General Some Reflections on the formation of the Buddha image ­ an abstract of the keynote speech by Professor Maurizio Taddei at the South Asian Archaeology conference in Leiden. South Asian Literature The literatures of South Asia span an enormous array of languages, regions, and local cultures, together forming a unique and virtually inexhaustible record of the intellectual history of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries. This section, edited by Thomas de Bruijn, presents an overview of various new developments in research in the modern literatures of South Asia. Regions Central Asia The Samantabhadra Archives: The Nyingma Tantras Project. This contribution by David Germano and Robert Mayer is the first in a series of introductions to Tibetological collections and archives. South Asia 'Obscured by all the clamour over globalization is the continuing expectancy that social science scholars from the South are still expected to focus on the South, while scholars from the North may research either South or North.' Anthropologist Rajni Palriwala (India) reports on her experiences conducting fieldwork in the Netherlands East Asia The Fifth Annual CHIME Conference, which took place in September 1999 at the Academy of Music in Prague, focused on musical contrasts between villages and cities in China and East Asia. Southeast Asia 'Little has been said of the Indonesian view of the East Timor Affair. This has impaired the interaction between the actors involved: the Western press, governments, and public opinion were out of sync with Indonesia's officials, military, and politicians, and vice versa.' An article by François Raillon. New Publications in Asian Studies In this special book section reviewers and academic publishers present and discuss new publications in Asian Studies. Mark Turin appraises a long-awaited Nepali language course and Peter Kloos introduces a Sri Lanka Studies Series in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Asian Arts Malaysian architect Ken Yeang was awarded the 1999 Prince Claus Award for his environmentally responsive work. 'The ecological imperative has made his structures lively not dull, muscular instead of flat-chested, and with an inviting, gregarious face rather than the blank stare of a Mafioso behind dark glasses.' An article by Charles Jencks.