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- Title
On Aurel Stein (1862-1943).
- Authors
Chin Jung-hua
- Abstract
This article examines the life and career of Hungarian-born British archaeologist Aurel Stein, who discovered numerous cultural relics on scientific expeditions throughout Central Asia during the early 20th century. Here, the focus is on Stein's "discovery" of thousands of valuable Buddhist texts and drawings at Dunhuang, in Gansu Province, China, in 1907. The texts and drawings, made between the 5th and 10th centuries, were in fact discovered by a Taoist monk, Wang Yuanlu, who sold more than nine thousand scrolls and more than five hundred drawings to Stein, who then shipped them to the British Museum and other British archival institutions. The article traces the many archaeological finds made by Stein in China, and the often severe conditions under which he and his staff worked, noting also that Stein was responsible for the removal of a substantial amount of Chinese national treasures.
- Subjects
DUNHUANG (China); CHINA; STEIN, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943; BUDDHIST manuscripts; CHINESE history, 221 B.C.-960 A.D.; WANG Yuanlu; CHINESE scrolls; ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations; ARCHAEOLOGISTS; CULTURAL property; RELICS
- Publication
Chinese Studies / Hanxue Yanjiu, 1986, Vol 4, Issue 2, p59
- ISSN
0254-4466
- Publication type
Article