The Study Of The Scientific Mission To North-Western China

The Scientific Mission to North-Western China was an academic organization, which had many experts that came from China, Sweden and other countries. It widely inspected in north-western China from 1927 to 1935, which related to many subjects, historiography, archeology, folklore, geography, geology, paleontology, biology, meteorology, and etc. It gained great achievements. As far as the modern academic circles of China was concerned, it was the first equal cooperation and exercised great influence. At that time, the press circles reported the activities of the Scientific Mission to North-Western China in time and some achievements on it were published, but those were limited in the process and a few members' diaries. In 1980's, when more data rose, the articles on the Scientific Mission to North-Western China were more and more, which laid particular stress on some aspects. The thesis will study the Scientific Mission to North-Western China in a whole, in order to complement the blank space. The thesis is divided into three sections.The heart of the first section is the organization of the Scientific Mission to North-Western China, including the background, process and members. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, many western expeditions made a series of activities and gainedgreat attainments, for example, the Boer documents, the ruins of Lolan, the Dunhuang documents and the LiBo manuscripts. These activities not only preserved the Chinese cultural heritage in a special way, but also stimulated the Chinese academic circles. After the May Fourth Movement, the science, as the sign of the new era, affected the history research. The geology made rapid progress and the modern archeology developed gradually. Many history experts, for example, Wang Guowei, combined the historical documents and the unearthed historical relics, in order to build a new ancient history, and made some achievements. At the same time, the special research agency rose, which was the archeology institute. These factors made indelible effect on the organization of the Scientific Mission to North-Western China.The second section discusses the achievements of the Scientific Mission to North-Western China by subjects. The historiography, the archeology and the folklore are emphases. The first is the historiography. According to the historical documents and the investigations, Xu Bingchang denied Wang Guowei's viewpoint and thought Zubu was not Tartar. Huang Wenbi inspected Turpan two times and harvested, who opened up the Turpan study and made great contribution to the research of Gaochang history. The Research of Gaochang's cities proved the Book of the Sui Dynasty's Historywas exact, and revised Pelliot's mistakes. On the basis of the tombstones, Huang Wenbi studied the Qus rulers' genealogies and years, determined that the Qus rulers dominated Gaochang for 141 years, and got a clear history of Gaochang. He also wrote the List of Official System of Gaochang. On the problem how the eastern culture and the western culture affected Xinjiang's culture, Huang Wenbi raised the theory of two pediods' promotion. Xu Bingchang and Bergman discovered some rock paintings. From then on, people paid more attention to the rock paintings of Mongolia and Xinjiang. These discoveries not only were important in the history of rock paintings of China, but also provided a new angle for the historiography research. The second is the archeology. Yuan Fuli investigated and affirmed the ruins of Beiting Government Office. He discovered many dinosaur fossils so that the conclusion that there . was not dinosaur in Inner-Asia was canceled. The academic circles attached importance to the bamboo slips in Juyan and Lop-Nor, so that the study of Chinese bamboo slips made great progress. The river ruins Bergman discovered were important. The third is the folklore. Huang Wenbi and Ding Daoheng carefully investigated the people's life of Mongolia and Xinjiang. They wrote the Range of Nationalities of...