Introduction to Major Achievements in Niche and Endangered Scholarship at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches at the Symposium on Work in Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Symposium on Cultural Heritage Development, and to further promote the development, transmission, and transformation of achievements in niche and endangered scholarship, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has selected 14 representative achievements from relevant works recommended by its various research institutes over the past decade for centralized release. These include 11 monographs, 1 translation, and 2 works of ancient text collation.

为深入贯彻落实习近平总书记在哲学社会科学工作座谈会和文化传承发展座谈会上的重要讲话精神，进一步推动冷门绝学研究传承发展和成果宣传转化，中国社会科学院从院属各研究单位推荐的近10年来冷门绝学研究的相关成果中遴选出14项代表性成果集中发布，其中专著11部、译著1部、古籍整理2部。

*Heroic Epics and Oral Tradition: The Textual Forms of the Manas Epic and the Performance Art of Epic Singers*

《英雄史诗与口头传统：〈玛纳斯〉史诗的文本形态及史诗艺人的演唱艺术》

(Authored by Adil Jumaturdi, published by Xueyuan Press, September 2023)

（阿地里·居玛吐尔地著，学苑出版社2023年9月版）

This book systematically reviews relevant Chinese and foreign research, expands the research horizon with the latest materials, and focuses through fieldwork on the performance practice of Manaschi [1]1 Manaschi: A traditional performer of the Manas epic, a Kyrgyz oral epic tradition., analyzing how they achieve a balance between composition and fluidity from the perspectives of text, performance, and transmission. The book emphasizes that improvisational innovation within traditional formulas is the key to “composition in performance,” breaking through the text-centered paradigm, and elucidates the value of the epic in activating culture and connecting past and present through living performance.

该书系统梳理了中外相关研究，用最新资料拓展了研究视野，通过田野调查聚焦玛纳斯奇的表演实践，从文本、演唱与传承等角度，分析其如何实现创编与流动性的平衡。该书强调传统程式内的即兴创新是“表演中的创编”的关键，突破了文本中心范式，并阐明史诗通过活态表演激活文化、连接古今的价值。

*A Study of the Dongba Epic*

《东巴史诗研究》

(Authored by Yang Jiehong, published by Xueyuan Press, October 2024)

（杨杰宏著，学苑出版社2024年10月版）

Taking “ritual narrative” as its perspective and employing oral-formulaic theory, this book reveals the deep formulaic structure underlying the generation of Dongba epic texts. By elucidating the narrative patterns and characteristics of collective communication within the ritual context, it constructs a new analytical path combining “ritual and narrative,” providing theoretical support for epic studies and the construction of an independent knowledge system for folk literature.

该书以“仪式叙事”为视角，运用口头程式理论，揭示了东巴史诗文本生成的深层程式结构。通过阐释仪式语境中的叙事模式与集体交流特征，构建了“仪式—叙事”相结合的新型分析路径，为史诗研究及民间文学自主知识体系建构提供了理论支持。

*Translations of Sanskrit Literature* (Volumes 1–12)

《梵语文学译丛》（1—12册）

(Translated by Huang Baosheng et al., published by Zhongxi Book Company, 2020–2024)

（黄宝生等译，中西书局2020—2024年版）

The “Translations of Sanskrit Literature” series is one of the core achievements of the National Social Science Fund special commissioned project “Sanskrit Research and Talent Team Building.” To date, it has published over ten translated classics of Sanskrit literature, encompassing various literary forms such as poetry, fiction, drama, and story literature, representing the outstanding achievements of Sanskrit literature from different historical periods. It is the most systematic translation achievement of classical Sanskrit literature in the Chinese-speaking world to date.

“梵语文学译丛”是国家社科基金特别委托项目“梵文研究及人才队伍建设”的核心成果之一，截至目前已出版梵语文学经典译著十余部，内容囊括诗歌、小说、戏剧、故事文学等多种文学样式，代表了不同历史时期梵语文学的杰出成就，是汉语界迄今最为系统的古典梵语文学译介成果。

*Sanskrit-Chinese Collation and the Grammar of Medieval Chinese Buddhist Translations*

《梵汉对勘与中古译经语法》

(Authored by Jiang Nan, published by China Social Sciences Press, May 2025)

（姜南著，中国社会科学出版社2025年5月版）

Starting from typical syntactic phenomena, this book fully utilizes the materials and methods of Sanskrit-Chinese collation to meticulously depict the linguistic phenomena of medieval Chinese Buddhist translations and provide convincing and reasonable explanations. It reveals the actual operational process of this language conversion project, deeply explores the relationship between Buddhist scripture translation and the evolution of the Chinese language, and constructs a relatively independent research method and research paradigm for Buddhist Chinese.

