In recent years, the Chinese Heritage Virtual Museum has strived to produce a series of catalogues, such as Mountains Ablaze-Exodus and Restoration, Preliminary Catalogue of Inkworks, Books, and Artefacts by Personages of the Republic of China 1949-1987; A Collection of Memorial Books, Part One and Part Two; Catalogue of Historic Documents, Writings, Certificates and Letters in the Wang Ch’ung-hui Collection; An Account of the T’ang En-p’u (唐恩溥) Collection: His Father’s Schoolworks, His Own Writings, Letters and Various Personal Items; and now the latest offering of Voyage of Sinology from East to West: Catalogue of Letters, Books and Artefacts of Western and Chinese Personages Across Three Centuries.

It is true the nature of a catalogue is devoid of literary flair, reading it can be dry and bland, but to acquire an overall view, to gain some perspectives of contexts and narratives, are certainly most befitting. In addition, time is limited while knowledge is unlimited. Even if the Almighty grants life by thirty more years, for the task of assiduously writing an article on one character and one event each month, there will only be a meagre three hundred and sixty articles by the end, far too inadequate to chronicle the great variety of cultural artefacts available at the Chinese Heritage Virtual Museum, or to elucidate the epic tales of the myriad human characters and events. Only by reading a catalogue can the subject’s broad outline be instantly revealed. By presenting Voyage of Sinology from East to West: Catalogue of Letters, Books and Artefacts of Western and Chinese Personages Across Three Centuries, together we can roam in the reflective realm where Chinese and Western cultures meet, and meditate on the Voyage of Sinology.

Curatorial and Editorial Department