The CUHK and the EFEO Center in Hong Kong are organizing the international colloquium on Daozang jiyao and Daoism in the Ming and Qing Dynasty with the Celebration of the Companion to the Essentials of the Daoist Canon Publication.

On May 1 and 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Hong Kong time), on the Zoom platform: link to register.

Franciscus Verellen will give the opening lecture "The Daoist Canon: A Work in Progress".

May 1, 7:30-8:30 pm (Hong Kong time): link to register.

The international colloquium "La caricature en Asie de l'Est: regards croisés" [Caricatures in East Asia: Circulations and Crossed Perspectives] organized by Laurent Baridon (Lyon 2 University, LARHRA UMR 5190) and Marie Laureillard (Lyon 2 University, Institute of Oriental Asia UMR 5062), with the support of the ENS-Lyon, Lyon 2 University, and the Centre d'Etude de l'Écriture et de l'Image, is held in its entirety on Zoom on May 4 and 5.

Several EFEO researchers participate:
- Christophe Marquet gives the opening lecture entitled "Formes et significations de l'image caricaturale au Japon à l'époque prémoderne [Forms and meanings of caricature in premodern Japan].
- Frédéric Girard speaks on "Peintures drolatiques d'animaux, Chōjū jinbutsu giga 鳥獸人物戯畫" [Humorous animal paintings]
- François Lachaud presents "Ours blancs et démons rouges : Kobayashi Kiyochika ou la guerre russo-japonaise (1904-1905) en caricatures" [White bears and red demons: Kobayashi Kiyochika or the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) in cartoons]

Jean A. Trejaut (PhD, University of Technology of Sydney) gives a lecture entitled "Matrilineal Origins and Diversity of the Taiwanese", organized by the EFEO Center in Taipei and the Center for Research on the Archaeology of Taiwan and Southeast Asia, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.

At 2:30 p.m. in lecture hall 703, Research Building, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.

The XXXVIIe Seoul Colloquium in Korea Studies, organized by the EFEO Center in Seoul, in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society, is led by Maël Bellec, Curator of Chinese and Korean Art at the Cernuschi Museum in Paris, on the topic: "Lee Ungno : a case study of a Korean artist in France (1959-1989)".

At 6:00 p.m. (Seoul time), online: register with the EFEO Center to receive the information needed to connect.

Légende : Inauguration of the "Académie de Peinture Orientale de Paris" exhibition held in 1971 at the Musée Cernuschi. Copyright Lee Ungno archives.

The EFEO-ISEAS Center organizes an event (in Japanese) around the publication of Lawrence Marceau's (ISEAS) book on the only complete illustrated scroll of Aesop's fables (Rinsen shoten, 2021, 絵入巻子本　伊曽保物語　臨川書店). Kishimoto Emi (Osaka University), Hyōdō Toshiki (Wakayama University) and Lawrence Marceau will give presentations related to the scroll and Aesop's fables in Edo Japan. Araki Hiroshi (International Research Center for Japanese Studies) will be a discussant.

The event will be held from 5 to 7 pm, online on the Zoom platform. To register use the QR code on the poster or write to the EFEO-ISEAS Center.

As part of  the Kyoto lectures, SAKA Chihiro (Ryukoku university) presents: "Datsueba’s Role in Structuring the Religious Landscapes: An Examination of the Precinct of Risshakuji and the Pilgrimage Route to Atsuta Shrine".

At 6pm (Japan time) in hybrid format or only on the Zoom platform. The password for logging in will be posted on the Kyoto Center's blog and the ISEAS website on the 27th.

Legend: 1880 representation of the Atsuta shrine. 『尾張名所図会　前編　巻4　愛智郡』（1880年） 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション

EFEO Paris seminar

Fabienne Jagou (EFEO) speaks on: "Construire une communauté religieuse à Taïwan : l'exemple de celle de la Vénérable Gongga (1903-1997)" [Building a religious community in Taiwan: the example of Venerable Gongga (1903-1997)]. This seminar is part of the sequence La question religieuse : sécularisation et réinvention of the seminar ASIES of the master "Études Asiatiques".