该书从典型的句法现象入手，充分运用梵汉对勘的材料和方法，细致刻画中古译经的语言现象并做出具有说服力的合理解释，揭示这一语言转换工程的实际操作过程，深度挖掘佛经翻译与汉语演变的关系，构建相对独立的佛教汉语研究方法与研究范式。

*“Denominal Verbs” and the Semantic Attributes of Nouns and Verbs in Old Chinese*

《“名词动用”与上古汉语名词和动词的语义属性》

(Authored by Ren He, published by China Social Sciences Press, July 2020)

（任荷著，中国社会科学出版社2020年7月版）

This book fully absorbs and draws upon the excellent achievements of traditional Chinese exegetical studies [2]2 Traditional Chinese exegetical studies (训诂学): A traditional Chinese philological discipline focused on interpreting the meanings of words and texts, especially ancient classics. and the cutting-edge theories of formal, cognitive, and functional schools since the 20th century. Starting from an analysis of the semantic attributes of nouns and verbs in Old Chinese, it focuses on exploring issues such as the semantic basis, constraints and constraint rules, generative process and interpretive mechanisms, and the hierarchy of denominal verbs. It achieves significant breakthroughs in specific conclusions, research methods, and theoretical exploration.

该书充分吸收并借鉴传统训诂学的优秀成果及20世纪以来形式、认知及功能学派的前沿理论，从剖析上古汉语名词和动词的语义属性入手，集中探究了名词动用的语义基础、制约因素与制约规则、生成过程与释义机制、名源动词的层级性等问题，在具体结论、研究方法及理论探讨方面均有重大突破。

*A Critique of the Criteria for Dating Oracle Bones from the Yin Ruins*

《殷墟甲骨断代标准评议》

(Authored by Chang Yuzhi, published by China Social Sciences Press, December 2020)

（常玉芝著，中国社会科学出版社2020年12月版）

This book systematically reviews and organizes the history of research on dating oracle bones from the Yin Ruins [3]3 Yin Ruins: The site of the late Shang dynasty capital near modern Anyang, Henan Province, where the earliest known Chinese oracle bone inscriptions were discovered. over the past century, dividing it into four stages. It provides a detailed introduction and critique of the dating criteria and circumstances for each stage. This book is a summative work on a century of research on Yin Ruins oracle bone dating, and it holds significant reference value for promoting the in-depth development of oracle bone studies and Shang dynasty history, as well as for advancing the application of archaeological knowledge.

该书对一百多年来殷墟甲骨断代研究的历史做了爬梳整理，将其划分为四个阶段，对每一阶段的断代标准及断代情况都进行了详细的介绍与评议。该书是对一百多年来殷墟甲骨断代研究的总结性著作，它对推动甲骨学、商代史研究向纵深发展，推动考古学知识的运用均有重要的参考价值。

*Wooden Slips from the Han Dynasty Tomb at Jizhuang, Tianchang*

《天长纪庄汉墓木牍》

(Compiled by the Center for Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences et al., edited by Yang Zhenhong and Wu Wenling, published by Zhonghua Book Company, April 2025)

（中国社会科学院简帛研究中心等编，杨振红、邬文玲主编，中华书局2025年4月版）

This book mainly includes an overview of the wooden slips from the Han tomb at Jizhuang, Tianchang, color and infrared plates of the slips, transcriptions and annotations, the tomb excavation report, and related research papers. The 34 wooden slips from the Han tomb at Jizhuang, Tianchang, provide valuable materials for studying the politics, economy, society, and culture of the Jianghuai region [4]4 Jianghuai region: The area between the Yangtze River and the Huai River in eastern China. during the mid-Western Han dynasty, and are of great significance for advancing research on regional society and culture in the Han dynasty.

