Diplomatics in China

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-03-2014-0018
Pages121-133
Published date16 March 2015
Date16 March 2015
AuthorWeimei Pan
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Information management & governance
Diplomatics in China
Weimei Pan
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to explore if there is an analogous discipline in China to diplomatics.
Design/methodology/approach – A comparison method is used for the exploration. Five Chinese
disciplines are chosen for the comparison, which are Wenxian xue, Bianwei xue, Dangan jianbian xue,
Wenshu xue and Gu wenshu xue. The diplomatics, as discussed in this paper, is modern diplomatics, as
exemplied in the work of Dr Luciana Duranti.
Findings – It was found that while there is no such Chinese discipline identical to diplomatics, its
knowledge is distributed among several Chinese disciplines. This indicates the common concern and
efforts in the West and East and the potential for the further development of diplomatics as a global
discipline.
Research limitations/implications – The disciplines this paper has examined are what this author
is aware of that share certain similarities with diplomatics and the discussion is based on this author’s
understanding; thus, it is possible that there are disciplines that this author did not know or the
understanding is insufcient to reveal all the connections between diplomatics and these disciplines.
Further research from other perspectives might be needed.
Originality/value – To the author’s best knowledge, this is the rst paper in English comparing
Chinese diplomatic disciplines with diplomatics. It has also shed some light on the development of
several Chinese disciplines.
Keywords China, Diplomatics, Archival science, Philology
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
As an independent discipline, diplomatics originated in the seventeenth century from
the war between the Benedictines of the Congregation of Saint-Maur in France and the
scientic society founded in Antwerp by the Jesuit Jean Bolland on the authenticity of
Merovingian diplomas preserved in the Benedictines of Saint-Denis. In 1675, the Jesuit
Bollandist published the second volume of Acta Sanctorum, in the introduction of
which, entitled “De Diplomatis”, Daniel Van Papenbroeck introduced several principles
for authentication. To test these principles, Papenbroeck applied them to an alleged
diploma of Dagobert I in 638 and wrongly declared that the diploma was a forgery,
which further discredited all Merovingian diplomas, most of which were preserved in
the Benedictine Monastery of Saint-Denis. To respond to the Bollandists’ attack, the
The current paper is based on a presentation at the “Digital Diplomatics” conference held in Paris,
France, November 14-16, 2013. The author would like to thank the InterPARES Trust project,
which sponsored the trip to this conference. The author also gratefully acknowledges the nancial
support from China Scholarship Council (CSC, File No. 201208120021), which has sponsored the
authors PhD study at the University of British Columbia, and Scott Owens, who helped the author
to edit the conference paper. Comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly helped to improve
an earlier version of this paper.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
Diplomatics in
China
121
Received 26 March 2014
Revised 14 November 2014
Accepted 17 December 2014
RecordsManagement Journal
Vol.25 No. 1, 2015
pp.121-133
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-03-2014-0018

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