From 10.30am to 12pm. The conference will take place online upon prior registration.
Once registered you will receive the elements to log in (seminar link and password).

Recognised as a lay master in Taiwan, Venerable Gongga (1903-1997) focuses her autobiography on her three-year retreat at Bo Gangkar Monastery in Tibet in the 1940s. Her careful narration of her spiritual experience in Tibet was crucial to the building of her community from the early 1960s onwards, while the use of this account by her followers is fundamental to its continuation today. The analysis of this narrative and its transtextuality will show the ways in which the transcription of her spiritual experience ensured the legitimacy of the Venerable Gongga in the early 1960s, and how its later development is part of its continuity.

S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma was invited to the Sringeri Mutt in Andhra Pradesh from April 19-21, 2021 where he was honoured with the prestigious SRI BHARATITEERTHAPURASKAR award by the Sringerisankaracharya.

On May 20, S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma gives a lecture entitled "Kambodiadeśīya-śilāśāsanēṣu alaṅkārāḥ", organised by Andhra University on the Google Meet platform, link to access the lecture.

The Lidar acquisition campaign in Champasak and Savannakhet provinces (CHAMPA project, in partnership with AFD) will be carried out during the month of May, in conditions rendered complicated by the recent implementation of sanitary containment measures in the country. Michel Lorrillard, David Bazin and Viengkeo Souksavady organised a meeting to launch the operations on 23 April with the Champasak provincial authorities. The team, led by Damian Evans, is composed of Sarah Klassen, Tiago Attore and Tomasso Pappagallo, and two engineers from Sintegra, the company responsible for Lidar acquisition.

Élisabeth Chabanol

On May 6, Élisabeth Chabanol speaks on the topic "Processus de la création de la mission archéologique à Kaesong" (Process of the creation of the archaeological mission in Kaesong) in the undergraduate course in Korean studies at the University of Paris entitled "Civilisation de la Corée du Nord" (Civilisation of North Korea) directed by Marie-Orange Rivé.

Benoît Jacquet

On 15 May, Benoît Jacquet will accompany Oussouby Sacko, President of Kyoto Seika University, Professors Kawai Atsushi, Andrea Flores Urushima, and a group of students from this university to the village of Nakagawa, in the mountains of northern Kyoto, in order to study the specificities of this cultural landscape and its agro-forestry.

Legend: Wood drying warehouse, Kyoto City Historical Monument, Nakagawa Kitayamacho, Kyoto. Photo ©Benoît Jacquet, 2020.

François Lagirarde

On May 1st, Hélène Njoto presents "Wooden Indonesian Mosques : Tangible or Saujana Heritage?" at the 2nd International E-Public Forum: Organic Crafts and Saujana Heritage Conservation organised as part of the 2021 International online Summer Course on Jogja World Batik City: Balancing Creative Economy and Heritage Saujana Conservation to Foster Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

2-6pm (Jakarta time), on YouTube.

The EFEO library is open on appointment from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. It offers a document loan and return service every Wednesday.

- Book your reading space.

- Order the desired books you would like to consult during your visit, via your online catalog account.

- Make an appointment for the Wednesday loan-return service.

Check the EFEO's Facebook page and Twitter account regularly for any updates on the terms and conditions of the public reception service.

The Paris library of the EFEO is continuing to enter its archive inventories into Calames.

Discover the Henri Parmentier collection, which includes his correspondence, notes and preparatory documents for the publication of books, his work on the inventory of Khmer monuments, and maps and plans.

You can explore the inventory of the Cochinchine Cambodia Conservation Department. These archives consist of correspondence files related to the general administration of the sites, as well as excavation reports and diaries, sketches and plans, which document research activities in the field.

The EFEO's photographic holdings remain accessible on the photo library website.

