Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies | General Information | Teaching Staff

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Chinese Studies Teaching Staff

Dr Imre Galambos

Contact Information

E-mail: iig21@cam.ac.uk or galimre@gmail.com
Website: shahon.org

Current Position

University Lecturer in Pre-modern Chinese Studies

Biographical Details

After having studied for several years in China (Tianjin) and Hungary, I received my Ph.D. from UC Berkeley with a dissertation on the variability of Chinese writing during the Warring States period. After my graduation I started working for the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library and became involved in the study of Dunhuang manuscripts and the manuscript culture of medieval China in general. After 10 years at the British Library, I came to Cambridge in 2012.

Education

1994	MA in Chinese language and literature, Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)
1998	MA in Chinese language and literature, University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA)
2002	PhD in Chinese language and literature, University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA)

Research Interests

Medieval China; Dunhuang studies; history of Chinese writing; Chinese manuscripts and epigraphy; contacts between China and Central Asia; the Western Xia empire; history of the exploration of Central Asia.

Publications

Monographs
2011	Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 2012. Co-authored with Sam van Schaik.
2006	Orthography of Early Chinese Writing: Evidence from Newly Excavated Manuscripts (490–221 BC). Budapest Monographs in East Asian Studies. Budapest: Eötvös Loránd University, 2006.
Journal Articles
2012	“Japanese exploration of Central Asia: The Ōtani expeditions and their British connections.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 75 (2012): 113-134. Co-authored with Kitsudō Kōichi.
2011	“Popular character forms (suzi) and semantic compound (huiyi) characters in medieval Chinese manuscripts.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 131.3: 395-409.
2011	“The northern neighbors of the Tangut.” Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 40: 69-104.
2011	“The Tangut translation of the General’s Garden by Zhuge Liang.” Written Monuments of the Orient (Pis’mennyje Pamiatniki Vostoka), No. 1 (14): 131-142.
2011	“Touched a nation’s heart: Sir E. Denison Ross and Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 21, No. 3: 361-375.
2011	“Following the Tracks of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim.” IDP News, No. 35: 1-3. Co-authored with Sam van Schaik.
2010	“Japanese ‘spies’ along the Silk Road: British suspicions regarding the second Otani expedition (1908-09).” Japanese religions, Vol. 35 (1 & 2): 33-61.
2009	“Manuscript copies of stone inscriptions in the Dunhuang corpus: Issues of dating and provenance.” Asiatische Studien/Etudes asiatiques LXIII, 4: 809-826.
2008	“The third Otani expedition at Dunhuang: Acquisition of the Japanese collection of Dunhuang manuscripts.” Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology 3: 29-35.
2008	“The story of the Chinese seals found in Ireland.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 18: 465-479.
2008	“A 10th century manuscript from Dunhuang concerning the Gantong monastery at Liangzhou,” Tonkō shahon kenkyū nenpō, no.2: 63-82.
2005	“A Corpus-based approach to palaeography: The case of the Houma covenant texts.” Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques LIX 1: 115-130.
2004	“The myth of the Qin unification of writing in Han sources.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 57.2: 181-203.
Book Chapters in Edited Volumes
in proofs	“Simplified characters.” In Naomi Standen, ed. Chinese History for Today. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.
in proofs	“Non-Chinese influences in medieval Chinese manuscript culture.” In Zsombor Rajkai and Ildikó Bellér-Hann, eds., Frontiers and Boundaries: Encounters on China’s margins. Wiesbade: Harrassowitz.
in proofs	“Correction marks in the Dunhuang manuscripts.” In Imre Galambos, ed. Studies in Chinese Manuscripts: From the Warring States Period to the 20th Century.
in proofs	“Punctuation marks in medieval Chinese manuscripts.” In Jörg Quenzer and Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, eds., Manuscript Cultures: Mapping the Field. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
in proofs	“Graphic variation.” In Wolfgang Behr, Martin Kern, Dirk Meyer, eds., Reading Early Chinese Manuscripts: Texts, Contexts, Methods. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Leiden: Brill.
2012	“Sir Aurel Stein’s visit to Japan: His diary and notebook.” In Helen Wang, ed., Sir Aurel Stein: Colleagues and collections. British Museum Research Publication 184: 1-9.
2004	“Dunhuang Characters and the Dating of Manuscripts.” In Susan Whitfield, ed. The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War & Faith. Chicago: Serindia: 72-79.
Book Reviews
2012	Review of Dániel Z. Kádár’s Historical Chinese Letter Writing. Studia Orientalia Slovaca 10.1: 4801-4804.
2004	Review of Huan Guan: Spor o soli i zheleze (Debates on Salt and Iron). Translation from the Chinese with an introduction, commentary and supplements by Yury L. Kroll (2001). Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 57.4: 490-491.
2003	Review of Lu Xixing 陸錫興, Shijing yiwen yanjiu 詩經異文研究 (2001). Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 56.2: 465-466.

Current Projects

Currently I am working on a book on the script of medieval Chinese manuscripts, especially those from Dunhuang. I am also the sub-editor for medieval China for the Encyclopedia of Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa compiled at the University of Hamburg.

Chinese Studies