The Tang Research Foundation

Tang Research Foundation - Background, May 2011 ﹛
	The Tang Research Foundation (TRF) is a United States private foundation organized in 1991. The mission of the TRF is to provide support for first-class academic research on all aspects of traditional Chinese history and culture.

On an annual basis the TRF provides the sole funding for The Journal of Tang Studies, founded under the auspices of the TRF and published annually by Peking University since 1995. In 2007 the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the National Science Council in Taiwan selected The Journal of Tang Studies as one of the ten best China history journals, in the company of Cultural Relics, Archaeology, and seven others. The Journal of Tang Studies is edited by Rong Xinjiang, Professor of History at Beijing University. On an annual basis the TRF convenes an academic conference in China, with the conference content usually related to the upcoming issue of The Journal of Tang Studies.

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The TRF has also published the series Selected Works on the Tang, a series of volumes, each of which is a magnum opus work of a renowned Chinese scholar on topics related to Tang society, history, archeology, or culture. The following books have been published in this series (in chronological order):

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Wang Yongxing - Research on Northwest Military Affairs of the Early Tang Dynasty

Zhou Yiliang, Zhao Heping - Research on Tang and Five Dynasties Letter-Writing Models

Zhang Zexian - Research on Tang Dynasty Industry and Commerce

Jiang Boqin - Dunhuang Art, Religion, and Ritual Music Culture

Hu Rulei - Essays on Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties Social and Economic History

Chen Shangjun - Collected Investigations of Tang Dynasty Literature

Zhang Gong - The History of Han and Tang Buddhist Temple Culture (2 volumes)

Xie Siwei - Collected Essays on Bai Juyi

Hao Chunwen - The Social Life of Dunhuang Monks and Nuns in the Later Tang, Five Dynasties, and Early Song
Wu Yugui - Research on Relations between the Turkish Kingdom and the Sui and Tang Dynasties
Shi Nianhai - Research on Tang Dynasty Historical Geography

Qi Dongfang - Research on Tang Dynasty Gold and Silver

Ikeda On - Collected Selection of Tang Research Papers

Dong Zhiqiao - Research on the Vocabulary of Ennin's "A Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law"

Sun Jimin - A Beginning Exploration of Tang Dynasty Military Documents from Dunhuang and Turfan

Hu Ji, et alia - Tang Research in the 20th Century

Lin Wushu - Tang Dynasty Nestorianism Researched Anew

Shi Yuntao - Research on the Tang Dynasty Mufu Military Governance System

Zhang Zexian 每 Agriculture in the Han, Jin, and Tang Periods (2 volumes)

Yu Xianhao 每 A Study of the Nine Temples Government Office in the Tang

Li Zhenlun 每 Research on Surviving Song and Yuan Dynasty Wood Block Editions of Hanyu＊s Works

Qi Dongfang and Lin Meicun, eds. 每 Dulan Tufan Tombs
Wang Qing 每 The Influence of Western Regions Culture on Chinese Classical Novels
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The TRF Advisory Committee, 2000 Annual Meeting, Beijing ﹛
The TRF has also funded the publication of many other academic works in China, including the Chinese language version of Reflections of Early China by Yang Xiaoneng, Li Chaoyuan＊s collection of essays on Chinese bronzes, Denis Sinor＊s collection of essays on Central Eurasian history (translated into Chinese), Luo Feng＊s collection of essays on Silk Road archaeology, Between Han and Tang (volumes I and II), and other research. ﹛
	On an irregular basis the TRF supports projects of special importance to the study of traditional Chinese society, history, archeology, and culture. A notable example was the sponsorship by the TRF of the 100^th Anniversary of Peking University Conference on Traditional Chinese Culture. This conference was the largest and most significant gathering of scholars of traditional Chinese culture ever held, and over 300 scholars from around the world participated. As part of the funding, the TRF sponsored the publication of a series of four conference volumes covering philosophy, literature, history, and language. A further four conference volumes were published several years later covering additional research into archeology, history, language, and philosophy.

   A second notable example was the sponsorship of the Silk Road archeological excavations at Dulan, Qinghai province.
   A third notable example was the TRF sponsorship of the International Academic Discussion Conference on Tang Research, and the publication of two books of papers from that conference.

The TRF has provided partial funding for many other academic conferences in the United States, to such institutions as the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton, the University of Kansas, Stanford, and the Art Institute of Chicago..

Another significant project was the TRF＊s support of research into the Field Museum＊s world class collection of Chinese rubbings.

Recently the TRF established and funded the Sinor Inner Asia Exchange Program in cooperation with Indiana University and Peking University. The TRF also recently provided initial funding and encouragement for Professor James Cahill＊s video lecture series on early Chinese painting, A Pure and Remote View.

	On two occasions the TRF has made significant endowment grants to institutions in the United States. The TRF endowed the Harrie Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professorship chair in Chinese Art History at the University of Chicago, as well as an accompanying visiting professorship. The TRF has also endowed funds for continuing research into Chinese art history at the Freer/Sackler National Museums of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. ﹛
The activities of the TRF in China are managed by Luo Xin, Professor in the Center for Research on Ancient Chinese History at Peking University.