The photo library is putting a new virtual exhibition online: The restoration of Chu Quyến's đình.

The đình of Chu Quyến is located in a loop of the Red River, ten kilometres northwest of the city of Sơn Tây. Probably built in the late 17th century, this elegant, long building with a curved roof resting on imposing ironwood columns, the most massive of which reach two metres in circumference, is characterised by finely crafted architecture. It is the largest building of its kind in northern Vietnam and one of the most remarkable along with that of Đình Bảng in Bắc Ninh province.

Over the centuries, the building was restored many times. In 2007, the communal house was in danger of falling into ruin, and the Ministry of Culture decided to do something about it. The Institute for Heritage Preservation (Viện Bảo tồn di tích) was commissioned as the main contractor and undertook a comprehensive restoration plan. The building was dismantled and the damaged elements were replaced. The work, costing 17 billion đồng (US$1 million), began in 2007 and was completed in 2010.

At the request of the Institute for Heritage Preservation, the entire restoration process was the subject of a photographic report by Sheppard Ferguson. The author has kindly deposited his photographs in the EFEO's photographic collection.

Legend: Chu Quyếnh's đình (EFEO_FERS00954).

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death, on Saturday, April 24, of Professor François Gros, in his 88th year. An outstanding Tamil scholar, he was the Director of the EFEO from 1977 to 1989. Born in Lyon on December 17, 1933, François Edouard Stéphane Gros, who was a grammar teacher and a student of both André Leroi-Gourhan and Paul Dumont, began his career as a French teacher in Algeria, but became fascinated by the study of the language and literature of the Tamil language in 1963, when he was hired by Jean Filliozat, then Director of the EFEO, to work at the French Institute in Pondicherry. It is to his early years in Pondicherry that we owe, in 1968, the beautiful translation into French of the Paripāṭal, where "so many revelations [are] widely deployed". At the head of the institution from 1977 onwards, F. Gros worked to redeploy the EFEO across Southeast Asia and to consolidate the School's position there, while at the same time overseeing the organization of the Paris headquarters, notably by the creation of a real library at the Maison de l'Asie. F. Gros was indeed always a lover of books, of texts, of poetry, and it was this same desire to understand — and to make others understand — that made him study not only the literature of the Caṅkam and the Tamil poetry of Bhakti (Tēvāram). He also became interested in archaeology and produced a publication with R. Nagaswamy on the city of Uttaramerur and became involved in an historical atlas project. Latterly, he turned also to contemporary Tamil literature, publishing L'arbre Nâgalinga, a collection of translated short stories from the second half of the 20th century. Deep Rivers: Selected Writings on Tamil Literature (2009) provides an insight into his work. He is one of only five Europeans to have received the Kural Peedam Award from the Indian government for outstanding lifetime achievement in scholarship. We wish to offer him this last tribute.

Charlotte Schmid, Eva Wilden, Jean-Luc Chevillard et Dominic Goodall

With a view to celebrating its 120th anniversary, the École française d'Extrême-Orient is launching a series of video vignettes, entitled "EFEO's Asian Treasures", designed to make the rich holdings of its library and archives better known: prints, published works, manuscripts, maps, plans, photographs, images, etc.

In "De la pierre au papier. Les estampages des inscriptions thaïes de l'EFEO," [From stone to paper. The EFEO's Thai inscription estampages/stamps] François Lagirarde (EFEO) and Magali Morel (EFEO) present the collection of more than 3,000 stamps made in Southeast Asia since the end of the 19th century on ancient inscriptions preserved in archaeological sites and national museums and kept at the EFEO library in Paris.

Stamping, a traditional technique and a product of this technique, is still today the most reliable means and object for deciphering an inscription. The EFEO's collections contain documents obtained by two slightly different processes, the one known as Lottin de Laval (in relief) and the one known as "inked in the Chinese style".

