The Asian Studies WWW Monitor: early Jun 2004
Vol. 11, No. 11 (215)

11 Jun 2004

Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT)
Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gantok, Sikkim, India.
Self-description: "The site on which the institute was established was donated by the late Chogyal (king) of Sikkim Sir Tashi Namgyal in memory of his departed son Paljor Namgyal. The foundation stone of the institute was laid by the 14th Dalai Lama on the 10th of February 1957 and the institute was declared open by the late Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the 1st of October 1958. [...]
In the summer of 2002, the NIT's new director, Mr Tashi Densapa, has undertaken to expand the institute, restructure its research wing and open its doors to international collaboration. This will be done through the creation of new research programs, monthly lecture series, seminars, language classes, fellowship programs, publications and collaboration with foreign scholars. It is hoped that the institute will actively promote Tibetan studies, including its sub-field of Sikkimese studies, and become a dynamic research centre in the Eastern Himalayas. In order to help him achieve this, Mr Densapa has appointed Tashi Tsering (Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala) as part-time Consultant and Anna Balikci Denjongpa (PhD London) as Research-Coordinator.
Among its new research programs, the NIT's Research Officers have undertaken a project to document the social history of Sikkim's 60-odd monasteries in order to publish an illustrated book on the subject. A second project proposes to locate, digitalize and document old and rare photographs of Sikkim, both in India and abroad. The aim is to create a digital image data bank at the NIT and organize a permanent photographic exhibition.The NIT also wishes to establish a visual anthropology project in order to produce an enduring digital record of Sikkim's vanishing indigenous and Buddhist cultures.
An international inter-disciplinary seminar on Sikkim will be held at the institute sometime 2004 in honour of famous Sikkimese scholars in Tibetan studies. Scholars interested to participate should contact the NIT on: nitsikkim[use"@"]yahoo.co.in. It is hoped that the seminar will generate interest in Sikkimese studies and facilitate the establishment of an international association for Sikkimese studies based at the institute."
Site contents [several sections of the site are, at present, under under construction - ed.]: * About us; * Tourist information; * Museum; * Library [The library holds over 60,000 titles consisting of Tibetan translations of canonical and non-canonical works from their original Sanskrit or Pali, as well as tantric texts belonging to the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism - ed.]; * Publications [the site lists contents of the 'Bulletin of Tibetology' published twice a year since 1965 ed.]; * Research; * Lecture Series; * Language Classes; * Seminars; * Contact us.
URL http://www.tibetology.com/
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.tibetology.com/
Link reported by: Anna Balikci (nitsikkim[use"@"]yahoo.co.in)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Corporate Info.
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

09 Jun 2004

[Narcotics in South Asia] The Creeping Cancer
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India
Supplied note: "The latest paper of the Institute For Topical Studies, A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K.Nagar, Chennai---600078, India, on the above subject is now available at the web site of the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi, at [the URL below] - br."
[Extract: "According to a 1998 study of the International Drug Control Programme of the UN, the international illicit drug business generates an estimated $400 billion in trade annually, which is about 8% of all legal international trade and roughly equivalent to the total turnover of the textile industry in all the countries of the world put together. [...] In South Asia, while eradication and interdiction have been receiving considerable attention, the attention paid to the other two aspects [i.e. education and rehabilitation - ed.] is still very inadequate." - b.raman]
[The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter - ed.]
URL http://www.saag.org/papers11/paper1020.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the paper was not archived at the time of this abstract. However, in a few weeks time it will be available at web.archive.org/web/*/www.saag.org]
Link reported by: B. Raman (corde[use"@"]vsnl.com)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library - NGO - other]: NGO
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

