In 1855/1860, Dimitrie Papazoglu (1811−1892) opened a museum in his private residence on Calea Văcărești, no 151, Bucharest, with objects amassed during and after retiring from his military career, ca. 1855. Papazoglu doubled opening a museum with the publication of a catalogue, in 1864, which listed Egyptian and ‘Oriental’ artefacts, some even sourced locally. Their presence in a private collection from a region in the process of creating a national state, independent from the Ottoman Empire, raises a series of questions. Could these artefacts be attributed to a form of internalized Orientalist discourse or is it simply a consequence of the Westernization process? How do the Ottoman era and Islamic objects reconcile with Papazoglu’s discursive goal for collecting being for ‘the feeling of love of the progress of my nation’? Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the meaning of these artefacts in the general context of the collection, and the negotiation within the process of articulation a concept of Romanian heritage. The analysis will focus on the museum catalogue published in 1864, supported by additional archival material, to assess the labels Papazoglu used for defining the variety of objects he collected, and how these taxonomies underpin the production of knowledge on the concepts of heritage and of ‘Oriental.’
Indo-Iranian languages and literature, Literature (General)
On 12 November 2024, the Institute of Oriental Studies of NAS RA, with the support of the Bryusov State University (BSU), organized an international conference entitled “The Modernization of China: Armenia-China Relations.” The conference addressed China's modernization, Beijing's vision for current international relations, global security issues, universal human development, and welfare issues. Moreover, the conference aimed to examine the dynamics of Armenia-China relations, their weak and strong sides, and current tendencies. Researchers from the Institute of Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a major partner of the Institute of Oriental Studies (IOS), Renmin University of China, and Beijing University of Aviation and Astronautics, participated in the conference. From the Armenian side, researchers from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS RA, BSU, the Armenian State University of Economics, and representatives of institutions cooperating with China participated in the conference.
ZDRF-8 is a transgenic maize event created via <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated transformation for insect resistance and glyphosate tolerance by expressing <i>Cry1Ab</i>, <i>Cry2Ab</i>, and <i>G10evo-epsps</i>. A Southern blot analysis suggested that it is a single-copy T-DNA insertion event. The flanking genomic sequences of the T-DNA insertion suggested that its T-DNA was inserted at the terminal region of the long arm of chromosome 7 without interrupting any known or predicted genes. Event-specific PCRs based on the flanking sequence were able to detect this event specifically. Laboratory bioassays and field trials of multiple generations demonstrated that ZDRF-8 is highly active against major corn pests in China, including Asian corn borers (ACB, <i>Ostrinia furnacalis</i>), cotton bollworms (CBW, <i>Helicoverpa armigera</i>), and oriental armyworm (OAW, <i>Mythimna separata</i>), and meanwhile confers glyphosate tolerance up to two times the recommended dose. The expression of the transgenes and the efficacy of insect resistance and glyphosate tolerance were stable over more than 10 generations. ZDRF-8 has been granted with a safety certificate in China, and its commercial release is expected in the coming years.
This essay attempts to foreground the question of native agency in the making of the photographic archive of Charles Alfred Bell, British Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. It seeks to approach a new hermeneutics of British imperial archive-making vis-á-vis Tibet by assessing not only how native agency variously informed the sacerdotal, epistemic and technical content of most of Bell’s photographic archive, but also how such agency was central to its very process of visual production. By examining the roles of Rabden Lepcha, Sonam Wangyal or Palhese and Kartick Chandra Pyne, apropos their contribution to Bell’s visual archive, the essay shows how British imperial knowledge-construction on Tibet deployed native agency, thereafter relegating them (mostly) to archival silence. In the process, the essay demonstrates how these silences were not merely accidental, but fundamental to the process of knowledge-production on Tibet.
This article explores the materiality of texts related to apprenticeship in Uruk during the Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, focusing on the training of pupils and ‘small healer’ (āšipu ṣeḫru) in the Ue XVIII sector. The collections of texts discovered in this area belonged to two families of healers (āšipu). They are particularly valuable because they are among the few scholarly collections from this period that have been excavated with sufficient scientific rigour. The study also examines how the cultural transformations of Babylonian scholarship during this time impacted both the apprenticeship and the practices of the healers.
