Rong Xinjiang | Phoenix Nirvana, Monument Forever: Tribute to Professor Duan Qing, a historical linguist in the Western Regions

Early this morning (March 26), sad news came: Teacher Duan Qing had left. Although I was mentally prepared for this, I could not accept that such a fact would come so quickly. Ever since she told me the news of her unfortunate illness last August, I have always felt that her physical fitness and optimism will be able to carry it through, so I encourage her to fight the disease in various ways from time to time. But in the last month or so, the news has gotten worse. At the beginning of March, I rushed out an article of more than 10,000 words entitled "New Progress in the Study of Hu Literature in the Western Regions: The Contribution of Professor Duan Qing and His Team", just to boost her spirits, and I still have an optimistic attitude until now. With the strong support of China Social Science Daily, the article condensed the original two editions of the long article published every other week into one, deleted the annotations, and published in a full page of more than 9,000 words on the "Echoes of Absolute Learning" page on March 18, as well as a photo of Teacher Duan during his lecture at the Peking University Academy of Arts and Research and her introduction. Unfortunately, the return to heaven is weak, and in the early morning of this day, Teacher Duan Phoenix Nirvana passed away.

Professor Duan Qing

Today it was overcast and the wind was howling. I sat in the research room and couldn't do anything, but from time to time I flipped through the condolences of my friends in the circle on my mobile phone, and after a little concentration, I began to sort out the "Catalog of Professor Duan Qing's Treatises." At noon, I saw the "Silk Road Archaeology" WeChat public account push out the article "Tang Dynasty According to the History of the Silk Road Culture" that Duan Qing had just published on the 5th series of "Silk Road Archaeology", and then forwarded it to the circle of friends, and added such a heartfelt sentence:

Professor Duan Qing is a unique ancient language supporter of Silk Road archaeology in China, such as Sanskrit, Ulu, Khotanese, According to Ste, Sogdian, Syriac found on the Silk Road... She can interpret that there is no second person in China, and I am afraid that there will be no second person for many years.

Here, I would like to talk about Duan Qing's academic career as I know her "uniqueness" in the study of ancient languages on the Silk Roads.

Duan Qing was admitted to the Department of Oriental Languages of Peking University in 1978 and studied Sanskrit with Mr. Ji Xianlin to pursue a master's degree in Indian studies. I also entered the History Department of Peking University in the same year, majoring in Chinese history. Because we are all in the "Western Regions Studies Reading Class" organized by Mr. Ji, we are very familiar with it very early on. After graduating, Duan Qing studied at the University of Hamburg in Germany, where he studied under E. Professor R. Emmerick studied Khotanese and studied for a doctorate in Iranian studies. I chose Khotan as my main research direction, and from 1984 to 1985, I visited Leiden University in the Netherlands, during which time I went to Hamburg, and Duan Qing took me to see Professor Emmerrick. After graduating, Duan Qing returned to the Department of Eastern Languages of Peking University to teach Sanskrit, and I also stayed in the school to teach, and we have had many cooperation in the western regions of Central Asia, Iranian studies, and Silk Road studies for decades, which made me know a little about her scholarship.

Duan Qing (first from right) accompanies Mr. Ji Xianlin (second from right) on a visit to Germany (1980)

As a person who studied German, Duan Qing was selected by Mr. Ji Xianlin to master Sanskrit through German-style teaching, she not only successfully completed the study of Sanskrit and Pali, but also studied abroad and entered the field of medieval Iranian, and followed Professor Emerrick to master the method of interpreting Khotanese, and also improved the knowledge of Sanskrit and Buddhist teaching, and at the same time chose Tibetan, Middle Persian, Oseti, Sogdian and other languages, which has accumulated rich knowledge for the interpretation of ancient Chinese literature in the Western Regions. She adhered to the path of Indology pioneered by Mr. Ji Xianlin for Chinese scholars, using Sanskrit as her housekeeping skill, next to the field of medieval Iranian languages, and like Mr. Ji, the core of her research is the ancient language and writing materials found in Xinjiang.

In 1987, when Duan Qing had just returned to China to teach, the new material available to her was very limited, and she had successively interpreted fragments of the Khotanese "Birth Boundless Mandrani Sutra" (1993) collected by the Lushun Museum, which may have come from the hint of another Sanskrit teacher, Mr. Jiang Zhongxin, who was helping the Lushun Museum to sort out the Sanskrit "Myofa Lotus Sutra" (published in 1997). In 1997, she interpreted a Khotanese wooden manuscript from the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology provided by Mr. Wang Binghua, and the two collaborated to publish this precious document, because there were only two similar wooden documents previously composed of Emeryk and Shi Jiemei (P. O. Skjaervo) published. Later, she also helped Mr. Peng Jinzhang of the Dunhuang Research Institute interpret the newly discovered Sanskrit fragments in the northern area of the Mogao Caves (published in Chinese and English papers in 2002 and 2003). But these sporadic texts seem to have the feeling that heroes are useless.

