Sponsors
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Bonn
Afrika-Stiftung, Hamburg
Allgemeine Deutsche Philips Industrie GmbH, Hamburg
Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co., Hamburg
E. J. Brill GmbH, Köln
Chandon Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg
Conseil Intemational de la Philosophie et de Sciences Humaines, Paris Daimler-Benz AG, Stuttgart
Deutsche Afrika-Linien GmbH & Co. , Hamburg Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Köln
Deutsche Stiftung für Internationale Entwicklung, Bonn
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Bonn
Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Stuttgart
Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Landwirtschaft Behörde für Wissenschaft und Forschung
Hamburgische Landesbank, Hamburg
Hamburger Sparkasse, Hamburg
Hugo Jansen GmbH & Co., Hamburg Jebsen & Jessen, Hamburg
Johanna und Fritz Buch-Gedächtnisstiftung, Hamburg
Montblanc-Simplo GmbH, Hamburg
Nordmann, Rassmann GmbH & Co., Hamburg
Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden
UNESCO, Paris
Union Intemationale des Etudes Orientales et Asiatiques, Paris Franz-Alfred Wooge in Firma Albrecht & Dill, Hamburg
Associated Organisations Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft
International Association of Orientalist Librarians International Association for the History of Religion
xi
Opening Plenary Session
The Opening Plenary Session of the XXXIInd Intemational Congress for Asian and North
African Studies was held on Monday, 25th August, 1986, at 10 A.M. in Hall 2 of the
Congress Centre Hamburg.
The session began with the Allegro of Johann Sebastian Bach's Concert for piano and strings
in D minor (BWV 1052), rendered by members of the Hamburger Symphoniker, and the
academic part was opened by Prof. Dr. Tatsuro Yamamoto, President of the XXXIst
Congress, who gave the following address:
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen!
It is my great honour and privilege to deliver this address at the beginning of the Opening
Session of the XXXIInd Intemational Congress for Asian and North African Studies.
Our Congress, formerly called the Congress of Orientalists, has a long tradition of 113 years,
starting from 1873, and it has been held so far 25 times in Europe and six times out of
Europe. Speaking of Germany in particular, the 5th Congress was held in Berlin in 1881, the
13th in Hamburg in 1902, the 24th in Munich in 1957; and now it is being held again in
Hamburg in 1986.
When we trace the history of the development of Asian and North African studies during the last 84 years since the first meeting in Hamburg, we are impressed with the tremendous differences both in terms of the geographical extension of learned activities and the epistemo¬
logical nature of the research. Everyone knows that our Asian and North African studies as
modern scholarship were initiated by European scholars and have continued to develop in
Europe, but their development in other areas of the world has grown markedly through the
vicissitudes of the 20th century.
As to the epistemological nature of the studies themselves, we are struck firstly by the
amazing accumulation of study data; manuscripts, books, archaeological objects, newly
acquired information by means of scientific fact-finding techniques, and so on. Great
archaeological discoveries of recent years in China may be mentioned as a striking example.
Secondly, we have noticed the advancement of the formulation of conceptual schemes and
theories. This is closely related to, and stimulated by, different fields of social sciences, or law seeking disciplines, not to speak of modem linguistics. Thirdly we have to mention the
transformation of the basic leamed attitude carrying the value judgment of scholars.
Motivation to do research stemming for Europocentric exoticism and political domination has decreased and now we are all striving to understand different standpoints across the boundary of nations, peoples, cultures and social classes.
Throughout these above-mentioned aspects, our studies have been greatly broadened and
deepened, but at the same time they have become specialized and compartmentalized. In this
present situation, to my mind, the role of the Intemational Congress has grown more and
more important for exchanging views, developing international cooperation, and inter-
generational contacts among scholars. Our Intemational Congress has special characteristics different from other big congresses: We are not restricted to any limited disciplines in terms
of common academic standards, and we can take up any studies related to Asia and North
Africa. There was at one time an opinion that the area covered by our Congress was too wide
