Asian Worlds Department

This cluster brings together the chairs in the History of Indian Systems of Thought (Prof. Isabelle Ratié) and the Chinese Intellectual History (Prof. Anne Cheng), as well as five research libraries and specialized study centers.

Research conducted under the History of Indian Systems of Thought chair focuses on the history of Indian philosophy as a arena of conflict and exchange between rival religious currents, as well as on the relationships between philosophy and other scholarly disciplines in India. The Center for Indian and Central Asian Studies is affiliated with this chair. It houses the most extensive library of Indology in Paris, primarily focused on classical India and Sanskrit studies, though its collections also include various documents related to Central and Southeast Asia. It is managed by two full-time librarians.

The holder of the Chair in Chinese Intellectual History conducts research on Confucius and Confucianism, seeking—through new methods of analysis (the school of textual criticism)—to better understand the significance of the Confucius phenomenon in contemporary China. The aim is to shed light on the transition from a process of reinvention to a process of reconstruction.

The libraries of the Asian Worlds Department hold extensive collections—many of which are unique in France—that are made available to researchers and advanced students studying ancient China, Japan, India, and Tibet, as well as ancient and modern Korea.

The collections consist of the combined holdings of the Collège de France professors’ libraries, books gathered by the Sorbonne’s Orientalist institutes prior to their transfer to the Collège de France in 1972, numerous donations (from professors, French and foreign foundations, etc.), transfers (the former Center for Chinese Studies in Beijing, repatriated to France after 1950), works acquired by the CNRS research teams based there, and large-scale purchases made using the Collège de France’s annual budget since 1973.

The Chinese catalog contains the largest number of titles (more than 250,000 volumes), including, in particular, rare works (shanben, published catalog), the finest European collection of local monographs (difangzhi), and a rich collection of miscellaneous works (congshu, published catalog).

The Japanese, Korean, and Tibetan collections, though smaller in size, also contain numerous works on religion, literature, and anthropology.

The Indian collection is devoted primarily to literature in Sanskrit and Indo-Aryan languages, as well as to history and archaeology. It also features a computerized map library and photo library covering the entire subcontinent.

Specialized Research Centers

Five specialized research centers fall under the Asian Worlds Department: the Center for Chinese Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies, the Center for Tibetan Studies, the Center for Korean Studies, and the Center for Indian and Central Asian Studies.

Affiliated with the Collège de France along with their libraries since 1972, these centers—some of which date back to the 1920s—oversee the operations of their respective libraries, carry out publishing programs, and foster relationships and exchanges with institutions in the Far East.

Each center has a scientific council consisting of five to ten members selected from among specialists in the field, as well as a director. The director is either a professor at the Collège de France or a colleague from another institution invited to serve in this capacity. The scientific councils are composed of active researchers and must include at least one professor from the Collège de France among their members. They are appointed for a four-year term, which is renewable. Their appointment, like that of the director of the study center, is approved by the Chairman of the Collège de France.