Professor Duan Qing, "Western Documents Collected by the National Library of China - Yu Khotanese Volume (I)"

In the 21st century, as the National Library of China, the Xinjiang Museum, and the Museum of Chinese Min University have successively collected many batches of materials from the Sanskrit, Yulu, Khotanese and other Western languages and scripts from the Hotan region, plus the old collections of Khotanese and Yuluwen materials from the Xinjiang Museum, the Hotan Museum, the Celle WenGuan And other places have been handed over to Duan Qing and her team for interpretation and research, after several years of intensive research, since 2006, her research results such as lava accumulated for many years have suddenly erupted. The aforementioned humble article "New Progress in the Study of Hu Literature in the Western Regions - Contributions of Professor Duan Qing and His Team" ("Peking University Research Center for Ancient Chinese History" WeChat public account) has a more specific sorting out and elaboration of these achievements from the three aspects of gandhara language books, Buddhist Sanskrit literature, Khotanese Buddhist texts and documents, and will not be repeated here. The monographs published by Duan Qing in these three aspects are summarized chronologically as follows: 1 paper in 2006; one paper in English in 2007; 2 papers in 2008; 4 papers in 2009, 3 papers in English; 2 papers in 2010, 1 in English; 2 papers in 2011, 1 in English; 2 papers in 2012, 1 in English; 5 papers in the Hu language section of "Xinjiang Museum's New Documents Research" in 2013, "Tibetan Western Documents of the National Library of China - Sanskrit, There are 2 papers in the "Yulu Wen Scrolls", 2 papers in addition, 2 papers in English, and the monograph "Khotanese Buddhism and Ancient Scrolls"; 4 papers in 2014, 3 papers in English; 3 papers in 2015, 1 in English, published monograph "Tibetan Western Documents of the National Library of China - Yu Khotanese Volume" (1); 3 papers in 2016, 1 in English, monograph "Qinghai Tibetan Medicine and Culture Museum Tibetan Lu Wen ZhiMu"; 1 paper in 2017, 2 papers in English; 2 papers in 2018; and 2 papers in 2019 The monograph "Khotanese Pure Pure Light Dadrani Sutra"; 4 papers in 2020, 1 in English; 4 papers in 2021; and many achievements in 2022 are waiting to be published. Her series of essays in Both Chinese and English on the images and texts of the Luopu Museum and the translation of the Pali Tibetan Scriptures have not yet been counted here. Duan Qing said in the article "The Beginning of German Indology and the Academic Background of Mr. Ji Xianlin": "Only those who have a deep understanding and research of the ancient language and writing in Xinjiang can understand the true face of the development and evolution of Xinjiang's ancient language and culture, and build the study of Xinjiang's ancient civilization as an independent discipline." "She is using her academic achievements to construct an independent discipline for the study of ancient Western civilizations."

Professor Duan Qing's "Khotanese Pure Pure Light Dadrani Sutra"

Duan Qing was a genius in the language of the Western Regions, and around 1999 I brought back a few photos from Dunhuang to Beijing, which were newly discovered Hu language books in the northern district of the Mogao Caves, and I thought it was Manichaean script, and I discussed with her whether to hand them over to W. Zöndmann (W. W. Bush, Germany). Sundermann) interpretation. She took it back and thought about it, and quickly told me it was a Syriac language book that she could interpret. Unexpectedly, it was not long before she completed a transcribed translation of the Syriac Bible. As a person who has the foundation of training in the interpretation of Hu chinese texts, he is not afraid of any new material, even a new language. Recently, together with her students, she interpreted the newly unearthed Sogdian empowerment rituals in the Tuyugou Grottoes in Turpan, which is another proof.

On November 2, 2019, Duan Qing took a group photo with Sogdian language experts Xin Weilian and Yoshida Feng

Professor Duan Qing is a model of humanities, through the cultivation of the school, his own efforts, in the face of new materials, constantly meet the challenges, constantly surpass himself, and set up a monument for the academics. At the same time, such hard work is also consuming the scholar's physical strength and destroying her body. When the cause is still thriving, a monument suddenly collapses, which is an endless pity for the world and endless sorrow for relatives and friends. What can be comforted is that Teacher Duan has gone away like a phoenix, and the academic monument she has erected will be permanently established, and her scholarship will also be inherited, carried forward and expanded.

(First draft on March 26, 2022, revised on March 27, 2022)