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| East Asian paleography | |
|---|---|
| Name | East Asian paleography |
| Field | Paleography |
| Regions | China; Japan; Korea; Vietnam |
| Period | Neolithic to modern |
East Asian paleography East Asian paleography examines ancient writing systems across China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam through analysis of inscriptions, manuscripts, and epigraphic artifacts. Scholars working on this subject draw on evidence from archaeological sites such as Anyang, Sanxingdui, and Yinxu and engage with institutions like the Academia Sinica, National Diet Library (Japan), and Academy of Korean Studies. Research intersects with projects at museums including the Palace Museum (Beijing), Tokyo National Museum, and the National Museum of Korea.
The field covers scripts from the Oracle bone script and Bronze script to Seal script, Clerical script, and Regular script found in sites like Zhou dynasty tombs, Qin dynasty sites, and Han dynasty burials, and extends to regional forms preserved in artifacts from Baekje, Silla, Gaya, Yamato period contexts, and Đại Việt inscriptions. It links textual corpora such as the Shijing, Shujing, and the Records of the Grand Historian with material culture from excavations led by teams from Peking University, Kyoto University, Seoul National University, and the École française d'Extrême-Orient.
Chronology follows phases identified in archaeological and philological work: Neolithic tokens and markings at Yangshao culture sites, oracle-bone records at Anyang associated with the Shang dynasty, bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou, seal and official scripts standardized under Qin Shi Huang, clerical consolidation during the Han dynasty, and later stylistic diversification in the Tang dynasty and Song dynasty. Comparative threads include transmission to Nara period Japan, influence on Goryeo epigraphy, and the adoption and adaptation in Lý dynasty and Trần dynasty inscriptions.
Primary sources include inscribed artifacts from the Henan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces, manuscript finds such as the Mawangdui silk manuscripts, bamboo-slip texts from Guodian, and stele collections like the Stele Forest (Beilin Museum). Other corpora are held by the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, and national archives such as the National Archives of Japan and the National Archives of Korea.
The evolutionary arc traces graphemic changes documented in specimens from Zhou dynasty bronzes, Qin dynasty seal carvings, Han dynasty stone classics, and Tang calligraphy exemplars associated with figures like Wang Xizhi and Ouyang Xun. Regional variants include the Korean use of Idu and Hyangchal systems, Japanese development of Man'yōgana and Kana, and Vietnamese adoption in Chữ Hán and Chữ Nôm; inscriptions relate to sites such as Hwangnyongsa, Heijo Palace, and Temple of Literature (Hanoi).
Analytical techniques combine palaeographic comparison used by scholars at Harvard-Yenching Library, computational approaches from groups at Stanford University and Peking University, and material analyses performed at laboratories like the Shanghai Institute of Archaeology. Methods include paleographic transcription, rubrication used in catalogues by the National Palace Museum (Taiwan), stratigraphic context from fieldwork led by teams at Wuhan University and Fudan University, and radiocarbon dating coordinated with the Institute of Archaeology (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).
Notable finds include the oracle bones from Anyang, the bronze inscriptions of the Zenghouyi Cemetery, the Mawangdui manuscripts, the Dunhuang manuscripts, the stone classics such as the Xiping Stone Classics, and stele texts like the Nestorian Stele; other important inscriptions have emerged from Sanxingdui, the Shi Qiang pan, and Korean epigraphs associated with King Munmu and Queen Seondeok. These items have been subjects of study in publications affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Korean Institute of Historical Studies, and the National Institute of Japanese Literature.
Major research centers include CASS (Institute of Archaeology), Academia Sinica, National Museum of Korea, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, British School at Rome collaborations, and university departments at Peking University, Tsinghua University, Seoul National University, Kyoto University, and University of Tokyo. Key journals and series that publish paleographic research are overseen by presses such as Cambridge University Press, Brill Publishers, University of Chicago Press, and national academies including the Academia Sinica and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.
Category:Paleography