Access to the Society's premises is still restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the Library is now open by appointment. Staff are continuing to work and should you have any enquiries, members of staff can be reached by email:

Director: Alison Ohta
Email: aoATroyalasiaticsocietyDOTorg

Librarian: Edward Weech
Email: ewATroyalasiaticsocietyDOTorg

Archivist: Emma Jones
Email: ejATroyalasiaticsocietyDOTorg

Journal Executive Editor: Charlotte de Blois
Email: cdbATroyalasiaticsocietyDOTorg

We send our best wishes to all our members and supporters. We hope everyone stays virus free and we look forward to resuming our activities once this difficult time has passed.

RAS 034.016
A portico of four columns. Ram Raz Collection c.1825

RAS 077.001 (37-39)
Kunisato Triptych: View of Akabane, Yedo, early evening. From an album of theatrical prints presented by Herbert Charles Fanshawe, December 1923

RAS 063.034
Tod Collection: Rana Jai Singh of Newar being weighed, Udaipur

RAS 063.042
Demons and kings seated in two main rows. Illustration from the Adi parva of the Mahabharata.

We are sorry that the coronavirus pandemic has so badly disrupted procedures for the award. However, the adjudicating panel has now undertaken to complete its work by the end of the year and the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society has committed to publishing the short list and the winner as soon as the judges’ report is received. The Society is also scheduling a virtual celebration for the Prize in mid-January 2021. On behalf of the Society I renew our apologies for the three-month delay caused by the pandemic, but we look forward to the publication of the results by the end of the year. Dr. Alison Ohta Director

A new project on the history of Chinese private letter hongs is now online at: https://letterhongs.com/ This website is devoted to the long history of letter exchange and letter writing by Chinese people, from the early nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. The efficient operation of private letter hongs was noted by British observers in the nineteenth century including Sir George Thomas Staunton, Herbert A. Giles, and Sir Robert Hart, who founded the Great Qing Imperial Postal Service. Visit the site to see many original letters and learn more about this fascinating aspect of cultural history.

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