该书主要包括天长纪庄汉墓木牍概述、木牍彩色和红外图版、释文与注释、墓葬发掘报告以及相关研究论文。天长纪庄汉墓木牍共34枚，为研究西汉中期江淮地区的政治、经济、社会、文化等提供了珍贵资料，对推进汉代地域社会文化研究具有重要意义。

*Studies in the History of Cartography*

《地图史学研究》

(Authored by Sun Jingguo, published by China Social Sciences Press, December 2024)

（孙靖国著，中国社会科学出版社2024年12月版）

This book systematically studies various types of ancient Chinese maps and historical maps, proposing research methods of “functional approach” and “little tradition,” and actively introduces digital humanities methods for research. It puts forward the concept of “history of cartography,” pointing out that its research should encompass three dimensions: the history of cartography itself, ancient maps as historical sources and methods, and historical maps as research methods and outcomes.

该书对中国各类古地图和历史地图进行了系统研究，提出了“功能取径”和“小传统”的研究方法，并积极引入数字人文方法进行研究。提出“地图史学”概念，指出其研究应当包含地图学史、作为史料与方法的古地图以及作为研究方法和成果的历史地图三个维度。

*Studies on Qiang Dialects: Phonetics and Vocabulary*

《羌语方言研究：语音、词汇》

(Authored by Sun Hongkai, Liu Guangkun, and Huang Chenglong, published by China Social Sciences Press, December 2024)

（孙宏开、刘光坤、黄成龙著，中国社会科学出版社2024年12月版）

Based on Qiang language survey data collected between 1956 and 1960, this book introduces the history and socio-cultural background of the Qiang people, the phonemic systems of 20 survey points across the two major northern and southern dialects, and over 1,600 lexical items per point. The book is rich in data and comprehensive in system, providing an important reference for Qiang dialect comparison, historical research on related languages, and the development of the Qiang language. It also plays a positive role in promoting research on the Qiang written language and cultural heritage.

该书以1956—1960年间的羌语调查资料为基础，介绍羌族历史与社会文化背景、南北两大方言20个调查点的音位系统，以及每点1600余条词汇。全书资料翔实、体系完备，为羌语方言比较、亲属语言历史研究及羌语发展提供重要参考，同时对羌族语言文字研究和文化传承亦具有积极推动作用。

*Integrated Compilation and Study of the Tangut *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*, First Series (10 volumes)

《西夏文〈大宝积经〉整理研究集成》第1辑（10册）

(Edited by Sun Bojun, published by Huangshan Publishing House, March 2024)

（孙伯君主编，黄山书社2024年3月版）

This series takes the Tangut version of the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra* from the Khara-Khoto documents [5]5 Khara-Khoto documents: A large cache of texts in various languages discovered at the ruined Tangut city of Khara-Khoto (Heishuicheng) in Inner Mongolia, now primarily held in Russia. held in Russia as its base text. Using the classic method of ethnic ancient text collation, the “four-line interlinear translation method,” it systematically interprets the form, sound, and meaning of the Tangut script in this monumental work, effectively presenting the structural features of Tangut phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar. The result is a bilingual Tangut-Chinese parallel corpus based on Buddhist scriptures, providing an excellent model for the collation and study of ancient ethnic texts held in collections both in China and abroad.

该丛书以俄藏黑水城文献中的西夏文《大宝积经》为底本，采用民族古籍整理的经典方法“四行对译法”，对这部鸿篇巨著中的西夏文形、音、义加以系统诠释，较好地呈现了西夏语语音、词汇、语法的结构特征，最终形成一部基于佛教典籍的西夏文、汉文双语对照语料库，为整理与研究海内外收藏的古代民族古籍提供了绝好范例。

*Text Annotation and Grammatical Study of the Ancient Tibetan Document *Dba’ bzhed**

《藏文古文献〈拔协〉文本标注与语法研究》

(Authored by Long Congjun, published by China Social Sciences Press, April 2022)

（龙从军著，中国社会科学出版社2022年4月版）

This book is an attempt at deep digitization of ancient Tibetan documents and specialized grammatical study of an ancient text. The book conducts interlinear translation, grammatical annotation, and grammatical research at different levels—characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters—and constructs an automatic interlinear annotation model. It provides objective and authentic textual materials for exploring ancient Tibetan phonetic, lexical, and grammatical phenomena. It holds certain academic reference value for the grammatical study of specialized historical Tibetan documents and for language contact and historical comparative studies within the Sino-Tibetan language family. The database and model construction lay a good foundation for the large-scale processing of ancient Tibetan documentary texts.

