yellow edition, it includes much more material.

Weighing in at around seven pounds, A New Manual is simply breathtaking.  Encyclopedic in scope and coverage, A New Manual provides detailed information about all aspects of Chinese civilization (language; people; geography and environment; government and education; ideas, beliefs, literature, arts, architecture, and archeology; agriculture, food, and drink; technology and science; trade and foreign relations; dating and calendars; weights and measures; etc., including close attention to all periods of history, from the Paleolithic to the Present), plus the best and most up-to-date references to books and articles for further investigation.  One of the hallmarks of A New Manual is its substantial introduction to the various types of sources available for the study of premodern and modern history, together with an exposition of how to actually use them.  Considering that Endymion did all of the research, writing, compilation, and typesetting by himself, A New Manual is truly a wonder to behold.

In my estimation, A New Manual may be considered the Bible of Sinology for our time and should constitute the core of all serious courses on Chinese historiography.

I do not wish to turn this into a full-dress review of A New Manual, which it richly deserves, but simply want to express my pleasure in having this stupendous resource at my disposal and my gratitude to Endymion for producing it.  If anyone wants to write a review article of A New Manual for Sino-Platonic Papers, I'll be happy to provide a copy.

Incidentally, at a mere $45, A New Manual is a steal.  Buy it here:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674067158

Best wishes for the holiday season (A New Manual would make the perfect gift for anyone who is interested in the history and culture of China)!

Victor

P.S.:  If you want to get a glimpse of Dr. Endymion Wilkinson, European Union Ambassador to the PRC (1994-2001), he appears in the video of the public lecture on Sinology that I delivered at Peking University on June 7, 2012:

http://youtu.be/VkoPGEHaqPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkoPGEHaqPo&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk92zznkC9c

P.P.S.:  Please feel free to circulate this brief announcement to your colleagues, students, and friends.

--     Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature  Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations  847/9 Williams Hall  University of Pennsylvania  255 South 36th St.  Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305  USA    Tel.:  215-898-8432 (**please leave a message!**)  Dept. office:  215-898-7466 (for messages and inquiries)  Fax:  215-573-9617 (mark for the attention of Prof. Victor H. Mair)  e-mail:  vmair@sas.upenn.edu  (read infrequently)  *****do not use any gmail account that may exist for me; I never look at them*****    For a complete catalog of SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS (SPP) and information about ordering, go to www.sino-platonic.org      New issues published regularly on the Web; all back issues still in print.