On July 4, Professor Alfredo Mario Cadonna returned to the root. During the last part of the twentieth century, from the 1980s onwards, he was one of the most important figures in Italian Sinology in the field of classical literary and religious studies. The subject of his degree thesis presented in the academic year 1978-79 (Yulu and denglu of the Chan Buddhist school as a source for the study of vernacular elements of “Middle Chinese”) already demonstrated the two aspects that proved to be fundamental cornerstones of his research activity: a focus on the expressions of the Chinese religious-philosophical tradition (Chan, and later especially Daoism) and the centrality of a language-based approach, the vehicle of such expressions. Hallmarks of Alfredo’s academic writing, teaching

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Chinese historical network research is a burgeoning academic field. In recent years, the digitization of source materials, the proliferation of databases, as well as the development of digital tools, have greatly facilitated the study of networks in Chinese history. This special issue invites scholars from all disciplines to share their research that applies the theories and methodologies of social network analysis to the study of any period of Chinese history as well as archaeology. With this special issue, we hope to initiate a dialogue between network scholars specializing in China and those studying

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As the Corona pandemic is dragging on, the EACS has decided that conditions do not allow holding the EACS 2020 conference in the final week of August 2020. Germany has been fortunate to avoid the worst, and now that the pandemic is receding, society is gradually opening up again. However, with travel restrictions still in place and a second wave feared by epidemiologists, holding the biennial conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS 2020) this August appears too risky. The board of the EACS discussed at length alternative options, including an online-only conference at the original date or even complete cancellation. In the end, we decided that the conference will be postponed by one year to August 24–28, 2021.

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Professor Stefano Zacchetti, who died on 29 April 2020 at the age of 52, was one of the world’s most distinguished scholars and teachers in the field of Buddhist Studies. His untimely death has shocked all of us who knew him and were fortunate enough to be his friends and colleagues. An intellectual of the highest order whose boundless energy and thoroughness showed in each and every one of his published papers and monographs in both English and Italian, he was also an exceptionally charming and generous man, a loving father, and a steadfast and loyal friend. As I sit down to write this tribute to the Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, I do it in the full knowledge that he would quite possibly

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