Zephaniah Museum Of The Ming Dynasty And Zephaniah Hall Communications

Si-yi-guan, set up in Ming Dynasty, was an organization of Han-lin -yuan, which taught government officials to translate documents between the central government and frontier minorities. It mattered a lot because of its relation to minority and foreign affairs. Xi-fan-guan, the organization of Tibetan-Chinese translation, which took charge of teaching and translating Za-zi, the Tibetan-Chinese Terms, Lai-wen, the Tibetan-Chinese Letters, and Gao-chi, the Chinese-Tibetan Writs, was one of ten branch bureaus of Si-yi-guan. The systems for examining and awarding of Xi-fan-guan, as well as its hereditary students, were a concentrated reflection of institution and history of Si-yi-guan.Hua-yi-yi-yu, the Sino-Multilateral Glossary, was compiled by the government to meet the needs of teaching and translation. Xi-fan-yi-yu, the Tibetan-Chinese Glossary, was a part of Hua-yi-yi-yu. The Tibetan Terms recorded the ancient sounds of Tibetan and reflected its changes perfectly. The recordation of caciques and their emissaries from Tibet in Tibetan-Chinese Letters, especially in the edition of the Oriental Library, is very important on historical materials. As the foreword of the old edition of Xi-fan-yi-yu, the Xi-fan part of Si-yi-guan-kao, is a kind of copy from old recordation, which reflects the knowledge about Tibet of Ming people in a sense.The scholars in east and west academic circles had paid much attention to the issue of Si-yi-guan and Hua-yi-yi-yu since the 19^th century. The value on language materials of Hua-yi-yi-yu had become some linguists' main academic interests. In addition, the prevalence of literatures of Si-yi-guan is not very numerous and related to several academic fields, so the researches on institution and language is not balanceable, the study on the meaning of Lai-wen even became a blind spot. The problems above should be settled to the best of our abilities.The author tries to discuss the institution of Xi-fan-guan, and to reveal the historical value of Xi-fan-yi-yu, especially the Tibetan-Chinese Letters. This dissertation consists of three chapters. Chapter one will be an analysis on the function and history of Xi-fan-guan, basing on Si-yi-guan-zeng-ding-guan-ze. Chapter two emphasizes on the origin and data of the Tibetan Letters, especially studies the formation and content of the edition of the Oriental Library. Chapter three expounds the deformity and restitution the Xi-fan part of. Si-yi-guan-kao, which is a textual criticism on the foreword of the old edition of Xi-fan-yi-yu.