A joint project between the Harvard-Yenching Library and the National Library of China plans to digitize nearly 51,000 rare books and manuscripts, some dating back to the Song Dynasty, from the Harvard collection. Once completed, the texts will be publicly available for free on the Web. Given the division of labor involved here, I think it might be fair to say “the government of China has hired the Harvard Library staff to digitize the collection,” but that doesn’t sound quite as “cooperative”in drafting press releases. (h/t CDT)
Workmen in Jianxi uncovered an ancient tomb on October 2, containing a remarkable well-preserved and well-dressed female corpse. With little but clothes and a few simple tomb decorations, archaeologists are having trouble dating the body, but agree that it is likely from the Ming or Qing eras and that the tomb was not a royal one. I love the level of research that went into this. The same archaeologists are also close to confirming that the body is in fact, not Jimmy Hoffa and the woman had not been treated by Michael Jackson’s doctor prior to her demise, but they have not ruled out the possibility that the remains may be the rapidly decomposing corpse of Jiang Zemin, last seen a day earlier being propped up with amyl nitrates and guide wires while watching a parade in Beijing.
Robert Woo offers a nice round-up of all things 建国大业 at Global Voices Online. (“Founding the Republic!: Propaganda, or a commercial success with some irony?“)
Finally, Sinosplice posted this fascinating image of one of the earlier Chinese Telegraph charts. When I first started in Chinese history, this was one question that always puzzled me: How do you send a telegraph in Chinese? (Answer can found here.)
Enjoy your Sunday!
