Manuscripta Orientalia - Manuscripta Orientalia

The Archives of Academician V. M. Alekseev from the Collection of the State Museum of the History of Religion as a Source for the Study of Popular Religious Beliefs in Late Imperial China

Abstract: The article presents the result of the joint Russian-Taiwanese research project at the Research Historical Archive of the State Museum of the History of Religion (RHA SMHR) on the archives of prominent Russian sinologist academician V. M. Alekseev (1881—1951). Manuscripts from the Archive identified as belonging to V. M. Alekseev have not been studied and published before. Their research resulted in the systematization and description of V. M. Alekseev's materials. For instance, it has been discovered that V. M. Alekseev's archives at SMHR include fragmented handwritten and typed materials in Chinese, Uighur, Russian, and English dated to 1907—1940s that have undergone preliminary classification by the academician himself. The analysis of the manuscripts demonstrates that two categories of documents have the greatest potential for further research: so called “Chinese diary” kept by the scholar during his expedition around North China and written explanations of Chinese popular woodblock prints nianhua provided by Alekseev's mentors xiangshengs.

Key words: Chinese popular religion, the archives of academician V. M. Alekseev, the State Museum of the History of Religion

Acknowledgment. This publication has been supported by the Russian Humanitarian Research Foundation scientific grant No. 15-21-10001.

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