A skilled observer and noted scholar of Chinese culture, Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien has contributed profoundly to the West's understanding of the East and vice versa. Having spent six decades as a professor and curator at The University of Chicago, he has been an indispensable resource on a wide range of topics that include Chinese paleography, paper, inkmaking, printing, cultural exchange, libraries, and biographies.

Collected Writings on Chinese Culture contains distilled selections from Tsien's major works and journal articles, as well as his Memoir of a Centenarian, which traces Tsien's life from his youth in China through sixty years of scholarship at The University of Chicago. This volume is an excellent companion for anyone familiar with Tsien's work and also a welcome resource for readers unfamiliar with the author's writings and extensive impact within East Asian studies and across all of academia.

PRAISE FOR TSUEN-HSUIN TSIEN

"Many scholars of China and of the history of science in Europe, America, and Asia have long regarded Tsien as "the Dean of East Asian scholar-librarians in the United States." His first book, Written on Bamboo and Silk: The Beginnings of Chinese Books and Inscriptions, published in 1962 by The University of Chicago Press (revised edition 2004), has gone through several printings, and it remains the standard work on this subject four decades after its initial publication."

── Anthony C. Yu, Professor Emeritus In Humanities,

The University of Chicago

for PAPER AND PRINTING

"This book sets a new standard for work on the subject and will be a touchstone for research on the history of paper and printing for the next generation and more."

── James Reardon-Anderson,

China Quarterly

for WRITTEN ON BAMBOO AND SILK

"[Tsien's] objective, achieved with admirable success, has been to trace the evolution of Chinese writing over the course of 3,000 years... to learn how Chinese writing developed and how it was used from the most ancient times to the emergence of the age of printing, this book is indispensable for all serious students of China and of early civilizations."

── Hyman Kublin,

Library Journal

Born in China in 1909, Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien is professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and curator emeritus of the East Asian Library, The University of Chicago.