The next Congress of Russian Orientalists was held in Ulan-Ude on September 17-21, 2008. The organizers and sponsors were the Society of Orientalists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Historical and Philological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Government and the People's Hural of the Republic of Buryatia. The main topic proposed for discussion is "Modern problems of fundamental Oriental Studies".

Already the previous congress in Ufa 1 showed that the events of this series become major events in the scientific life of the Oriental community. The congress was held far in the east of the country and allowed to attract more representatives of Oriental studies institutions of the Far East and Siberia. Among the participants, in addition to Buryat orientalists and scientists from Moscow and St. Petersburg, are representatives of Abakan, Vladivostok, Gorno-Altaisk, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Kyzyl, Makhachkala, Novosibirsk, Perm, Sterlitamak, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Elista, Yakutsk. The collection of abstracts published at the beginning of the congress also included reports from scientists from Voronezh and Lipetsk. Foreign countries were represented by scientists from India, Mongolia, China, Poland, and Kazakhstan. In total, more than 120 people took part in the congress.

The grand opening of the congress and the first plenary session were held in the Great Hall of the People's Hural of the Republic of Buryatia. It was opened by the President of the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, corresponding member. RAS B. V. Bazarov. Greetings to the congress were sent by the President of the Republic of Buryatia V. V. Nogovitsyn (read by the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic B. G. Balzhirov), the Chairman of the People's Hural of Buryatia M. M. Gershevich (read by his deputy Ts.B. Batuev), the head of the administration of Ulan-Ude G. A. Aidaev (read by his deputy A. M. Yan). Scientific Secretary of the Department of Historical and Philological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. E. Petrov welcomed the participants of the congress on behalf of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Historical and Philological Sciences. A welcome message from Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V. S. Myasnikov was also read out.

Chairman of the Council of Coordinators of the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences R. B. Rybakov in his speech focused on the importance of Oriental studies at the present time and holding the congress in one of the eastern regions of the country.

L. B. Alaev (Moscow) in his report "Modern problems of fundamental Oriental Studies" presented his understanding of some issues on this topic. He attributed to "fundamental Oriental studies" all the disciplines of the so-called traditional cycle, as well as those areas of modern studies that take into account the cultural characteristics of the countries studied. In fact, he suggested that political science and the economy of Asian and African countries should be considered separate sciences that have their own research methods. He also expressed the controversial opinion that "applied Oriental studies" cannot exist as a separate field. The application of Oriental knowledge to solving practical problems can only be carried out by a specialist - a "fundamental" orientalist. The key criterion for "Oriental studies" of a particular specialist or project is an understanding of the culture (mentality) of another, alien, and different people.

This is equally difficult for both a foreigner and a representative of the studied people. The latter needs to go beyond their own culture and look at it from the outside.

The report also mentioned some theoretical issues on the agenda. One of them is the need for a historiographical analysis of the previous Soviet stage in the evolution of Russian Oriental studies. L. B. Alaev has already made such a proposal at the III Congress of Orientalists in St. Petersburg in 2002 and at the international symposium "Oriental Studies in Russia and CIS countries at the Turn of the Century" in Kazan in 2007.. And it is necessary, because now, in the conditions of the collapse of Marxist dogmatism, a bizarre mixture of fragments of previous views, superficially assimilated fashionable trends (like the civilizational approach) has formed in the minds of scientists.-

1 See about him: The East (Oriens). 2007. N 1. pp. 170-177.

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yes) and homegrown exotic concepts. The lack of reflection on the recent past leads, firstly, to discarding the valuable things that have been done, and secondly, to maintaining the same way of thinking, to the fact that scientists are not freed from the really outdated.

The speaker also focused on the practical difficulties of the modern existence of Oriental studies (common to many other sciences). On the one hand, the number of Oriental publications has grown significantly. Bookstores are full of books on a variety of Oriental topics, publications of monuments, and so on. On the other hand, these books do not get to specialists, because they are published in scanty circulations, and the book distribution system is destroyed. Scientists often don't know about new publications, or they know but can't buy them. Prices for books have become high. And the institutes are in no hurry to add new books to their libraries.

