6th International Symposium Oriental Studies

39 The 6 th International Symposium on Oriental Ancient Documents Studies Jing Yongshi A Study on Publishing History of the Timely Pearl in 20 th Century The Timely Pearl (Chinese title Fān-Hàn Héshí Zhǎngzhōngzhū 番漢合時掌中珠 ), compiled by Tangut scholar Gulemaocai ( 骨勒茂才 ), is a Tangut-Chinese dictionary which records thousand words and short sen‑ tences. Like other Tangut literatures, the Timely Pearl once was lost after the fall of the Xi-Xia dynasty. In the beginning of 20 th c. in an ancient pagoda in Khara-Khoto, China, the Russian explorer P.K. Kozlov discovered nearly ten thousand pieces of literature of Xi-Xia and Yuan dynasty including the Timely Pearl . Now the dictionary is kept in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences. Since the founding of the Timely Pearl in 1909, for nearly a hundred years, researchers from different countries have been trying to copy and pub‑ lish it. The copy and publication of this dictionary before 1970s was mostly done by Luo Zhenyu ( 羅振玉 ) and his sons Luo Fucheng ( 羅福成 ) and Luo Fubao ( 羅福葆 ). At that time, N.A. Nevsky and other scholars have contrib‑ uted to reconstruction of the lost pages. Since the institution hadn’t published the original copy for a relatively long time, the researchers mainly used the copy from Luo’s to do the research. At the end of 1970s, the American scholar Luc Kwanten got the photos of the USSR book’s original copy and did some research on the book. Later he published a book named “The Timely Pearl: A 12 th Century Tangut-Chi‑ nese Glossary” and attached the photos from the original copy. Then Chinese scholars began to study the book. Since the end of 20 th c., China and Rus‑ sia have started publication of the materials from Khara-Khoto which are kept in Russia. So, the photographs of the Timely Pearl were published again and included in Vol. 10 of “Heishuicheng Manuscripts Collected in Russia” ( 俄藏黑水城文獻 ). But all publications of this dictionary, including Luo’s work and other photos, have various deficiencies, especially the versions of the book became mysterious.