08 Jun 2004

Super Chinese [Language] Web Sites
Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls/Waterloo, IA, USA.
Self-description: "[S]ites that can be helpful for you for learning more about China and the Chinese language and culture."
Site contents: * Chinese Grammar & Lessons; * Helpful Multiple Links; * Chinese Language Games ; * Chinese Dictionaries; * Chinese Festivals and Holidays; * Chinese Cities; * On the beauty of China; * Tour of China/Maps/Geography; * Chinese History; * Taiwan; * Chinese Cuisine; * Chinese Culture Links; * Help From Google on Chinese; * Sites in Chinese; * Mandarin Chinese; * Chinese News & Newspapers; * General Sites on Chinese.
URL http://www.uni.edu/becker/chinese2.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract.]
Link reported by: Jim Becker (jbecker[use"@"]cfu.net)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

08 Jun 2004

Super Japanese [Language] Web Sites
Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls/Waterloo, IA, USA.
Self-description: "[S]ites that can be helpful for you for learning more about Japan and the Japanese language and culture."
Site contents: * Japanese Grammar, Lessons & Drills; * Quizzes for Japanese; * Writing Japanese; * The History of Japan; * Japanese Art; * Websites in Japan; * Games to Play; * Dictionaries & Translators; * Miscellaneous Helpful Sites for Japanese; * Poetry & Literature; * Japanese Culture; * Japanese Food & Cuisine; * Newspapers/Magazines/News; * Sites in Japanese; * Tokyo; * Travel; * Additional Sites; * HS, College & University Sites; * Geography/Maps.
URL http://www.uni.edu/becker/japanese2.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract.]
Link reported by: Jim Becker (jbecker[use"@"]cfu.net)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

08 Jun 2004

Academics of Central Asia - a Database
St. Antony's College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Supplied note: "The web project Academics of Central Asia (www.a-c-a.info) was launched in 2003. It aims at promoting scholars from Central Asia. Academics can be searched for by name or by browsing a country or an academic discipline. There is an extensive entry for each scholar. The entry lists the titles of publications or detailed research interests. Some have also made their CVs available for downloading. Browsing the list of scholars is a good way for academics from outside the region to find the right local partners. There are currently 115 scholars from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the database. Scholars from Tajikistan will be added from September 2004 onwards. The web page and database were designed in Kyrgyzstan and national co-ordinators from each of the 4 countries run the webpage.
The webpage is available in English and Russian and provides a range of services to academics from Central Asia. It gives information on funding opportunities and advice on studying abroad. Four newsletters will be sent out to the scholars in the database in 2004-2005. We encourage all academics living in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to register with us ­ the webpage is there to promote you and your work. Go to www.a-c-a.info and the 'Registration' section.
ACA is sponsored by the Committee for Central and Inner Asia (CCIA). ACA staff include: Askat Dukenbaev (American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan), Djamshed Fayzov (Eurasia programme, National University of Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Galina Bitykova (Central Asian Resourse Centre, Kazakhstan), and Stina Torjesen (Oxford University). - st."
URL http://www.a-c-a.info/
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract.]
Link reported by: Stina Torjesen (stina.torjesen[use"@"]st-antonys.oxford.ac.uk), forwarded by central-eurasia-l[use"@"]fas.harvard.edu
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

08 Jun 2004

Lines, a left-wing e-quarterly from Sri Lanka
Lines, c/o Social Scientists Association, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Supplied note: "'lines' is a quarterly magazine that engages with the political spaces of Sri Lanka. Appearing online, and in print, topics addressed in lines include peace, multiculturalism, economic justice, feminisms, citizenship, sexual pluralism, diasporic nationalism, and such. 'lines' provides a forum for voices of dissent, including perspectives and issues marginalized in mainstream debates. lines was founded and is co-edited by Ahilan Kadirgamar, S. Nanthikesan and Vasuki Nesiah. To register online email: subscribe[use"@"]lines-magazine.org. Online subscriptions are free. However, if you can afford subscription to the print edition, subscriptions are strongly encouraged because subscriptions outside Sri Lanka help subsidize distribution in Sri Lanka. - vn."
Site contents: Text Only Issues; Past Issues [May 2002-present]; Discussion Forum; Sri Lanka Archive [articles on politics of Sri Lanka]; Hot off the Press; Best of Crit-Web [left-wing politics outside Sri Lanka] Links [Sri Lankan Sites, South Asian Sites, International Sites]
URL http://www.lines-magazine.org
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.lines-magazine.org
Link reported by: Vasuki Nesiah, lines co-editor (contact[use"@"]lines-magainze.org)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: NGO
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Interesting
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