All this is accompanied by a reduction in contacts between the Russian centers of Oriental studies and a loss of orientation in what is being done in this area in our country. One of the goals of regular congresses of Orientalists, of course, is to maintain or establish contacts between the centers of Oriental studies in Russia and, just as importantly, with colleagues from the CIS countries. But this is absolutely not enough. Without taking organizational measures, we will "slide" to a complete mutual understanding, to the disintegration of Russian Oriental studies.

It is necessary to create a" service "for notifying about the work of various "centers": restore the "Orient" server, establish the exchange of information between scientific centers about published literature.

A.V. Akimov (Moscow) in his report "The study of civilizations - a key task of Oriental studies for the future" called, contrary to the opinion of L. B. Alaev, for the development of a civilizational approach. According to him, it is Oriental studies that are better prepared than other areas of social sciences for solving problems related to the analysis of existing civilizations, which is of great importance for predicting the prospects of humanity and developing policies that could minimize the risks of a clash of civilizations.

V. K. Yegorov (Moscow) deepened the problem of relations between fundamental and applied components in Oriental studies in the context of general laws of science development. He considers fundamental science to be "the objectivity and objectivity of scientific knowledge and its intention to study all new objects, regardless of the available opportunities for their mass practical development", and under applied science - " activities that are purposefully aimed at obtaining new knowledge, patterns, materials, management decisions implemented in the shortest possible time."Following the evolution of the science of the East in the West and in Russia, V. K. Yegorov came to the conclusion that Oriental studies as a separate branch of scientific knowledge, an independent scientific discipline, ceased to exist, moreover, in his opinion, such a scientific discipline never existed. At the same time, "the region, once called the East and stretching from the Maghreb to Japan, has long been united by nothing but geography."

Belokrenitsky's report (Moscow) justified the existence of political science orientalism, i.e. the possibility of applying the methods developed by Western political science to study political processes in non-Western countries.

The report of the Director of the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation A.V. Yurasov (Moscow) on the work of this foundation with applications for Oriental studies was listened to with great attention. The role of the RGNF in supporting science, including Oriental studies, in various research centers on the periphery is quite large. The speaker was optimistic about further strengthening this role.

The joint report of B. V. Bazarov, S. Y. Lepekhov and E. A. Nikolaev (all-Ulan-Ude) "Spiritual components in the Central Asian space and tasks of modern Oriental studies" drew attention to the fact that Central Asia is traditionally a mediator civilizational space and has been a place of mutual influence of various cultures and civilizations since ancient times. According to the authors of the report, it is in the interests of Russia to use its status as a multi-religious, including Buddhist, country to strengthen cultural and political ties in the Asia-Pacific region. There is no doubt that Buddhist culture, which is common to most countries of the Asia-Pacific region, will somehow influence the development of an ideology alternative to Western neoconservatism and neoliberalism-

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tourism. All this makes it relevant for our Orientalists and politicians to refer to such concepts as" cultural security "and" civilizational security", which can be considered at the level of individual countries and regions.

One of the tasks of such congresses is to discuss the problems of Oriental studies education. S. V. Kalmykov, Rector of Buryat State University, E. M. Zelenev, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University, and M. S. Meyer, Director of the ISAA of Moscow State University (the latter was heard at one of the breakout sessions).

As usual, most of the work was done in breakout sessions. They were held at the Buryat Scientific Center, the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology SB RAS, the Center for Oriental Manuscripts and Woodcuts IMBT SB RAS, and then-in the halls of the recreation center "Baikal Bay" on the shore of Lake Baikal. Baikal.

The section "Written monuments and traditional culture of the East" mainly discussed the preservation and study of written monuments and archival documents, as well as the spiritual culture of the East. Director of the publishing company "Vostochnaya Literatura" S. M. Anikeeva (Moscow) made a detailed report, which contained complete information about the publications of monuments in this publishing house and its future plans.

