«Man-wen lao-dan» - the unique source on the early history of the Ching empire written in the old manchurian language: circumstances of discovery of this annalistic chronicle, first translations of it and publications

The author considers the history of Russian Manchurology specialists in study of the Old Manchurian language, as well as the history of translations of the Manchurian versions of the annalistic chronicles of the nomadic empires of the Chitans, the Chouzhen and the Mongols. In this article, the discovery of the basic source on the early history of the Manchus - «Man-wen lao-dan» («The ancient archives in the Old Manchurian language») is described and the project of translation into Russian and publication of the first volume of the chronicle is presented.