Exhibition opening: “The books of the last dynasty”
Oct. 25th., 2012
On October 25th 2012 the Confucius Institute Nuremberg-Erlangen and the Chair of Chinese Studies of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) invited to the opening ceremony of “The books of the last empire - Exhibition on the life of sinologist Karl Friedrich Neumann with exhibits from his collection of rare sinica”. Head of the FAU University Library, Konstanze Söllner, and Dr. Yan Xu-Lackner, director of the Confucius Institute Nuremberg-Erlangen welcomed the guests, followed by welcoming speeches by Professor Christoph Korbmacher, FAU Vice-President for International Affairs, and Professor Li Guoqiang, First Secretary of the Chinese Embassy Berlin, Educational Office. Dr. Ingrid Rückert and Renate Stephan of the BSB as well as Professor Michael Lackner, Head of the FAU Chair of Chinese Studies each gave a short lecture on different aspects of the biography and collection of Karl Friedrich Neumann (1793 – 1870). After a break with small refreshments, the company moved on to a tour of the exhibition.
The exhibition is dedicated to both the biography of the Franconian polymath and adventurer Neumann as well as to selected sinica from his collection. Acquired during his trip to China in 1830, the books turned the sinica collection of the BSB into the second largest after the collection of the French National Library. In turn for his gift to the BSB, Neumann was employed as custodian of his collection of sinica and as professor of regional geography, ethnology and Chinese and Armenian language studies at the University of Munich. Thereby he became one of the first professors for the Chinese language in Germany.
Neumann was one of only very few scholars that had succeeded in travelling to China at a time in which the country was shutting itself off from the rest of the world. Nevertheless - through courage and skill - he managed to purchase a total of nearly 6,000 volumes in China that he then brought back to Germany. 2,410 volumes of which went to the Royal Library in Berlin, while the remaining 3,500 volumes were being gifted to the BSB. These include both standard works as well as many Chinese copies most likely no longer to be found within China today, or at least only with great difficulty. That the BSB collection of old sinica is today among the most important collections outside of China, we owe to the solid core of the Neumann collection.
The selected works from the collection cover a variety of genres and topics. Among the sinica are encyclopedias, works on religion, literature, historiography, government and administration, natural science and astrology. Particularly noteworthy are the "Mustard Seed Garden", a manual on Chinese painting or "Bencao Gangmu" ("Compendium of Materia Medica "), the renowned classic work on traditional Chinese medicine. Also among the exhibits is "Arte de la Lengua Mandarina" by the Spanish missionary Francisco Varo, one of the first grammars for learning Chinese as a foreign language.
The exhibition takes place on the occasion of the German-Chinese Cultural Year 2012 from October 25th to December 7th 2012, in the FAU University Library showroom. It has been designed and implemented by the Confucius Institute Nuremberg-Erlangen and the FAU Chair of Chinese Studies and greatly supported by Professor Zhou Zhenhe of Fudan University Shanghai, the BSB, the FAU University Library, Dr. German Schweiger Foundation and Luise Prell Foundation.
Time: October 25th to December 7th 2012
Monday - Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm
Guided tours on Saturdays at 2 pm and by appointment