Oriental languages and literatures, Asian. Oriental
This paper investigates the materiality of cuneiform tablets, with a focus on paratexts in manuscripts of Akkadian literary texts, especially hymns and prayers. It explores how paratextual features, such as horizontal rulings, reflect and enhance poetic structures. Particular attention is paid to the corpus of the Great Hymns and Prayers, where couplet divisions could offer insights into their poetic form and textual evolution. By combining material and literary analysis, the study highlights the interplay between paratexts and poetry in Akkadian literature.
Oriental languages and literatures, Asian. Oriental
Yujin Choi,1,* Na-Yeon Ha,2,* Ae-Ran Kim,3 Haein Jeong,2 Ojin Kwon,1 Ki-Sun Park,1 Jieun Kim,1 Jinsung Kim,2 Hyungjun Kim1 1KM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; 2Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Korean Internal Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 3R&D Strategy Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jinsung Kim, Department of Digestive Diseases, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea, Tel +82 2 958 8895, Email oridoc@khu.ac.kr Hyungjun Kim, Division of KM Science Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 34054, Republic of Korea, Tel +82 42 869 2796, Email heyjoon73@kiom.re.krIntroduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic condition characterized by recurrent abdominal pain associated with bowel movements. Modified Gwakjeongtang (MGT), an herbal prescription rooted in traditional East Asian medicine, consists of thirteen botanical drugs known for their potential to enhance intestinal barrier function, regulate gastrointestinal motility, and exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Despite a few previous clinical trials highlighting MGT’s potential for IBS symptom management, limited evidence exists with placebo control.Methods and Analysis: In this pilot randomized clinical trial protocol, we aim to exploratively evaluate the efficacy and safety of MGT in patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) by comparing it with a placebo. A total of 60 IBS-D patients will be enrolled, and eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either the MGT or placebo groups. Over a 4-week period, they will receive MGT or placebo granules three times a day. The primary endpoint will be the overall response rate post-treatment, determined through daily assessments of abdominal pain intensity and stool consistency.Ethics and Dissemination: This clinical trial protocol has received approval from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for an investigational new drug application and Institutional Review Board of the Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital. The research findings will be submitted and published in international peer-reviewed journal.Trial Registration: Clinical research information service (registration number: KCT0008523).Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome, herbal medicine, Gwakhyang-Jeonggi-San, Huoxiang-Zhengqi-San, Kkako-Shoki-San, clinical protocol
Purpose This study investigated the validity of introducing a clinical skills examination (CSE) to the Korean Oriental Medicine Licensing Examination through a mixed-method modified Delphi study. Methods A 3-round Delphi study was conducted between September and November 2022. The expert panel comprised 21 oriental medicine education experts who were officially recommended by relevant institutions and organizations. The questionnaires included potential content for the CSE and a detailed implementation strategy. Subcommittees were formed to discuss concerns around the introduction of the CSE, which were collected as open-ended questions. In this study, a 66.7% or greater agreement rate was defined as achieving a consensus. Results The expert panel’s evaluation of the proposed clinical presentations and basic clinical skills suggested their priorities. Of the 10 items investigated for building a detailed implementation strategy for the introduction of the CSE to the Korean Oriental Medicine Licensing Examination, a consensus was achieved on 9. However, the agreement rate on the timing of the introduction of the CSE was low. Concerns around 4 clinical topics were discussed in the subcommittees, and potential solutions were proposed. Conclusion This study offers preliminary data and raises some concerns that can be used as a reference while discussing the introduction of the CSE to the Korean Oriental Medicine Licensing Examination.
The history of pastoralist and agricultural societies in Central Asia is intimately interlinked with the non-human world: non-human animals shared their habitat with humans, domesticated animals were used as meat, fur, milk and fuel suppliers, drought animals, beasts of burden, mounts and wealth. Wild animals were cherished as heralds of upcoming seasonal weather change, hunted for meat, fur, prestige and the alleged medical-magical faculties of their body parts or feared for their destructive potential. The close cohabitation of humans and non-humans is reflected in a complex cosmological order. Without denying the fundamental religious importance of canonical texts in an Islamicate context, vernacular texts that belong to the so-called “small genres” were more important sources of information for large parts of Central Asian populations, and shaped the spiritual map for the majority of Central Asians and guided them in making sense of their natural and supernatural environment. This article examines Central Asian conceptualisation of animals as shaped by these texts as a departure to the mundane and spiritual relationship between human and non-human animals in Muslim Central Asia and explores how these different conceptual registers reverberate in contemporary, global debates on animal rights, sustainability and environmental protection.