There were also interesting reports by A. E. Lukyanov (Moscow) "Spiritual culture of China: the creation and development of a philosophical school in Russia", V. Datsyshen (Krasnoyarsk) "Problems of introducing documents on the history of domestic Sinology stored in the collections of the Archive Agency of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Administration", O. S. Rinchinov (Ulan-Ude) "Electronic dictionary of terms of Tibetan medicine", L. E. Yangutova (Ulan-Ude) "Written monuments of the East as a text and "text-generating mechanism"", etc. Special attention was paid to sources written on hand-made paper, as well as to woodcuts published for book printing in the countries of Central, East, South-East Asia and the Middle East.

The participants of the section strongly recommended to solve the issue of equipping book storages with modern technologies for maintaining the temperature regime and air humidity, as well as to find opportunities for organizing specialized laboratories for the restoration of written monuments in accordance with the UNESCO Charter.

In the course of the "Philological Studies of the East" section, general theoretical issues of philology were discussed, as well as the results of highly specialized research were presented. The reports and presentations covered issues of typological terminology (B. G. Fatkulin, Chelyabinsk), the relevance of the Buddhist culture of "reason" (I. S. Urbanaeva, Ulan-Ude), editing of the Gratan edition of "Zhud-shi" (N. D. Bolsokhoeva, Ulan-Ude). Several reports were devoted to the problem of a number of mythological concepts in the epic and the problems of their translation (A. I. Tugutov, Elista; L. S. Dampilova, B. S. Dugarov, Ulan-Ude).

The participants of the section approved the proposal to conduct joint work of orientalists and philologists dealing with different groups of Eastern languages, including Mongolian, to create unified tables of taxonomic structures.

At the sessions of the section "Nomadic Societies of Eurasia", reports were made on both theoretical issues related to the study of the features of nomadic pastoralist societies and their role in history, and specific issues of the history, ethnology and archeology of nomadic societies. In particular, the question of the applicability of the expressions "nomadic civilization" and "nomadic empire" was discussed (G. G. Pikov, Novosibirsk). SA. Vasyutin (Kemerovo) in his report "Power systems of early Medieval nomads of Eurasia in the light of the theory of multilinearity" developed the idea put forward several years ago that there were several ways the emergence of the state, as well as the way to complicate the social structure without the formation of the state.

A.V. Korotaev (Moscow) in his report "The sociological theory of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) as a methodological basis for mathematical modeling of the political and demographic dynamics of medieval Egypt" spoke about the results of his large project to establish the regularities of the historical process, in particular the connection of demographic processes with other factors.

The report of D. D. Vasiliev (Moscow) "Modern problems of ancient Turkic source studies" dealt with the history of research and the fate of monuments of Turkic runic and rune-like writing in vast territories of Asia and Europe. The necessity of cataloging the entire collection of ancient Turkic inscriptions was emphasized, the lack of which is still very important.-

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It makes it difficult to compare them textually and interpret them as historical sources.

N. N. Kradin (Vladivostok) spoke about the results of new excavations of cities of the Khitan Empire of Lao in Northern China and Mongolia. T. D. Skrynnikova (Ulan-Ude) analyzed the terminology used in the Mongolian states of the XIII-XVIII centuries in relation to the concepts of "power", "state", "tax", " people"having seen in them the evolution of nomadic statehood.

Yu. S. Khudyakov (Novosibirsk) For quite some time now, he has been studying information about anomalous natural phenomena and catastrophes reflected in medieval sources in different countries, and trying to use this information to date historical events. He analyzed the sources of Central and East Asia from this point of view.

In the report of V. Ya. Butanaev and I. I. Butanayeva (Abakan), based on Chinese, Turkic and Kyrgyz sources, it was suggested that the sometimes mentioned "az people" are the upper, aristocratic stratum of the Kyrgyz people. I. I. Butanayeva also made another report, proving that the Khakass epic can be used as a historical source.

