Dr Stacey Pierson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, remembers treasures, now housed in the British Museum, that drew collectors and specialists from around the world to SOAS. In 1952, a new museum opened at SOAS, showcasing one of the finest collections of Chinese ceramics in the world. The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, at 53 Gordon Square, was named after its founder,
Professor Göran Malmqvist recalls SOAS in the early ’50s with some of the world’s most influential European sinologists during this time. Professor Göran Malmqvist is a prominent scholar of Chinese language and literature and a highly prolific translator of Chinese literary works into Swedish. He is known worldwide for being the only Chinese speaker in the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize for Literature. He translated work by both
Exactly 178 years ago, in 1837, the University of London established the UK’s first-ever professorship for Chinese, heralding the founding of Chinese Studies in this country. The Chair of Chinese is linked to a collection of Chinese books donated to the University in 1834 by the missionary Robert Morrison. The “Morrison collection” lay at the basis of what is now one of Europe’s largest collections of Chinese books, held at the
SOAS, University of London was founded as the School of Oriental Studies in 1917 and was based at Finsbury Circus. In 1938 it officially became the School of Oriental and African Studies and was based in Vandon House, St James’ Park. The School then moved temporarily to Cambridge during the Second World War. With next year’s opening of Senate House North Block due to usher in a new era, images