We are very happy to announce the publication of a new issue of the “Newsletter of the Database of Medieval Chinese texts (DMCT)” (ISSN: 2952-8534), a collaborative project of the Department of Languages and Cultures / GCBS, Ghent University, and the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA)! The newsletter can be downloaded from the frontpage of the DMCT. or by the link Newsletter of the Database of Medieval Chinese texts_2025.05 .
The current issue includes research papers and reports. Here is an overview of the contents:
1: Message from the editor-in-chief (p. 1-4)
2: Featured research paper “The Interpretation and Lexicographical Compilation of Idioms in Chán Buddhist Literature”, by Zeng Chen (p. 4-10)
3: Report by project Co-director Lin Ching-hui 林靜慧 (DILA) (p. 11)
4: Introduction to DMCT in Chinese by 林靜慧 and 洪振洲 (DILA) (p. 11-23)
5: Introduction to newly marked-up manuscript texts 寫卷說明2022&2023 by 林靜慧 (p. 23-31)
6: News from our members: contributions by Laurent Van Cutsem and Liang Litian (p. 32-34)
7: Poster session (p. 34-37)
8: Newly funded projects (p. 38-40)
9: Internship report by Wu Taoyu 吴韬玉, featuring an edition of the earliest dated Dunhuang manuscript, a rendering of the Ten Recitations Prātimokṣa sūtra based on Ms. Or.8210/S.797r (p. 39-52)
10: News from our partners, with contributions by Manuel Sassmann concerning our new collaboration with Buddhist Stone Sutras in China project (Heidelberg Academy of Science), a paper by Marcus Bingenheimer on encoding Buddhist texts using DNA, and a thorough introduction to the Thesaurus Linguae Sericae (TLS) database by Christian Wittern (p. 52-59)
11: MA thesis reports, introducing a selection of recent MA theses, “Words with Alternative Pronunciations in Modern Chinese and the Reading Traditions of Pre-modern Chinese Poetry” by Wu Taoyu, “A Study of Popular Character Forms (súzì 俗字) in the Dūnhuáng Manuscripts of Sōushén jì 搜神记” by Yang Yuting, and “A Study of Proper Names in the Chinese translations of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Saṃghabheda-vastu” by Zhang Longyu (p. 59-65)
12: Publications and lectures (selection) (p. 66-67)
WE WISH YOU ALL A PLEASANT READING EXPERIENCE!
