En suivant la Voie Royale

The books and articles by Leon Vandermeersch are among the richest and most remarkable of those produced by any contemporary sinologue. This book is dedicated to him. It contains 34 essays that concern the whole of Chinese civilization, from its origins to our own times, from China of the ancient nine provinces to the parts of the world under Chinese influence today, from the fields of language and the writing system to those of thought, religion, literature and society. These essays, -some very close to the work of Leon Vandermeersch himself-, together form a surprisingly rich and lively reflections on and analyses of Shang oracular inscriptions, the book of Changes (Yijing), Daoist lapidary, the Confucian canon, novels, poetry, occasional writings, society and the philosophical essay, legal treatise, and personal diary. May his friends, his colleagues and his disciples, all well known internationally, who have taken part in this tribute, be thanked here for their participation.