The East Asia Center was founded in 1975 to provide a forum for faculty and students interested in East Asia. It currently sponsors a speaker series, grant programs, and promotes academic activities and cultural events related to East and Southeast Asia. We are an interdisciplinary organization of faculty, each of whom is a full member of an academic department. East and Southeast Asia-related courses are taught as part of the various departmental curricula. The Center does not have its own faculty or course offerings. However, it administers the interdisciplinary M.A. and M.B.A./M.A. degree programs in East Asian Studies, while the B.A. program in East Asian Studies is administered by the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. The Center encourages and coordinates East and Southeast Asia-related activities such as lectures, and supports faculty initiatives in publications, workshops, and conferences that involve faculty across departments. It also administers a grant program for student and faculty travel to East Asia. Since 2015, the generosity of the family of Bruce and Sally Nelson has allowed the Center to sponsor the “Nelson Lectures on Southeast Asia” and to offer travel grants to Southeast Asia for study and research.
The Director of the Center, Professor Aynne Kokas of the Miller Center and Media Studies Department, is responsible for overall management of its activities, which are carried out during the academic year by a set of faculty committees. The Graduate Committee oversees the M.A. and M.B.A./M.A. programs. Travel grants are the responsibility of the Grants Committee, in coordination with the International Studies Office. The Speaker Committee runs the lecture series and related activities. The Committee on Southeast Asia Programming and Grants are responsible for the Nelson Lectures and grants.
Approximately ninety percent of the East Asia Center's funding comes from private contributions and endowment earnings. We are the beneficiary of a special endowment from the Weedon family that provides most of the operating expenses of the Center, and funds the Weedon Travel Grants. The Center has also received grants from the Weedon Foundation and from James H. T. McConnell, as well as funds from the School of Arts and Sciences to support its lecture series. The Nelson Funds support activities specifically related to Southeast Asia.
In addition to the resources administered by the East Asia Center, research on East Asia is supported by the University of Virginia Library. UVA Library has close to 79,000 monographs (about 120,000 volumes) in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Of which approximately 75% is in Chinese and 25% in Japanese and Korean. Besides the printed books, the library also has a sizeable collection of non-print resources, such as videos and music recordings, from East Asia. The videos are part of the international films collection kept at the Robertson Media Center in the Clemons Library. A substantial portion of the East Asian collections are books of East Asian art, housed at The Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library. In recent years, the library has increased its e-resources by purchasing and subscribing to full-text databases in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages published in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea.
One of the founding collections in East Asian Studies is the Ma Kiam collection. It was acquired in the 1960s from the personal collection of the late Professor Ma Kiam (1882–1959) of the University of Hong Kong. The Ma Kiam Collection includes more than 200 titles (over 2000 volumes) of Chinese rare books, published as early as in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). A few years ago Professor Stanley Weinstein and his wife Lucie, of Yale University, made a bequest of their personal library to UVA Library, a significant collection of scholarly books on Buddhism, particularly focused on Buddhism in Japan and China. The collection also has considerable holdings of books on Asian arts. The Weinstein Collection has added more than 5,000 unique titles to the already robust Buddhism collection, augmented by a major donation from the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions in 2005. The Asian Reading Room in the main library (currently under renovation) has been renamed to “Stanley and Lucie Weinstein Buddhist and Asian Studies Library,” the future home for the Weinstein collection. In summer 2022, the Guanhailou Collection of Dr. Soren Edgren was acquired by the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. It contains 325 titles (1,332 volumes) of rare and traditional East Asian editions of, chiefly Chinese, printed books, manuscripts, and ink rubbings, all produced before 1912. In addition to 15% diverse rare materials, the core consists of 25% Ming editions, 45% Qing editions, and 15% Edo period editions. A supplemental collection contains 207 titles (512 volumes) of books published after 1911, mostly fine facsimiles of rare editions.
The Tibetan Collection at UVA Library is one of the most complete in the world. Since the 1960s, the library has made systematic acquisitions. The core of the research collection consists of about 3,300 volumes of the original pecha (Tibetan for book of mostly unbound single sheets) and 25,000 titles of texts. The collection also has almost all of the reprinted pecha. Nearly all of them were published in India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet, with extremely small press runs. They are virtually irreplaceable. The collection covers a wide range of subjects, including Buddhism, Tibetan language, literature, art, history, medicine, and Sanskrit language. There will be a dedicated Tibetan collection room with reading space in the main library when it reopens in fall of 2023.
To receive email news of Center and Asia-related happenings at the University of Virginia, send an email message to the East Asia Center Administrative Coordinator requesting to be added to the email list.
