Trends and Characteristics of the Researches in the Field of Central Asian History and the Liao-Jin-Yuan Dynasties during the Last 30 Years

This paper aims at finding major trends and conspicuous changes during the last thirty years, from 1985 to the present, in the field of Central Asian history as well as the history of Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties. As a result of our review the present writer was able to find out three new distinctive developments since 1985. BR The first is the creation and the activities of academic associations and research groups specialized in the Mongol studies, the Altaic studies, the Central Asia studies, and the history of Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan dynasties. These organizations became the central field of scholarly activities.BR The second is the establishment of the study of Central Asian history as a branch of historical studies in Korea. Before 1985 scholars paid attention to it and published some works related to that field, but it was generally perceived as a part or an extension of Chinese history. After 1985 young scholars who were able to utilize the non-Chinese sources, such as those written in Mongolian, Turkic and Persian, began to publish their works, and Central Asia came to be regarded as an independent historical and cultural area.BR The third is the rapid expansion of the Mongol-Yuan historical studies. Compared to other areas of research like Qitan Liao or Jurchen Jin, the growing interest in the Mongol empire is quite astonishing. A number of scholars published their books and articles, scholarly books in English or in Japanese were translated, and the primary sources written in Persian and Arabic languages were also translated, which all reflect the degree of scholarly and popular interest in the history of the Mongol empire.BR In sum, the scholarly researches in the field of Central Asian history and Liao-Jin-Yuan dynasties have achieved a remarkable development. However, the institutional framework, such as the availability of faculty position in universities and the scope of the lectures in the curriculum, is lagged far behind. So what confronts the Central Asian scholars in future would be how to narrow down this gap and to make a stable condition for Central Asian studies.