The Royal Asiatic Society is an important institution of Oriental Studies in Britain. Over the past 200 years, it has established the Oriental Translation Fund and several Oriental Monograph Funds, and published numerous translations and monographs. In general terms, most translations tend to preceed analytical monographs in complementary fashion. Historically, there has been a shift from Oriental National Studies to Oriental Regional Studies and, eventually, to a general academic approach which incorporates local Asia experts and publishes their research. This has brought clear advantages to India-based scholars and to those from other Asian countries, and has brought immeasurable added value to British Asian Studies. The RAS translation effort has particularly paid off for the knowledge system built up by means of published monographs.

皇家亞洲學會的東方譯著、專著與東方建構

作為英國重要的東方學研究機構，近200 年來，皇家亞洲學會通過創建東方翻譯基金和若干東方專著基金，出版了大量東方譯著和東方專著。整體看來，東方譯著是東方專著的基礎，它們相輔相成。從內容上看，東方研究逐漸由“東方民族研究”轉向“東方區域研究”和“東方整體研究”。同時，東方本土學者的參與度不斷提升。這不僅影響了印度和其他東方國家的研究，也影響了英國東方學。值得注意的是，隨著皇家亞洲學會的東方翻譯和東方研究的發展，東方專著成為學會的主要出版物。總之，從東方譯著到東方專著，該學會構建了英國東方學的知識體系，促進了整個英國東方學的繁榮