October 31, 2025 is the birthday anniversary of Dr. Tatyana Aleksandrovna Pang, IOM RAS Deputy Director, Head of the Department of Far Eastern Studies.

After graduating from the Leningrad State University (Faculty of Oriental Studies, Department of Chinese Philology) with Honours in 1978, T.A. Pang worked as a member of the cataloguing group at the Department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies. In 1988, upon the recommendation of L.N. Menshikov, she was transferred to the Far Eastern Textology research group at the same Institute. Her first article on Manchu linguistics published in 1982 was a continuation of one of the most significant traditions of Russian classical Oriental studies. Initial work with the Institute’s Manchu collection led T.A. Pang to compile indices and appendices for the catalogue by M.P. Volkova (Description of Manchu xylographs at the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Vol.1, Moscow, 1988) [Описание маньчжурских ксилографов Института востоковедения АН СССР. Вып. 1. М., 1988]. Later, T.A. Pang published Volume 2 which completed cataloguing work on this unique collection (Descriptive Catalogue of Manchu Manuscripts and Blockprints in the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies Russian Academy of Sciences. Wiesbaden, 2001).

Knowledge of manuscripts in Manchu, kept in Russia and other centers of Oriental studies around the world, enabled T.A. Pang to become the leading Manchu scholar in Russia with a broad range of research directions from philology and history to ethnology and religious studies. T.A. Pang received many invitations from major centers of Manchu studies in the world to conduct cataloguing, consultation and research work. Now T.A. Pang is an internationally-recognized authority on research and description of Manchu manuscripts, an expert on shamanism, Manchu history and ideology. Her Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) dissertation “Manchu manuscripts and blockprints as sources on the history and culture of the Qing empire of the 17th‒18th centuries” [Маньчжурские письменные памятники как источник по истории и культуре империи Цин XVII - XVIII вв.], defended in 2004, describes the formation and ideological conceptualization of the official historiography of Qing China.

Since 2007 T.A. Pang is the Head of the Department of Far Eastern Studies, IOM RAS. With incredible energy she combines research with active organizational work. She is a member of several international research organizations and editorial boards. For many years she has been the deputy chief editor and the driving force behind the Institute’s main journal “Written Monuments of the Orient”. Over many years T.A. Pang actively cooperates with the Permanent International Altaistic Conference and serves on its organizational committee. T.A. Pang is a member of the International Society for Shamanic Research and a member of the editorial board of the “Aetas Manjurica” (Italy, Germany, Russia) monograph series (research on Manchu history and bibliography).

With tireless enthusiasm Tatyana Aleksandrovna Pang always promotes new projects and organizes new events. The Far Eastern Seminar of the Department of Far Eastern Studies, initiated by her, plays an important role in coordinating Oriental studies research in Saint-Petersburg. T.A. Pang is actively involved in teaching and she has been organizing the annual young scholars conference “China and Its Neighbours” since 2016. She continues to present her new research at conferences.

T.A. Pang is highly loyal to the Institute where she has been working all her life, she cares much about upholding the Institute’s high scholarly standing and puts a lot of effort into this. She is a longtime member of the IOM RAS Academic Council. She is greatly respected by colleagues for her objectivity, kindness and active attitude.

T.A. Pang embodies the best traditions of Russian Oriental studies that include respect for one’s teachers. This is confirmed by the scholarship that she has established in memory of her father, Professor Pang Ying, for students of the Faculty of Asian and African Studies of the Saint Petersburg State University where she has been teaching for many years.

On her anniversary, the IOM RAS administration and colleagues wish Tatyana A. Pang good health, prosperity and strength to realize all her projects and to make the most of her diverse research and organizational talents.

We would like to thank Tatyana A. Pang for many years of successful work.

Irina F. Popova, Corresponding member of the RAS, Doctor of Sciences in History
Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS