Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 8, 2021

 

The History of Middle Antiquity from the Perspective of Dunhuang Studies

 

Rong Xinjiang, Liu Jinbao, Hao Chunwen, Xiang Chu and Zhao Shengliang

 

Editor’s Note: On August 19, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Gansu Province, where he visited the Mogao Grottoes, and the collection of cultural relics and academic achievements, and listened to Dunhuang Academy’s introduction of their efforts in preserving the relics and promoting Chinese history and culture. At the Dunhuang Academy, Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, pointing out that: “Dunhuang culture has continued for nearly two thousand years. It includes the world’s largest, richest, and longest and most completely preserved art treasures. A bright pearl of world civilization, it also provides precious materials for the study of our ancient national politics, economy, military affairs, culture and art.” Xi Jinping stressed that “to reinforce Dunhuang studies,” “it is not only necessary to delve into the philosophical ideas, humanistic spirit, values, moral norms and so on behind the Dunhuang culture and historical relics, with a view to promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of the fine traditional Chinese culture, but also to reveal the cultural spirit, open-mindedness and confidence of the Chinese nation, in order to provide intellectual support for the adherence to and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”

 

At the second anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Dunhuang Academy and the centennial of the founding of the Communist Party of China, we are pleased to see that, guided by the spirit of the speech, Dunhuang studies have shown unprecedented vitality. The “systematic conservation and publication of Dunhuang documents and other key ancient books” has been included in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through to 2035.

 

In order to deepen our understanding of the spirit of Xi Jinping’s important speech, to demonstrate the richness of Dunhuang’s legacy documents, cave art, ancient monuments and cultural relics and their fundamental importance in academic research, and to enhance the solid academic foundation for our cultural confidence, we invited papers from Professor Rong Xinjiang from the Department of History of Peking University, Professor Liu Jinbao from the Department of History of Zhejiang University, Professor Hao Chunwen from the School of History of Capital Normal University, Professor Xiang Chu from the Institute of Popular Chinese Culture Studies of Sichuan University, and Research Librarian Zhao Shengliang of the Dunhuang Academy. They write from five perspectives, respectively: the history of Chinese and Western communication, the history and geography of middle antiquity, the history of religion in middle antiquity, the history of language and literature, and art history. These articles, based on original Dunhuang documents, have empirically and convincingly demonstrated the invaluable Dunhuang culture as a “treasure trove of art,” a “cultural jewel,” and a “precious historical resource.” We hope that this collection of articles will be useful in furthering Dunhuang studies.