On October 9, 2010, Doctor of Historical Sciences L. S. Vasiliev turned 80 years old.

L. S. Vasiliev graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University in 1953 and entered graduate school. In 1958 he became a Candidate of Historical Sciences, and in 1974 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic: "Some problems of the ancient history of China (The genesis of civilization in the Yellow River - the formation of the foundations of material culture and ethnos". L. S. Vasiliev-Senior Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor.

The range of scientific interests of L. S. Vasiliev is very wide, and the degree of study of the subject is extremely deep. The works of L. S. Vasiliev are distinguished by a new original approach to the subject of research, an independent vision of the material and a creative in-depth analysis. The multiplicity of innovative assessments, compositions, and approaches to the most significant strata of Chinese history and culture is striking. His work on the cults, religions, and traditions of the Middle State provides a serious analysis. The hero of the day made a significant contribution to the study of the problems of the genesis of Chinese civilization. He shows the formation of the foundations of material culture and the Han ethnic group. L. S. Vasiliev made a significant contribution to the study of the genesis of Chinese thought. In his works, the formation of the foundations of the worldview and mentality of traditional China is analyzed. L. S. Vasiliev paid much attention to the study of the genesis of Chinese statehood, the formation of the foundations of the social structure and political system of ancient and traditional China. The culmination of the scientist's creative activity was a major three-volume work on the history of ancient China. The scale and depth of this study allow us to put it on a par with the leading domestic and foreign sinologists.

The novelty of the author's approach to the specifics of Chinese society and the state gave a useful impetus to the revision of established stereotypes in the assessment of not only traditional China, but also the entire East. Especially important is the contribution of L. S. Vasiliev to the study of the formation nature of the countries of ancient and medieval Asia. First of all, we are talking about the scientist's contribution to the substantiation and development of the problem of the presence of a special "Asian mode of production" and the phenomenon of "Eastern despotism". The hero of the day also put forward a scientifically based concept of the three foundations of the Eastern model in its typical difference from the Western model. The three fundamental pillars of the Asian traditional socio-economic and political system L. S. Vasiliev proposed to consider the amalgam "power-property", "class-state" and "rent-tax". They were shown that these " three whales "are the basis of the Eastern specificity of traditional society, the foundation of the" Asian mode of production "and the basis of" Eastern despotism", i.e., the complete domination of the state over society. Works of HP Vasiliev helped to understand that private property, primarily land, is impossible in the conditions of the Eastern model and Asian despotism. The latter makes it possible, when working on agricultural problems of the ancient, medieval and modern East, to really assess the correlation of such economic and legal categories as property, possession and holding, i.e. rent. The volume of L. S. Vasiliev's works on China and the East in general allows us to take a new approach to the differences that separate Eastern society from Western society. As a result, the works of the hero of the day directed a long-standing dispute between supporters of the theory of Eastern feudalism and adherents of the Asian mode of production."

Colleagues of the hero of the day wish him health and new creative heights.

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MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF L. S. VASILIEV*

Heroes and Sages of Ancient China / / Problems of the Far East, Moscow, 1991. N 3. Pp. 203-207; N 4. Pp. 199-205.

China at the turn of the third Millennium: Confucian tradition or Marxism-Maoism? // East (Oriens). 1992. N 5. pp. 64-77.

Marxist totalitarianism and Revolution in Russia / / Angle of View, Moscow, 19912, pp. 4-47.

History of the East (Textbook for university students). In 2 volumes, Moscow: Vysshaya shkola Publ., 1993. Vol. 1. 495 p.; Vol. 2. 496 p.-The same: 2nd ed. 2001. Vol. 1. 512 p.; Vol. 2. 559 p.; 3rd ed., ispr. and add. 2003. Vol. 1. 512 p.; Vol. 2. 568 p.; 4th ed. 2005. Vol. 1. 512 p.; Vol. 2. 575 p.; 5th ed., ster. 2008.

World-historical process: a conceptual analysis / / Teaching history at school, Moscow, 1993, No. 3, pp. 2-7.

China in the XX century: transformation, modernization, Westernization / / Twenty-fourth scientific conference "Society and the State in China", Moscow, 1993. Part 2. pp. 134-137.

Traditional East and Marxist Socialism / / The phenomenon of the ogo despotism, Moscow, 1993, pp. 143-176.

Confucian traditions and the modern Far East / / Social Sciences and Modernity, Moscow, 1994, No. 6, pp. 167-171.

Ancient China / RAS. Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow: Vostochny lit. 1995. Author: Vol. 1. Prehistory, Shan-Yin, Western Zhou (to the VIII century BC). 378 p.; Vol. 2: The Chunqiu period (VIII-V centuries BC). Moscow: Vostochny. lit., 2000. 623 p.; Vol. 3: The Zhanguo period (V-III centuries BC). Moscow: Vostochny lit., 2006. 679 p.

Confucian Civilization / / Asia and Africa today. 1996. N 2. pp. 26-29.

General outlines of the historical process (Sketch of a theoretical construction). Part 8. Triumph of the West and Westernization of the East in the XIX century / / Philosophy and Society. Moscow, 1997. N 1. pp. 89-155; p 90-161; 1998. N 1. pp. 55-134; N 3. pp. 113-134.

Man and nature: who is who? (Will humanity survive the global crisis?) // Moscow Oriental Studies, Moscow, 1997, pp. 308-330.

History of religions of the East: A textbook for universities. 3rd ed., reprint. Moscow: Publishing house "University". 1998. 426 p. (in Russian) The same: 7th ed., ispr. and dop. M., 2004. 703 p.

The emergence and evolution of private property in the East / / Private property in the East, Moscow, 1998, pp. 23-63.

The place of major religions in the Chinese civilization / / Comparative study of civilizations. Khrestomatiya, Moscow, 1998, pp. 393-405.

Vostok i Zapad v istorii (Osnovnye parametry problematiki) [East and West in history (Main parameters of the problem)]. Alternative ways to Civilization, Moscow, 2000, pp. 96-114.

Political intrigues and stratagem plans in ancient China// Politicheskaya intriga na Vostoke [Political Intrigue in the East], Moscow, 2000, pp. 45-102.

The East in the XX century // Mir v XX veke [The World in the XX century], Moscow, 2001, pp. 360-454.

Cults, religions, and traditions in China. 2nd ed. Moscow: Vostochny lit., 2001, 488 p.

Vostok i Zapad v sovremennom mire [East and West in the modern world]. Uchebanie istorii v shkole [Teaching History at school], Moscow, 2005, N5, pp. 20-28.

East and West in history // Anthropology of power. Khrestomatiya po politicheskoi antropologii: V 2-kh t. SPb., 2007. Vol. 2. pp. 302-320.

Universal History: A textbook. V 6-i T. M.: Vysshaya shkola, 2007. - Auth.: Vol. 2. Vostok i Zapad v sredniye veka [East and West in the Middle Ages]. 478 p.; Vol. 3: From the Middle Ages to the New Time (XVI-XVIII centuries). 2008. 567 p. 2010. Vol. 4. Novoe vremya.

Stanovlenie politicheskikh partii i partii "novogo tipa" [Formation of political parties and "new type" parties]. 2010. N 2. pp. 114-125.

Kul'tura - istochnik svobody [Culture as a source of freedom]. 2010. N6. pp. 17-20.

* Comp. by O. A. Tutushin. For a list of works from 1955 to 1990, see Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1991. N 2. pp. 210-213.

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