07 Jun 2004

[Saudi Oil] A New Weapon of Mass Destruction
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India
Supplied note: "The latest paper of the Institute For Topical Studies, A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K.Nagar, Chennai---600078, India, on the above subject is now available at the web site of the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi, at [the URL below] - br."
[Extract: "If they [= Al Qaeda operatives] manage to lay their hands on the oil weapon and wield it effectively, India is likely to be a major sufferer not only because of the possible drying-up of oil supplies and the consequent increase in prices, but also because of a possible exodus of valuable foreign exchange earning non-resident Indian community from the oil-producing centres of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the region." - b.raman]
[The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter - ed.]
URL http://www.saag.org/papers11/paper1019.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the paper was not archived at the time of this abstract. However, in a few weeks time it will be available at web.archive.org/web/*/www.saag.org]
Link reported by: B. Raman (corde[use"@"]vsnl.com)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library - NGO - other]: NGO
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Interesting
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

07 Jun 2004

Al Qaeda Kills Its Mentor & Godfather?
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, India
Supplied note: "The latest paper of the Institute For Topical Studies, A-2/3, Bharathi Dasan Colony, K.K.Nagar, Chennai---600078, India, on the above subject is now available at the web site of the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi, at [the URL below] - br."
[Extract: "On May 30, 2004, unidentified terrorists riding a motorbike shot dead Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, the chief of the hardline Deobandi Binori madrasa of Karachi and one of his sons and a nephew as he was returning to his house, located just across the road from the madrasa. A week later, the Karachi Police and the Pakistani intelligence agencies are still groping in the dark in their attempts to identify the killers and establish the motive for the assassination." - b.raman]
[The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter - ed.]
URL http://www.saag.org/papers11/paper1018.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the paper was not archived at the time of this abstract. However, in a few weeks time it will be available at web.archive.org/web/*/www.saag.org]
Link reported by: B. Raman (corde[use"@"]vsnl.com)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library - NGO - other]: NGO
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Interesting
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

06 Jun 2004

Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection
Asian Division, Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA
Self-description: "Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection features ceremonial writings of the Naxi people of Yunnan Province, China. The Library of Congress's Naxi collection is the largest outside of China [containing 3,342 manuscripts - hl] and is considered one of the finest in the world. The Naxi use a unique pictographic writing system that is similar to the ancient Egyptian and Mayan writing systems. It is the only living pictographic language in the world today. This online presentation features 185 manuscripts, a 39.5 foot funerary scroll and an annotated catalog of the entire collection."
Supplied note: "The items carry bibliographic description and are presented as thumbnail, low resolution JPEG, high resolution JPEG and high quality TIFF. Information about how to view the TIFF files on various platforms is available - hl."
Site contents: (1) Search by keyword; (2) Browse by titles; (3) Browse by subjects; (4) Annotated Catalog of Naxi Pictographic Manuscripts; (5) Joseph Rock [1884-1962, an Austrian-born naturalized American explorer who acquired most of the manuscripts during the 1920ies and 30ies]; (6) Quentin Roosevelt II [contributed another large part of the collection]; (7) About the collection; (8) Selected bibliography; (9) How to view; (10) Building the digital collection; (11) Copyright and other restrictions; (12) Acknowledgements.
URL http://international.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/naxihome.html
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]
As of 06 Jun 2004, this site was not (yet) available at the Digital Archive for Chinese Studies (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/dachs/)
Link reported by: Laura Gottesman via Hanno Lecher / Internet Guide for Chinese Studies (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Library
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

