CBS Starts the Field Survey in Hangzhou

Jan. 27, 2020
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In summer 2020, we plan to start Cluster 1.5 of the FROGBEAR project in Hangzhou from June 2-14 in conjunction with the Hangzhou Buddhist Culture Project. As part of the field survey, participants will have the opportunity to present and join Hangzhou Buddhist Culture International Symposium on "Buddhist Texts, Textual Communities and Jiangnan Society" 佛教經典、文字社群與江南社會, held from June 5 to 7 and co-hosted by Zhejiang University and the University of Arizona.

Cluster 1.5 of the FROGBEAR project investigates the ways in which reading and writing the religious texts in East Asia structured and defined communities of real or imagined readers, and how the economic and technological dimensions of the production of texts affected and even created communities and institutions. In recent years, more scholarly attention has been given to the history of the Chinese book in which religious materials, especially the Chinese Buddhist canon, are an important component. Although progress has been made, many more aspects of religious texts are not known in terms of its relationship to the community and the advancement of the printing technology. There is a great need to document sites of production – e.g. libraries, print shops, etc.

This cluster therefore aims to conduct field works in Hangzhou, Taiwan, and Kyoto to collect information and records related to the production and circulation of religious texts, especially Buddhist texts, in East Asia. Priority will be given to the material aspect of religious printing in public and private collections of printed rare sources and to the production sites of these sources. Training opportunities will be provided to participants for documenting metadata of related sources.