During the Ming and Qing periods, the genre of local gazetteers developed from descriptive local surveys, focused primarily on geography, to local histories of administration, customs, biographies, and other areas of local government and literati interest. With the expansion of the local economy and society, the functions of local government increased and the educated elite grew in size and importance. As a result, the compilers of local histories began to include more and more subjects. This gradual widening of subject matter continued during the Republican and contemporary periods.
Intensive course
The Sinological Institutes in Leiden, Paris, Copenhagen and other
European sinological centres have acquired a great number of
gazetteers, from both traditional and modern times. In order to
show the historical value of gazetteers, the Sinological
Institute of Leiden University will organize an ERASMUS Intensive
Course in Leiden from 25-29 September 1995, sponsored by the
Erasmus Programme of the European Union. The course is intended
for 10 to 15 students at graduate level or in the final year of
undergraduate studies. These students must be affiliated to one
of the universities of the ERASMUS network. The course will be
taught by Professors Leif Littrup (Copenhagen), Rik Schipper
(Leiden), Eduard Vermeer (Leiden), Harriet Zurndorfer (Leiden),
Lin Renchuan (Xiamen, invited) and Dirk Kolff (Leiden, guest
speaker).
During the course, a number of selected aspects of local
gazetteers will be discussed. Junior researchers will be taught
how to extract relevant information from local gazetteers and how
to compare and/or combine this with other historical data.
Moreover, participants will be able to discuss their research
interests and to select and photocopy parts of the extensive
local gazetteer holdings of the Sinological Institute.
Participants will receive a reader with a selection of Western
and Chinese articles and gazetteer texts, which must have been
read prior to the course. The working language of the course will
be English.
Grants covering travel and housing expenses are available to a
limited number of participating students.
Applications, including a short c.v., academic record and
indication of area of research interests, should be send to the
organizer before 1 July 1995, at the address below:
Erasmus Course
Sinological Institute
Arsenaalstraat 1
NL - 2311 CT Leiden
The Netherlands.
Enquiries can be obtained from:
Eduard Vermeer
at the above address.
Tel.: +31-71-272527/272524
Fax: +31-71-272615/272526
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