Jean-Pierre Drège: "The Expedition of the French Sinologist Paul Pelliot to Chinese Turkestan and China, 1906-1909"
Abstract:
Paul Pelliot himself briefly described the archeological expedition he led in Turkestan and China at the beginning of 20th century and that we know about it is usually limited to the facts stated in Pelliot’s published reports at that period. And yet it is possible to propose a better evaluation of the ins and outs of his mission which seemed important for both French scholars and economic investors. This can be made thanks to the notebook written by Pelliot during his trip, recently published, and to his personal papers kept now in the Guimet museum in Paris.
Bio:
From 1980 to 1989, Jean-Pierre Drège was research fellow at the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. He was the director of this institution from 1998 to 2004. He has taught the history of Chinese manuscripts and books at the Ecole pratique des hautes études from 1985 to 2012. He also directed the Research Group on Dunhuang manuscripts at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique from 1993 to 2001 and co-directed the Institut d’études chinoises at the Collège de France from 1992 to 1999. He recently published a new French translation of the Record of buddhistic kingdoms by the monk Faxian (2013).