Prof. Edward L. Shaughnessy – To Be Read as Written: Transcription Principles in the Treatment of Unearthed Documents

Prof. Edward Shaughnessy, Visiting Professor of “The Chinese University of Hong Kong Jao Tsung-I Visiting Professorship Scheme,” delivered his second public lecture titled “To Be Read as Written: Transcription Principles in the Treatment of Unearthed Documents” on 12 October 2023 at the User Education Room of University Library. The lecture was conducted in Putonghua and attracted over 80 participants. In the lecture, Prof. Shaughnessy pointed out that modern Chinese paleographers and textual critics tend to use methods such as “ancient-and-modern characters,” “loan characters,” “graphic mistakes,” etc., to transcribe excavated documents into

standard modern Chinese characters. He then provided ample examples to prove that those methods are not always proper. He suggested that it would be better to adopt a “practical and realistic” approach for the treatment of unearthed documents and “read the character as written.”