After the report of O. V. Lushnikov (Perm) "Modern historiography of the Mongol Empire", a discussion was held on the role of the" Tatar-Mongol yoke " for the history of Russia. The point of view was expressed that it had more positive consequences for our country than negative ones. The destruction during the conquest was insignificant (11 cities out of 72 were destroyed), and the technical and military innovations brought by the Tatar-Mongols were used to develop the economy and fight the same Tatars and their western neighbors. The panelists who expressed these views referred to the works of L. N. Gumilyov, E. S. Kulpin, and V. V. Trepavlov. There were suggestions to reconsider the stereotypes regarding this period of the history of the fatherland, not to reduce it only to the history of Moscow and a number of other principalities.

At the meetings of the section "Modern Oriental Studies", several review reports were held, giving an idea of the latest trends in the development of our science. Among them are reports by I. V. Kulganek (St. Petersburg) "Current state and prospects of development of classical Mongolian studies in St. Petersburg", T. L. Shaumyan (Moscow) "Indological studies: problems and prospects", V. N. Usov (Moscow) "Studying the history of the PRC in Russia", N. G. Ochirova (Elista) "Current state of Oriental studies in Kalmykia", R. M. Valeeva (Kazan)"Traditions and innovations of university Oriental studies in Kazan at the turn of the century".

A number of reports were devoted to the history of science, for example, the reports of S. M. Prozorov (St. Petersburg) "On the history of the St. Petersburg school of Classical Islamic Studies", S. Y. Lepekhov (Ulan-Ude) "Living Tradition in the Buryat Buddhist School". At the section devoted to nomads, Z. V. Anaiban's report "Historical and ethnological studies of Tuva" was heard, which would be more suitable for this section.

A. I. Kobzev's report "Sinology as a National Science"(Moscow) stood apart. His subject was the study of China in China itself. I would like this area of research - the study of the history of self - consciousness of Eastern peoples-to be "picked up" by specialists in other countries.

Within the framework of the congress, a round table "Russia's East Asian Cross-border region in the context of challenges of the XXI century" was held. The speeches ranged from the conflict in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the problems of a small diaspora group of Shanahan Buryats. Various disciplinary approaches were presented (from geopolitics to economics, from social anthropology to historiography). The round table was attended by B. V. Bazarov (Ulan-Ude), H. S. Vasudevan and J. K. Ray (both from India), V. I. Dyatlov (Irkutsk), M. M. Baldano (Ulan-Ude), E. S. Melkumyan (Moscow), O. I. Teterin (Moscow), Yu. B. Randalov (Ulan-Ude), Z. Shmyt (Poland).

It was noted at the meeting that the joint work of "classical" Orientalists and specialists from related sciences can bring significant mutual benefits.

Within the framework of the VI Congress of Russian Orientalists, the general meeting of the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences was held, where the report of the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences prepared by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences corresponding member was heard, discussed and approved. B. V. Bazarov and D. D. Vasiliev, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who summed up the results of work for 2006-2008.

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It noted that the main task assigned to the Society for the past two years was to publish the materials of the 37th International Congress of Orientalists, held in Moscow in 2004.An additional volume of theses of those participants of the Congress, whose works for various reasons were not included in the three-volume "ICANAS-37", was published.

The illustrated memorial edition " Results of ICANAS-37. Moscow-2004" and three volumes of articles on reports at the Congress. It should be noted with regret that the materials on Southeast Asia after editing were not returned to the OS RAS and published separately without the permission of the society.

Over the past two years, the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with other scientific and educational centers, has held a number of scientific conferences, symposia and meetings. Information bulletins of the OS RAS and their appendices continued to be published.

In the field of international cooperation, the OS RAS membership in the International Union for East and Asian Studies as the All - Russian National Oriental Studies Association was confirmed, and foreign currency contributions were paid for 2004-2005.The organizers of the ICANAS-38 Congress in Ankara received the addresses of participants of the ICANAS-37 Congress in Moscow.

The Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences was one of the organizers and consultants of the First International Eurasian Archaeological Congress, which was held in Izmir in May 2007. A collection of abstracts has been published, and materials are being prepared for publication.

In June 2007 The Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the University of Berkeley (San Francisco), and the Pacific Area Consortium held an international conference on electronic methods in Oriental studies " Space and Time in Eurasia. Historical and cultural atlases".