These prints represent the work of pioneers of French Orientalism and in particular that of the members of the EFEO who were present in all fields. Among these researchers, George Cœdès was undoubtedly the most representative, through his activity in many countries and his talents as a philologist and administrator.

For the Thai and Lao world, he was responsible for the constitution and organisation of collections of stamps, the first inventories of steles and the first scientific readings and translations. Together with Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, he is considered the father of Siamese epigraphy.

As far as the inscriptions of Thailand and Laos are concerned, the EFEO's stamps cover mainly the period from the 13th to the 17th century, which are the most interesting single pieces of the history of these countries.

Today, the inscriptions are considered national treasures and are mostly kept in national museums. It is no longer possible to make them undergo the slightest stamping, so those entrusted to us are now documents of great value, knowing that the reading and interpretation of the texts they transmit to us are still the subject of study and reflection.

In the May issue of GEO magazine, the feature article entitled "In search of the lost city" is devoted to the city of Mrauk U. It echoes the article published in the Smithsonian Magazine at the end of December 2019.

The online magazine Cambodge Mag has devoted an article to the EFEO Center in Siem Reap, entitled "Cambodge : L’École Française d’Extrême-Orient, une institution bien dans son siècle" [Cambodia: The École Française d'Extrême-Orient, an institution well within its century].

Applications for the Master's degree in Humanities and Social Sciences, "Asian Studies", are open according to a three-stage application process:

- 22 February to 21 April 2021
- 24 May to 25 June 2021
- 23 August to 10 September 2021

The "Asian Studies" Master's Degree is a multidisciplinary programme at the M1-M2 level, with a research focus, organised around two optional courses:

- Course 1: "History and social sciences: fields, texts and images" (EHESS-EFEO). Apply online on the EHESS website.
Contact

- Course 2: "History, philology and religions" (EPHE/PSL-EFEO). Apply online on the PSL website.
Contact

This higher education system, with a research purpose in the field of humanities and social sciences, is unique in France, offering the possibility of integrated training where each identified cultural area is examined through a method and construction specific to each discipline. With this offer, the training encourages students not to limit their reflection to a single cultural or linguistic area and to be open to a multidisciplinary and comparative approach to their subject of study. The course also attaches particular importance to training and research stays in Asia; funding is earmarked by the partner institutions (EHESS, EPHE, EFEO) for student mobility in the field with a view to preparing the dissertation in M2.

For all candidates (M1 and M2), the Master's degree is open in priority to students who have followed a course in the humanities and social sciences (SHS); it may, however, be open to professionals (journalists, documentalists, consultants, etc.) wishing to broaden their knowledge of Asian societies. In addition to the compulsory knowledge of French and English, partial or total mastery of an Asian vernacular language is desirable, or even indispensable for certain research projects.

More information on the website of the mention.

The Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies in Heidelberg (CATS), in cooperation with the ERC-funded project READCHINA: The Politics of Reading in the People's Republic of China, Freiburg, and EURICS, Paris, are organising a series of digital conferences in the framework of the Chinese Communist Party's centenary entitled "Living the Socialist Modern. The Chinese Communist Party at 100: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives".

EURICS and the French Institute of International Relations are organising a round table on "Technical Standards: A New Realm of China's International Influence?"

Tuesday 11 May from 3 to 4.30 pm (Paris time) on the Zoom platform, link to registration.

EURICS, IFRAE and the University of Liège are organising the second webinar of the series "China in a time of pandemics: politics, culture and society", entitled "Pandemics and the Politics of Party-State Legitimation".

Friday 21 May, from 1 to 2.30 pm (Paris time) on the Zoom platform, link to registration.

EURICS is organising the conference "Why did Federalism Fail in China? Conceptual Analysis, Comparative Perspectives and Contemporary Legacies" by Federico Brusadelli (Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Naples "L'Orientale", Italy / EURICS member, Paris, France).

Friday 28 May, from 4 to 6 pm (Paris time) on the Zoom platform, link to registration.