Asiatica Association

We have just received (on surface mail) the Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies, 112 (November 2009 - vol. 28, no. 4), a hard copy quarterly published by the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS), established in 1981 to promote research in Chinese studies both in Taiwan (The Republic of China) and overseas.

It is written in Chinese with subtitles in English. It contains articles, interviews, and regular updates on the happenings in the worldwide community of Chinese studies.

This issue includes: Special Feature (Looking Back on 20 Years of the CSS Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies, by Liau Jane; CSS Scholars Share Their Research Expereince in Taiwan); Summary of Research (papers by Chen Tsui-lien, Chung Shu-min, Lin Yu-ju); International Sinology (paper by Naran Dugarjav); Book Review; Introduction of Materials; Conference Reports; News from Academia.

This is the complete catalog of the publications of the Center for Chinese Studies (in Chinese).

Scholars of philophy should never forget the wonderful online resource, originally made on paper by Karl Potter, titled Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (1st ed. 1975, revised in 1983 and 1990). I say scholars of philosophy tout court since what has been thought and written in India does not belong to the country, but to the human civilization.

This site is continuosly updated and contains a bibliography of the philosophical literature of India during its classical phase and the secondary material on this literature that is available (for the most part) in English,

It has just been published by the French Institute of Pondicherry a DVD-Rom study on biodiversity in Western Ghats, a world biodivesity hotspot. It is in English, Kannada and Malayalam and is titled BIOTIK: Biodiversity Informatics and Co-Operation in Taxonomy for Interactive Shared Knowledge Base.
Western Ghats v 1.0. A multimedia identification system of evergreen tree species of the Western Ghats, India, by B. R. Ramesh, N. Ayyappan, P. Grard, J. Prosperi, S. Aravajy, J-P. Pascal…[et al.]. Collection Ecologie n°46, IFP, 2010.

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary no. 84 by Masahiko Ebashi, Professor of Asian Economies at Meiji Gakuin University.

In November, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his counterparts from five Mekong region countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand) held their first summit in Tokyo. Hatoyama then pledged to provide financial and technical assistance in a wide range of areas, including the environment and climate change, infrastructure, health care and basic education, in order to assist the region's development. He committed more than 500 billion yen in official development assistance (ODA) over the next three years.