Discussion and work on the project were carried out simultaneously with the preparation of the next VII International Conference "Historical Sources of Eurasian and North African Civilizations". The conference discussed the possibilities of using GIS technologies in various fields of Oriental studies, including the electronic publication of old maps, their digitization, systematization; the use of maps as a source for studying migration, historical, cultural and communication dynamics; the use of maps and cartographic systems in educational and educational processes, problematic consideration of the role of maps as a documentary tool for solving interethnic problems. and inter-state conflicts.

The 38th International Congress of Orientalists, held in Ankara in September 2007, was attended by more than 50 Russian Orientalists from various Russian research and training centers.

In May 2008 The international conference "Archival Oriental Studies"was held in Moscow. The conference was initiated and organized by the Department of Oriental History of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Society of Orientalists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the magazine "Oriental Archive". The conference is dedicated to the 190th anniversary of Russian Oriental Studies.

During 2007-2008. The Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences participated in the project of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Por-Bazhyn Fortress". In 2007 A separate group of orientalists conducted field research there, and in 2008 an International field seminar was held to discuss the progress of the work, with the participation of orientalists-medievalists from 12 countries.

The Society supported the initiative of the Moscow House of Nationalities under the Government of Moscow to revive the international humanitarian project "The Great Silk Road-the Path of Dialogue of Civilizations". Representatives of the OS RAS participate in the project discussion.

Twice, in 2007 and 2008, representatives of the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences participated in the preparation and holding, as part of the jury, of an international project of the Moscow Government - the Ethno Erato Festival of Ethnic Fashion.

Organizationally, the old membership cards of the Association of Orientalists of the USSR Academy of Sciences were replaced with new ones, and a database of individual members was compiled. It was necessary to make stylistic changes to the Charter of the OS RAS in accordance with the Regulations on Scientific Societies and legal requirements. A new version of the agreement on collective membership in the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences of organizations and regional associations has been prepared.

As an undoubtedly positive phenomenon, we can note the establishment of Branches of the OS RAS in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan during the reporting period, with which it is necessary to coordinate the activities of the OS RAS Presidium in the future.

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Registration of membership in the OS RAS and payment of membership fees remains a problem. The management of the company's regional branches should strengthen their work in this direction.

B. V. Bazarov resigned as president in accordance with the company's charter. The meeting expressed its gratitude to him for the work done. New President of the company for 2008-2010. MSU ISAA Director M. S. Meyer was elected. This means, in particular, that it is planned to hold the next VII Congress of Russian Orientalists in Moscow in 2010. At the same time, L. B. Alaev, D. D. Vasiliev, and Yu.S. Khudyakov, Vice-Presidents of the Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, were extended their terms of office for the same period.

At the initiative of the Orientalists of Kazakhstan, the congress adopted a resolution on the establishment of the Assembly of Eurasian Orientalists with the aim of permanent consultations on the problems of scientific and informational interaction, prospects for scientific and research cooperation of Orientalists of the post-Soviet space and holding joint events. A request was made to the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences to contact the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan with an offer to help organize the first Scientific Assembly of Eurasian Orientalists in Almaty in 2009, the honorary presidency of which could be offered to the top leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Thus, the VI Congress of Russian Orientalists became a practical step towards strengthening the unified scientific and information space in the field of Oriental studies. A number of reports and presentations were presented in the direction of "New technologies in Oriental studies", the problem of creating electronic catalogs and publications, including regional historical and cultural atlases and databases, was discussed. It was decided to prepare electronic and book versions of the annotated handbook of Oriental research, higher education, cultural and educational organizations. The issues of preserving scientific schools, training specialists, licensing and expert evaluation of newly created Oriental research and training centers, and prospects for scientific cooperation of Orientalists in order to preserve disappearing fundamental areas were raised. The Congress also supported the proposal of the Academy of Sciences of Bashkortostan to rename the scientific journal "Yadgar" to the journal "Problems of Oriental Studies" and to join the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences as a founding member of this journal.

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