中心简介
弗吉尼亚大学东亚研究中心成立于1975年，旨在为对东亚感兴趣的师生提供一个交流的平台。目前本中心的活动有：赞助与东亚和东南亚相关的系列讲座及补助金项目，并推广与东亚和东南亚相关的学术、文化活动。中心由隶属各院系、跨学科的教授组成。东亚或东南亚相关的课程是多个院系所开设的课程的一部分。中心本身并不开设自主课程。但东亚研究的跨学科硕士学位和东亚研究与工商管理双硕士学位项目由本中心负责管理，而东亚研究的本科学位则由东亚语言、文学和文化学系（Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures）负责管理。中心鼓励并协调与东亚和东南亚有关的活动，如讲座等，也支持教师发起的涉及多院系教师的出版、研讨会、会议等。东亚研究中心也管理着为师生提供到东亚实地调研的补助金项目。从2015年开始，在布鲁斯和萨莉·纳尔逊 （Bruce and Sally Nelson）家族的慷慨捐助下，使中心得以赞助 “纳尔逊东南亚讲座系列”（Nelson Lectures on Southeast Asia），并为师生提供到东南亚实地学习、研究的旅费补助。
现任东亚研究中心主任，媒体研究系 Aynne Kokas 教授（Professor Aynne Kokas）负责中心活动的综合管理。学年中的各种活动则由来自不同学系的教授所组成的委员会执行：硕士研究生指导委员会负责监督东亚硕士研究生和东亚工商管理硕士生项目的事务，包含招生、录取事项在内；补助金委员会和学校的国际部（International Studies Office）协作，负责旅费补助事宜；讲座委员会负责讲座系列和与之相关的活动；东南亚活动及补助金委员会负责纳尔逊讲座系列和补助金事宜。
中心约九成资金来源于私人捐献和捐赠收入。来自威登家族的一项特别捐赠对中心的大多数运营开支和威登旅费补助（Weedon Travel Grants）提供资金支持。威登基金会（Weedon Foundation）、杰姆士·麦康奈尔（James H. T. McConnell）以及弗吉尼亚大学的文理学院（School of Arts and Sciences）对中心的讲座系列也提供资助，而纳尔逊基金（Nelson Funds）则专门资助与东南亚相关的活动。
除了东亚研究中心管理的学术资源之外，弗吉尼亚大学图书馆的丰富藏书与资源是东亚研究的支柱。图书馆现有七万九千多部中、日、韩文学术专著（近十二万册）。其中中文文献占四分之三，其余的为日文和韩文。除了印刷书籍外，图书馆还收藏了大量来自东亚的非印刷资源，例如影视和音乐录音。这些影视资料是克乃文图书馆（Clemons Library）的罗伯逊媒体中心（Robertson Media Center）的国际电影收藏的一部分。东亚收藏中还有相当一部分是东亚艺术书籍，收藏在学校的菲斯克·金博尔艺术分馆（Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library。近年来，图书馆还增加了电子资源，购买和订阅了中国、台湾、香港、日本和韩国出版的全文数据库。
“馬鑑藏书”（Ma Kiam Collection）是弗大图书馆东亚研究的创始藏品之一，二十世纪六十年代从香港大学已故教授馬鑑 (1882–1959) 的个人收藏中所收购。“馬鑑藏书”中有两百多种（两千多册）中国善本书，包括珍贵的明版图书。最近又新增了斯坦利· 温斯坦（Stanley Weinstein Collection）藏书。耶鲁大学的斯坦利·温斯坦教授和他夫人露西(Lucie Weinstein) 将他们的个人图书馆捐赠给了弗大图书馆。温斯坦教授终身致力于收藏重要的佛教研究专著，特别关注日本和中国的佛教。他们的收藏中还拥有相当多的亚洲艺术书籍。2005年，世界宗教高级研究院（Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions）将其佛学收藏全部捐赠给了弗大图书馆。Weinstein Collection 为弗大佛学收藏又增加了五千多种专著。总图的亚洲阅览室
（目前正在大修）已更名为“斯坦利和露西温斯坦佛教与亚洲研究图书馆”。2022年夏，艾思仁博士的观海楼藏古籍归入弗大图书馆特藏馆。“观海楼藏书”含有325种（1,332 册）珍贵的中文古籍，如刊本、活字本、钞本及墨拓本，均为1912年以前之版本。其核心包括25%明版、45%清版、15%日本江户时代版本，以及其它善本书籍。此外还有1911年之后出版的207种（512 册）稀有版本的影印精品.
弗大图书馆的藏文藏书是世界上最完整的藏文收藏之一。藏品涵盖了广泛的学科，包括佛教、藏语、文学、艺术、历史、医学和梵语。从1960年代后期开始，图书馆就有系统地采购藏文资料。其核心收藏包括约三千三百卷原始 pecha（藏文活页图书）和两万五千多种文本资料。藏文藏品还包括了几乎所有在印度、不丹、尼泊尔和西藏出版的重印pecha。这些重印本印量极少，大都已绝版。2023年秋天总图大修结束重新开放时，将设有专门的藏文藏书阅览室。
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