Indo-Iranian languages and literature, Literature (General)
In this illustrated folk narrative, a muun, a traditional female shaman of the Lepcha tribe, takes us on a journey of the tribe’s origins, it’s connection to the ancestors, mother earth, and the sacred waters through the muun’s vision of the water dragon. The story is based on several interviews with the shamans and elders of the Lepcha tribe. It is important to understand that the muun, the local rivers and the water dragon are essentially all the same. Their voices alternate throughout the narrative. The muun is simply a vessel who helps us connect to the many realities and realms. The confluence of rivers help the muun reconnecting to her lineage, mother earth, herself and to the water dragon. The water dragon is simultaneously journeying with the rivers and is also emerging from the muun’s heart to channel the messages that are needed to be shared. In this multi-layered story, the storyteller(s) tell(s) us about birth, marriage, life, and death as practiced facts. The story is intended to convey information about different ceremonies and rites of passage. The essence of the story, its language and visuals have been made keeping in mind the ways in which oral storytelling is shared locally among members of the Lepcha tribe. It is written in such a way as leave much for readers to interpret or imagine for themselves. Visual hints should help to guide readers to make and understand the connections. The spirit of the story lies in our remembrance and reconnection to all that we have forgotten. It is a humble voice for the river Teesta and water bodies of the world and their current bondage and death. Especially at a crucial time like ours, when mother earth and her kingdom are disintegrating rapidly, and our survival is at stake.
The tropical and subtropical floodplain lakes are hypothesized as one of the globally interesting rotifer rich ecosystems. Our study indicating the biodiverse Rotifera of ten ‘slightly acidic to circum-neutral, moderately hard-water and de-mineralized’ tropical floodplain lakes (beels) of the Majuli River Island of the Brahmaputra river basin of northeast India endorses this hypothesis. Total richness, the richness of important families and community similarities affirm heterogeneity of the rotifer species composition amongst the beels. The species richness registers significant spatio-temporal variations with seasonal differences amongst the beels and individually in each beel, and lacks significant influence of the recorded abiotic factors. The constellations of 76-81 species in three beels during winter and 76 species in one beel during pre-monsoon are noteworthy instances of ‘Rotifera paradox’. The rotifer fauna of the Majuli beels registers affinity with Southeast Asian and Oriental faunas, records several species of the regional distribution interest and exhibits the littoral-periphytic nature, while application of Q B/T and Q L/B quotients depicts limitations. This study merits ecological diversity interest for Rotifera vis-a-vis the floodplain lakes of India and elsewhere from the tropics and subtropics, and assumes biodiversity conservation importance due to threat of extinction of the Majuli – an alluvial floodplain of the Brahmaputra basin.
This paper aims to examine the increasingly protectionist policies of the Ottoman government against the foreign steamship postal services operating between the imperial ports under the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (r. 1861-1876). This remarkable phenomenon has both local and international dimensions. First of all, rising postal monopoly claims of the Ottoman government against the foreign postal services on its territory are the striking consequences of increasing autonomy of the local steamship networks in the Ottoman Empire. In other words, foreign postal services had lost their utility in the Empire as a result of the development of the local postal services. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Postal Administration under Abdülaziz manifested substantial deficiencies in relation to its services outside the Empire. By adopting protectionist policies, the Ottoman government aimed to eliminate financial and political threats to the Empire that were coming through foreign postal channels. Finally, at an international level, the protectionism of the Ottoman government was a local response to the globalisation of postal communications.
Indo-Iranian languages and literature, Literature (General)
This is a first ever study of the notion of ‘Tuvan time’ (Tyva үе) – the way Tuvans reckon time in their everyday lives. This idea is examined as an integral part of Tuvan culture, being most directly linked to practices of economic culture. This vision of time can be seen as a version of ‘steppe time’, also typical for the peoples of Mongolia and other Central Asian regions of nomadic culture. People of the steppes have been found to possess a specific cultural time, a certain pace of lifestyle which has been classified within the Oriental type of understanding time.
