Discussion On Sino-British Academic Exchange On Dunhuang Culture Since The20th Century

The discovery of Dunhuang literatures in China Dunhuang MogaoGrottoes in1900shocked the academic world in both China and the West. TheseDunhuang literatures are precious heritage in studying the historical culture of China,the culture of Central Asia and even the civilization of the world. From1907to1909,lots of Western archaeologists and explorers tried shipping these documents out fromChina by all means, so that Dunhuang documents in Mogao Grottoes scattered in othercountries including the Britain, France, Japan, Russia and the United States. Before the20thcentury, a comprehensive subject centering on Dunhuang literatures, DunhuangGrotto art and the theories of Dunhuang studies has formed, namely Dunhuangology.Dunhuangology is a subject developed mainly from the study on Dunhuangliteratures discovered in the sutra cave. Due to the limitations from objectiveenvironment and conditions on original documents, the study on Dunhuangology sincethe20thcentury has not formed a complete and real academic history study onDunhuangology. It is necessary for us to have an all-round overview on the history ofDunhuang studies and exchanges so as to promote the further development of theacademic research on Dunhuangology.This paper is divided into five parts. Centering on the publication and research ofBritish-collected Dunhuang documents, the main ideas of each part are Stein andSino-British Dunhuang studies as well as their inspiration and influence uponSino-British cultural exchanges on Dunhuangoloy; the process of the collection andpublication of British-collected Dunhuang literatures, the results and the academicvalue;the results of Sino-British scholars in launching academic studies on Chineseliterature, non-Chinese literature and Dunhuang works of art by taking advantage of British-collected Dunhuang documents; the influence of Sino-British cultural exchangeson Dunhuangoloy upon the historic study of Sino-British Dunhuangology and thedevelopment of international Dunhuang studies, respectively.Stein is the first one bringing Chinese Dunhuang literatures to the West, who has aprofound effect on the academic exchanges of Sino-British Dunhuang culture. As forStein,"we should view him from an academic perspective" but completely confined tothe so-called "national emotions" instead. Only in this way, can we make it conducivefor Sino-British scholars to jointly promote the progress of both China and the Britain inthe increasingly thriving and prosperous academic research and exchanges ofinternational Dunhuang culture.The collection and publication of British-collected Dunhuang literatures is a part ofthe academic exchanges of Sino-British Dunhuang culture, which is also constantlyupdating. Based on British-collected Dunhuang literatures, scholars from both countrieshave studied the historic issues of ancient China and launched frank and elaboratedacademic exchanges on the literatures concerning the comments, translation and thetime. These exchanges have made significant achievements and greatly enriched andimproved the exchange and cooperation contents of international Dunhuang studies,promoting and perfecting the academic system of the whole international Dunhuangstudies in the future.This paper strives to clarify the history of Sino-British scholars collecting andpublishing Dunhuang literatures and proceeding academic studies throughBritish-collected literatures, explores the experience in the development and evolvementof Sino-British Dunhuang culture academic exchanges and obtain the latest results andinformation that promoting the Sino-British Dunhuang studies, seeking to make thispaper a direct driving force for the prosperity of international Dunhuangology. Throughexamining the situation of Sino-British academic studies and exchanges based on theBritish-collected Dunhuang literatures, we can get that the peaceful exchanges andcooperation around the world will further promote the profound and consistentdevelopment of the world culture and make progress in economic progress, scientificachievements and cultural prosperity and so on. At the same time, it will also makepositive contribution to enhancing the enterprise of international academic exchangesand the world peace and harmony.