该书是古藏文文献深层数字化和古文献专书语法研究的尝试。全书以字、词、句、段和篇章为单位，进行不同层级的对译、语法标注和语法研究，并构建了自动隔行标注模型。该书为探索古藏语语音、词汇和语法现象提供客观、真实的文本材料；对藏文历史文献专书语法研究、汉藏语系语言接触和历史比较研究具有一定的学术参考价值；数据库和模型构建为大规模处理藏文古籍文献文本奠定了良好基础。

*A Study of Orkhon Inscriptions of the Uyghurs*

《鄂尔浑文回鹘碑铭研究》

(Authored by Mireguli Heilili, published by China Social Sciences Press, February 2022)

（米热古丽·黑力力著，中国社会科学出版社2022年2月版）

This book systematically organizes and provides a linguistic analysis of the Uyghur inscriptions among the Orkhon inscriptions [6]6 Orkhon inscriptions: Monumental inscriptions in Old Turkic script found in the Orkhon River valley in Mongolia, dating from the 8th century CE, including those of the Second Turkic Khaganate and the Uyghur Khaganate., comprehensively analyzing their vocabulary, grammar, and relationships with Turkic, Mongolian, Chinese, and other languages. It also discusses linguistic inheritance and variation in relation to medieval and modern Turkic languages. Introducing research methods from the Berlin School and the Japanese School, it proposes an explanatory framework of lexical stratification and hybridity, conducting a systematic study of the Uyghur inscriptions, which holds significant value for research on linguistic history and the history of cultural exchange.

该书对鄂尔浑碑铭中的回鹘碑文进行了系统整理和语言学考释，全面分析其词汇、语法及与突厥语、蒙古语、汉语等的关系，并结合中古及现代突厥语探讨语言承继与变异。引入柏林学派与日本学派的研究方法，提出词汇层累性与混合性的解释框架，对回鹘碑铭展开系统研究，对语言史和文化交流史研究具有重要价值。

*Chinese Civilization in the Ilkhanate: Migrants, Envoys, and Material Exchanges*

《伊利汗国的中国文明——移民、使者和物质交流》

(Authored by Chen Chunxiao, published by Social Sciences Academic Press, December 2023)

（陈春晓著，社会科学文献出版社2023年12月版）

This book is a historical treatise systematically examining the westward transmission of Chinese civilization to the Islamic world of West Asia during the Mongol-Yuan period. The research utilizes multilingual historical sources including Persian, Arabic, Chinese, and Turkic, focusing on three major themes: the activities of Chinese migrants in West Asia during the Mongol-Yuan period, the exchange of envoys between the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate, and the spread and influence of Chinese material culture in the Islamic world. It vividly presents the magnificent panorama of ancient Chinese civilization spreading far and wide to West Asia, profoundly revealing the outstanding contributions of Chinese civilization to world civilization.

该书是系统考察蒙元时期中华文明西传西亚伊斯兰世界的史学论著。研究运用波斯语、阿拉伯语、汉语、突厥语等多语种史料，聚焦蒙元时期中国移民在西亚的活动、元朝与伊利汗国的使节往来，以及中国物质文化在伊斯兰世界的传播和影响三大主题，生动展现古代中华文明远播西亚的壮阔图景，深刻揭示中华文明对世界文明的卓越贡献。

“Manchu Language Textbook Series” (5 volumes total)

“满语文系列教材”（全5册）

(Edited by Chao Ke, published by China Social Sciences Press, January 2025)

（朝克主编，中国社会科学出版社2025年1月版）

The "Manchu Language Series Textbooks" are a major achievement of the Collaborative Innovation Institute for Rare and Endangered Studies at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Arranged according to a progressive teaching plan, the textbooks consist of five volumes: *Manchu Language Studies*, *Practical Manchu Conversation*, *Uncircled Manchu Script*, *Selected Readings in Manchu Documents*, and *An Introduction to Manchu Language and Script Studies in the Qing Dynasty*. They sequentially construct a systematic and complete teaching system, with authoritative content that combines academic rigor and practical utility, providing a solid knowledge foundation for the cultivation of Manchu studies talent in the New Era.

“满语文系列教材”是中国社会科学院大学冷门绝学协同创新研究院重大成果。教材按循序渐进的教学安排，分为《满语研究》《实用满语会话》《无圈点满文》《满文文献选读》《清代满语言文字研究概论》五本，依次构建系统完整的教学体系，内容权威，兼具学术性与实用性，为新时代满学人才培养提供坚实知识载体。

(Submitted by the Research Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（中国社会科学院科研局/供稿）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