To reckon and understand the notion of time, Tuvans have traditionally used the strategies of objectification, matching time to specific action and mentioning the place of action. The article studies Tuvan terms signifying time, with a focus on the conclusions scholars of language and culture have made in their studies of how Tuvans find their way in space and time by observing the daily motion of the Sun and stars.
Special attention is given in the article to the link between ‘Tuvan time’ and their economic culture. This way of understanding time appeared in the economic lifestyle of extensive animal farming that most Tuvans in the past and present were involved in. Correspondingly, their economic activity almost wholly depended on natural cycles, weather changes, climatic rhythms and conditions. This determined the strategy of adapting to both the environment in general and to its elements, such as the flow of events and of time in this environment. People had only to watch the slow grazing of their cattle and only at times intervene to regulate the process. This made unhurriedness one of the most important temporal features of Tuvan culture.
The article analyzes the cultural views of the Tuvans on planning and punctuality. In the post-Soviet years, ‘Tyva үе’ has come to mean the right to be imprecise and is determined by several circumstances, such as a change in weather, climate lore, the need to follow important routines or directions. All of these factors are seen as bigger and more important than people, control their intentions and regulate the length of events and actions. Unhurriedness is most marked among the rural populations, but is also quite conspicuous in urban areas since internal migration from the countryside to towns remains significant. Foundations of traditional culture remain strong, too, since those who feel bound to it have managed to “write it into” their contemporary lives.
The factor of ‘Tuvan time’ is an important one to reckon for visitors to the region, residents of Tuva, local authorities, business people. It is an important element of contemporary economic culture and a powerful precondition for strategic planning.
The Late Sarmatian culture has oriental origin. This culture practically does not have the features of funeral rite, which can be associated with the influence of ancient word. After the middle of the 2nd century AD, imported items of Roman or Provincial-Roman origin began to occur in the Late Sarmatian burials. The most mass category of findings is represented with metal tableware. As a rule, metal, more often bronze, vessels are represented with jugs, basins, strainers and ladles. In some cases, they are found as parts of table set. The burial complexes with such sets are found throughout the territory of the Late Sarmatian culture – from the Trans-Urals to the Northern Azov region. The Sarmatians started to use the import metal tableware later than the inhabitants of the Roman provinces. The Late Sarmatian burials also contain the antique vessels made of glass. Such vessels are often found in complexes with metal tableware. A few finds of Roman articulated fibulae with enamels are known in the Late Sarmatian burials in the territory of the Southern Urals and the Trans-Urals. Oriental things are often found in burials along with the Roman things: Chinese, middle-Asian, etc. Roman products often mark graves of high social status, which differ in burial rites from ordinary burials. Findings of things of Roman or provincial Roman origin in high-status burial mounds confirm their value in the Sarmatian society. There are several opinions regarding the penetration of Roman imports into nomadic culture. They could get to the Sarmatian leaders as trophies or as a result of trade relations. Standardization of both sets and types of Roman tableware allows assuming their appearance in steppe monuments of late Sarmatians as political gifts.
History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics, International relations
The article is devoted to political and cultural heritage of Sogdians (“merchants outside empires”). This is the Central Asian people, who lived in a period from around the 6th century BC. until the middle of the Middle Ages, and then were dispersed in the vastness of Khorasan region. Throughout its history the Sogdians played the role of the most important trade intermediaries on some segments of the Silk Road, many researchers today consider “Silk Road” and “Sogdian Trade Network” as synonyms notions. Sogdians were unique in their inclination not only to develop new products, but also to proliferate their own reinterpretation of new, mostly imported ideas. This is especially evident in their relations with the Chinese, including the period of the Tang dynasty (618-907), i.e., “Golden age” in the history of China. The article for the first time in Russian research literature represents Sogdians as a people who managed to influence the Eurasian cultural dynamics by introducing the principle of deterritorialization into relations with close and far neighbors. Most modern historians in Central Asia tend to ignore the contribution to “their” history from “strangers”, neither mediators, nor neighbors. The appeal to the intellectual heritage of Sogdians as a people who promoted the transformation of the region into a crossroads of cultures would open the possibility of developing intellectual pluralism in each of the Central Asian countries today and would allow accelerating the creative modernization of the region as a whole.