Yaozhong Yan

senior fellow
EURIAS cohort 2013/2014
discipline History
Professor of History and Chinese Philosophy at Shanghai Normal University (Shanghai Shifan Daxue)

Research project

The Dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in Han-Chinese Areas from the Eighth through the Eighteenth Centuries

 

During the past two decades I have been engaged in large research projects on Chinese Buddhist History in general, and Chinese Tantric Buddhism in particular. These projects have resulted in eight published books, four of which are particularly relevant to this proposal: (i) Chinese Tantric Buddhism (1999); (ii) History of Buddhism in South-East China (2000); (iii) Buddhist Monastic Law and Chinese Society (2007); (iv) Buddhism and Chinese history from the third to the thirteenth Century (2007).

The above-mentioned research-projects have convinced me of the tremendous impact that Tibetan Buddhism has had over Chinese religious, social, and cultural life. Contrary to long-standing scholarly assumptions, there can be no doubt of the intimate and long-lasting religious and cultural ties between the Tibetan, and Han-Chinese, cultures. The influence of Tibetan Buddhism on China has not been limited to geographic areas where the Tibetans reside. Rather, Tibetan Buddhism has had a lasting influence on the Ham population throughout China at large.

This research project aims too fill the scholarly lacuna in the Tibetan Buddhism contribution to the Chinese religion, culture and society. The project covers a lengthily time period from the Eighth through the Eighteenth Centuries. As a fellow at the Hebrew University Institute for Advanced Studies, I intend to write a book-length monograph that will cover all aspects of the circumstances that facilitated the Tibetan Buddhism penetration of China, as well as the diverse manifestations of its long-lasting impact upon it.

My proposed research of the Tibetan Buddhist impact on China is based upon extensive field-work and gathered documents in diverse Chine provinces, no less than upon a large body of written texts, including both Chinese historical writings and Chinese Buddhist scriptures.

Biography

 

Yan Yaozhon is Professor of History and Chinese Philosophy at Shanghai Normal University (Shanghai Shifan Daxue). He is the Vice Chairman of the Wei-Jin South-North History Research Society, as well as the Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Association of Religious Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies (Chinese Buddhism) from the Shanghai Shifan University.

 

 

He has been awarded visiting positions at McMaster University (Canada), and at the Center for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. He has been awarded numerous prestigious research fellowships.

Selected publications

 

On the History of Wei Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Shanghai Renmin, Shanghai, 2010. [in Chinese]

 

The History of the Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Renmin, Beijing, 2009. [in Chinese]

 

Buddhism and Chinese history from the third to the thirteenth Century, Zongjiao wenhua, Beijing, 2007. [in Chinese]

 

Buddhist Monastic Law and Chinese Society, Shanghia guji, Shanghai, 2007. [in Chinese]

 

History of Buddhism in South-East China, Shanghai Renmin,Shanghai, 2000. [in Chinese]

 

Chinese Tantric Buddhism, Xuelin, Shanghai, 1999. [in Chinese]

 

Religion and Subsistence Consciousness in China, Xuelin, Shanghai, 1991. [in Chinese]

 

The Political System of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jilin jiaoyu, Jilin, 1990. [in Chinese]

institut

senior fellow
EURIAS promotion 2014/2015
Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS)
discipline Art History
2014
senior fellow
EURIAS promotion 2013/2014
Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS)
discipline Archaeology
2013
senior fellow
EURIAS promotion 2016/2017
Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS)
discipline History
2016
senior fellow
EURIAS promotion 2016/2017
Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS)
discipline Literature
2016