Marina E. Kuznetsova-Fetisova’s research while affiliated with Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences and other places

An excerpt from a fundamental interview with the legendary Russian sinologist Mikhail Vasilyevich Kryukov tells an almost detective story about the tricks the hero of the conversation had to go to in order not to disrupt the exhibition of gold artifacts of Scythian production from the collection of the State Hermitage, planned in Tokyo.

In a number of issues and problems in contemporary Sinology opinions of experts still differ sharply; this also extends to the ancient history of China. A series of seminars “‘Colloquium Stanislavi’. Terminology Describing Power and Kinship in Ancient China” held in the Chinese Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, is envisioned as a platform for discussions on the most pressing issues, exchanging of views, and development of new terminology. The first seminar on the topic “Dynasties and Succession to the Throne in Ancient China” was held on November 18, 2020, with over 35 researchers taking part in the seminar. Traditionally, 24 dynastic histories are distinguished in the history of China; “dynastic history” being the name of the traditional historical sources describing the rule of a particular house; later the very historical periods were called accordingly. But these traditional denominations, for example, the Shang or Ming dynasty, did not coincide with the surname of the clan that ruled at that time. The discussion clearly revealed two main problems: Firstly, the lack of an adequate term to describe the phenomenon of Chinese history, which is now called “24 Dynastic Stories” and, secondly, the need to determine terminology conveying such major Chinese concepts like dai (代) and chao (朝).