This paper involves an syncretic study of the structural characteristics, semantic stratification, graphical evolution and contextual analysis on a chronological base of the perplexing graphs and words which designate the Chinese, such as xia, hua and zhongguo, non-Chinese, such as yi, di, rong, and man, in early palaeographic and documentary sources. It shows how these terms evolved to distinguish between the two distinct ethnographical concepts in the early mind.

The study shows that the conception of Hua-Xia and Zhongguo carried different connotations in the Western Zhou period from that defined in Spring and Autumn philological sources. The relocation of the Zhou capital to the east during the transition from Western to Eastern Zhou had generically diffused the concept of Xia and the elegant Ya culture. The conception of Xia and Yi, which had formerly distinguished between the Zhou elites and the non-Zhou people, came to distinguish between the central states and peripheral groups in the geographical sense, as well as between the Zhou subjects and the non-Zhou subjects in the political sense. Thus the conceptualisation of the so-called “Chinese-ness” postdates the actual formation of the ethnographical bulk of the Chinese people.

This article deals with thunder magic during the time of emperor Sung Hui-tsung (r.1100-1126), focusing on theoretical expositions (Discourse on the Thunders) by Wang Wen-ch'ing (1093-1153). Thunder magic is a general term that summarises a large array of exorcist practices in Heavenly Masters Taoism (Cheng-i tao). Court Taoists like Wang Wen-ch'ing sublimated with literary means such practices that in a stunning way resembled shaman methods that were designed to avert disasters like droughts. Wang Wen-ch'ing used the Book of Changes and some astronomical notions in order to formulate his Discourse on the Thunders, describing the workings of the cosmos that set the frame for ritual interferences in terms of Taoist thunder magic. The article shows the actual application of these theoretical notions in religion. The author translates and interprets relevant texts, which all are taken from the canonical collection Tao-fa hui-yüan. These texts show the way Wang Wen-ch'ing identifies the cosmos with divine forces that can be addressed and administered by thunder rituals. Taoist priests even today know and use such ritual methods, which prove thunder magic to be a living religious tradition.

The Mongols' relationship with the Ismâ'îlîs or Assassins has generally been considered in terms of their destruction of the Ismâ'îlî power in Northern Iran under Hülegü. While this was certainly the denouement of their relationship, the Mongols and the so-called Assassins have a much longer common history. Indeed, they often shared mutual enemies in the person of the Khwarazmshah Muhammad, and then of his son, Jalâl al-Dîn. This article, thus, examines the pattern of the Mongol-Ismâ'îlî relationship from their first contact to the severing of ties, and discusses whether the Mongols established an alliance with the Assassins.

Modern Farsi historically possessed an underlying opposition of vowel length that has since largely disappeared in all but open, non-final syllables. At the same time, qualitative differences have arisen between the once identical short and long vowels. Two opposing analyses have been proposed to account for these facts. The “quantity only” analysis posits an underlying opposition of length and derives the qualitative differences by rule, while the “quality only” analysis removes length from the underlying representation but includes the differences in quality. In this paper, it is argued that neither analysis is able to describe the vowel system both concretely and with maximal generalisation. A synthetic analysis is proposed that integrates quantity and quality in the underlying vowel system and is able to account adequately for the observed phenomena. It moreover sheds light on the modern Farsi vowel system as a transition state between the historical “quantity only” system and the system of a future Farsi possessing an opposition of quality alone.

Over the course of the past several decades, Francis Robinson has done much to illuminate facets of the history and culture of the traditionally educated Muslim religious scholars, the ulama, of South Asia. “For far too long,” he writes, “[the] ulama have been treated as cardboard figures, caricatures of Muslim men of God…. [C]olonial administrators, and subsequently scholars, have rarely known enough to treat them as more than such; Western-educated Muslims, who have discovered new forms of authority, have often been concerned both to mock and to distance themselves from the mediators of religious authority; and the followers of ulama have been concerned to impose upon them an image of an ideal teacher and scholar at the cost of concealing aspects of their character, personality, and behaviour” (TheUlama of Farangi Mahall [hereafter FM], p. 148). The cost of letting the caricatures persist is high. In many instances, an understanding of the Muslim public sphere and of religious thought in modern Islam remains at best incomplete without serious attention to the ulama. And important facets of religious change likewise remain elusive unless the evolving discourses and the institutions of the ulama are brought within our purview. When more observers of Muslim societies come to recognise the ways in which the ulama are integral to the history of modern and not just of medieval Islam, it would be in some measure due to the influence of Robinson's writings. Among other things, Robinson's work is significant for its insistence that we consider how religious ideas, norms, and traditions shape politics instead of treating them as little more than symbols employed by the political elite for purposes of mass political mobilisation. At the same time, he has explored how religious identities and institutions have themselves evolved in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. And with the history and culture of the ulama as his primary point of reference, he has brought to light new perspectives on Islam in South Asia, as well as on the historical interaction between South Asia and the Muslim world at large.

I should like to begin by thanking the Honorary Treasurer for his admirably succinct report for 2003. I would like to assure you that Council takes his main points very seriously, that is the need to eliminate the current deficit of around £35k, and the connected imperative to move to a more suitable building in a more suitable location. Over the past seven years the Honorary Treasurer has been a great servant of the Society. On behalf of Council, and the fellowship, I thank him for his skills and for keeping us focussed on the need to act.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland is a Charity registered with the Charity Commissioners under Registration Number 209629.

The address of the Society is 60 Queen's Gardens, London W2 3AF.

The Council's report and the accounts, which you have before you, cover a year in which the charitable activities of the Society continued in a manner broadly comparable with the past. As usual I am going to draw your attention to certain significant financial aspects and not go through all the detail.