From September 18th to September 22nd, 2017, Prof. Wang Qilong, Dean of School of Foreign Languages, together with associate professor Tao Yuan and Dr. Yang Xiaohua, was invited by Prof. Andrei Bazarov，the famous Russian Tibetan scholar, to visit the Russian Republic of Buryatia. They visited the Buryatia Institute of Mongolian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, attended the International Conference Central Asia world organized by the Institute, and presented their papers in the conference.
Prof. Wang Qilong and his colleagues were warmly received by Prof. Andrei Bazarov and the staff. Prof. Bazarov introduced the Buryatia Institute of Mongolian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. According to him, the Institute, established in 1929, is a division of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, devoted to the comprehensive research in the political, economic, social, historical, and cultural fields of Russia and Asia. The volume of its collections of oriental literature, especially that of the Mongolia and Tibet, is second only to the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russia Eastern Institute of Tibetan Studies. In the Literature Collection Department, they consulted Mongolian and Tibetan scripts that were not available in China. Then Prof. Wang Qilong introduced Center for Foreign Tibetan Studies and discussed with researchers the broad prospect of bilateral cooperation in Tibetan studies. In the meantime, they exchanged their ideas in academic communication, mutual visit, cooperative research and the training of Tibetan talents. Finally they reached a preliminary consensus and exchanged academic journals and books.
At the conference, Prof. Wang Qilong and Dr. Yang Xiaohua presented their papers respectively “Sharonba: A Buddhist scriptures translator in the Yuan Dynasty” and “Comparative study of the Tibetan, Chinese and Mongolian versions through the tenth article of the Lalitavistara,”, and were given much attention in the conference. In addition, they also listened to the research papers concerning Tibetology, Mongolian Studies, Sinology presented by other scholars, and on history, culture, religion, and language presented by scholars from Central Asia, as well as the latest research of Central Asia studies.
As a response to the national policy of “China-Russia friendship and peaceful development”, Prof. Wang Qilong's visit not only enhanced the friendship between Tibetan scholars of China and Russia but also expanded the influence of Sino-Russian Tibetan studies in international Tibetan studies. Besides, this visit has substantially promoted the cooperation and exchanges between Center for Foreign Tibetan Studies of SNNU and the Tibetan studies community in Russia and has set a sound foundation for regular exchanges between Center for Foreign Tibetan Studies and the Buryatia Institute of Mongolian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies and even the whole Russian Tibetan studies.
( Original text byYang Xiaohua , and translated by YANG Dongmin)