03 Jun 2004

Burma Economic Watch (BEW) - email edition
Economics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Supplied note: "Burma Economic Watch (BEW), a centre within the Economics Department at Macquarie University, has today issued the latest edition of its journal. The journal, which is also called 'Burma Economic Watch', is a periodical that aims to provide up-to-date and reliable data, analysis and commentary on the economy of Burma. The latest instalment, the first for 2004, has articles on Burma's growth performance vis-a-vis its peers (and the problems of measuring it), an update on Burma's banking crisis, and details of a major new survey the centre is conducting into the contributions of Burmese workers and refugees to the economy of Thailand.
We hope to have the journal on a website shortly, but in the meantime copies of BEW can be obtained by e-mailing us at: sturnell[use"@"]efs.mq.edu.au - Sean Turnell."
[Several BEW's past and current materials, namely, Burma Economic Watch: 2004 No. 1 (Jun 2004); Economic Non-Viability, Hunger And Migration: The Case of Mawchi Township (May 2003); Burma's Banking Crisis: A Commentary (Mar 2003); Reforming the Banking System in Burma: A Survey of the Problems and Possibilities (Sep 2002); Burma's Economy - A Reply to Zaw Tun (Jan 2002); Banking in Burma: New Frontiers, or a Barren Wasteland? (Jul 2001); BEW News (June 2001); Foreign Direct Investment and the Garments Industry in Burma (Jun 2001); The FEC Crisis (BEW Comment) (Jun 2001); A Proposal for a Currency Board in a Democratic Burma (Aug 1999) is already published online at the Online Burma/Myanmar Library (http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/show.php?cat=903) - ed.]
URL [the resource was not published online at the time of this abstract]
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]
Link reported by: Sean Turnell (sturnell[use"@"]efs.mq.edu.au), via seahtp[use"@"]yahoogroups.com
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: n/a

02 Jun 2004

Zhongsou.com - Chinese Search Engine
China Search Online, ?China
Supplied note: "Zhongsou is said to be the largest Chinese search engine. The seven major chinese portals Sina, Sohu, NetEase, TOM, 263, China.org.cn, and 3721.com reportedly now all feature search through Zhongsou. However, the portals display the search-results in different ways, sometimes there seems to be no connection at all between the portal's results. The search engine recently was strong at finding chinese news, but it also offers Web- and media-search, too. Advanced search offers AND, OR, NOT boolean operators, a 'site:- and 'link:'-search, a preferences page that can be used for combinig the indexes, and a help page. There is also a searchable discussion forum. For more information cf. an article from people.com.cn, a WWW news service by the People's Daily, at http://www.people.com.cn/GB/it/1066/2261301.html (December 23, 2003; thanks to Oliver Radtke, Heidelberg, for this information) - hl."
Site contents: Search for/within Websites, News, Regions, MP3, Maps, Flash, Business.
[A site in Chinese only - ed.]
URL http://www.zhongsou.com/
Internet Archive (www.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]
As of 06 Jun 2004, this site was not (yet) available at the Digital Archive for Chinese Studies (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/dachs/)
Link reported by: Hanno Lecher / Internet Guide for Chinese Studies (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Business
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Very Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 1,000

01 Jun 2004

Xianggang wenxue ziliaoku (Hong Kong Literature Database)
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Supplied note: "Database of literature from Hong Kong, containing some 200,000 texts. The database is searchable for author, title, abstract, and keywords. Full text search is also available for literature that appeared in the journals Zhongguo xuesheng zhoubao, Xianggang wenxue, and Shifeng. Other sources for the database include monograph and periodical holdings of the library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, University thesises, as well as newspaper literature columns. Please note: Only part of the database is available as full text (in Adobe Acrobat Reader format), accessible via the menu item 'liulan qikan'. - hl."
[A site in Chinese only - ed.]
URL http://hklitpub.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/hklitpub.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/
Link reported by: Nicolai Volland, Institute for Chinese Studies, Heidelberg University, via Hanno Lecher - Internet Guide for Chinese Studies (http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/).
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

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Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html
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