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Wang Yuanlu, the first ‘curator’ of the Stein collection’s Dunhuang corpus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2025
Abstract
Wang Yuanlu 王圓籙—the individual who accidentally stumbled upon the ‘library cave’ or Cave 17 at the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang in June 1900—is behind one of the world’s most significant discoveries. Yet, in the years that followed, he was also responsible for the scattering of the cave’s contents and selling large chunks to Marc Aurel Stein in 1907 and to Paul Pelliot in 1908. How could the self-appointed guardian of this major Buddhist complex part with one of what is often described as its crowning jewels? This article delves into Wang Yuanlu’s motivations and highlights his agency, demonstrating that he was instrumental in shaping the now so-called Stein collection. One of the key sources for this investigation are the published writings of Marc Aurel Stein, which provide the most detailed descriptions of Wang and his activities during the period of the dispersal of the contents of Cave 17. These are supplemented by information drawn from the relevant parts of Stein’s diaries, Paul Pelliot’s writings, and primary sources and recent scholarship in Chinese that shed a different light on Wang’s doings. The article starts by studying Wang’s relationship with the Mogao Caves and their wider ecosystem. It then looks at the subsequent dispersal of the newly found hoard through his transactions with Stein in 1907 and 1914, which are contrasted with his dealings with Pelliot.
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References
1 V. Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford and New York, 2012), pp. 167–197.
2 Chen Wanli 陳萬里, Xixing riji 西行日記 [A Diary of Westward Travels], (ed.) Yang Xiaobin (Lanzhou, 2000), p. 8.
3 M. A. Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (London, 1912), vol. ii, p. 190.
4 Several Chinese primary sources dating from the time at which Wang Yuanlu was active at Dunhuang indicate that his name (though phonetically the same) was originally with the characters ‘園祿’. It is only on his epitaph that it was changed to ‘圓籙’. In addition, Fang Guangchang has suggested that his secular name was Wang Fulin 王福琳. Fang Guangchang 方廣錩, ‘Wang Daoshi mingcheng kao’ 王道士名称考 [On the name and titles of Taoist Priest Wang], Dunhuang yanjiu 敦煌研究 4 (2016), pp. 111–118.
5 Rong Xinjiang, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, (trans.) I. Galambos (Leiden and Boston, 2013), p. 107.
6 Stein thought that Wang Yuanlu ‘was a poor friendless mendicant’ from Shaanxi 陝西. See M. A. Stein, Serindia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China, etc. (Oxford, 1921), vol. 2, p. 804. Wang Jiqing examined in detail the various sources available and demonstrated that, although Wang Yuanlu’s place of origin is most often given as Hubei, including on his epitaph, some official Chinese documents from the late Qing Dynasty mention that he came from Hanzhong 漢中 in Shaanxi. According to Wang Jiqing, it is perfectly conceivable that Wang Yuanlu was born in Hubei but spent a lot of his adult life in Shaanxi. Wang Jiqing 王冀青, Guo bao liu san: Zang jing dong de gu shi 國寶流散: 藏經洞的故事 (Lanzhou, 2007), pp. 3–6.
7 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, pp. 79–80.
8 The term ‘daoshi 道士’ has often been translated as ‘Abbot’ in English, although it would be more accurate to call him a ‘priest’ or a ‘Daoist master’.
9 C.-E. Bonin, ‘Les grottes des Mille Bouddhas’, Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 45.2 (1901), p. 212. For a detailed article about Bonin’s visit to Dunhuang and relations with explorers Pelliot and Hedin, see M. Doumy, ‘Charles-Eudes Bonin: the first French person to visit Dunhuang’, Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage 1.1 (2023), pp. 1–20, https://doi.org/10.5334/srah.3. For a full biography of Bonin in French, see S. Malsagne, Au Coeur du Grand Jeu: La France en Orient. Charles-Eudes Bonin (1865–1929), explorateur diplomate (Paris, 2015).
10 This information is found in the stele ‘Record of Merit for the Restoration of the Thousand Buddha Caves’ three-storey building (Ch. ‘Chong xiu Qianfodong san ceng lou gong de bei ji 重修千佛洞三层楼功德碑记’) dated to 1906, as well as in Wang Yuanlu’s epitaph. See Fan Guangchun 樊光春, ‘Dunhuang Daoshi Wang Yuanlu pingzhuan’ 敦煌道士王圆箓评传 [Critical biography of Dunhuang’s Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu], Zhongguo daojiao 中國道教 5 (2008), pp. 43–44.
11 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 168.
12 The date of the discovery of Cave 17 varies depending on sources: it can be given as 20, 22, or 25 June 1907.
13 Huang Zheng 黄征, Jie chen yi zhu: Dunhuang yi shu 劫尘遗珠: 敦煌遗书 [The Lost Pearl: Dunhuang Manuscripts] (Lanzhou, 1999), pp. 10–13. Rong Xinjiang and Justin Jacobs both suggested that Wang Yuanlu may not have told Wang Zonghan and local authorities the whole truth about the actual scope of the cave’s contents. They refer to the fact that Ye Changchi 葉昌熾 (1849–1917), Gansu provincial education commissioner from 1902 to 1906, thought that the cave only had several hundreds of manuscripts. It could be that he heard this from Wang Zonghan, who was deliberately misled by Wang Yuanlu. See Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, pp. 90–91, 101; J. Jacobs, The Compensations of Plunder: How China Lost Its Treasures (Chicago and London, 2020), pp. 96–97.
14 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, p. 85.
15 Stein, Serindia, p. 802.
16 Ibid, pp. 803–804; see also Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 167; and Wang Jiqing, ‘Aurel Stein’s dealings with Wang Yuanlu and Chinese officials in Dunhuang in 1907’, in Sir Aurel Stein, Colleagues and Collections, (ed.) H. Wang (London, 2012), p. 3. For an expanded version of this article, see Wang Jiqing 王冀青, ‘1907 nian Sitanyin yu Wang yuanlu ji Dunhuang guanyuan zhijian de jiaozhu 1907’ 年斯坦因与王圆禄及敦煌官员之间的交往 [Stein’s dealings with Wang Yuanlu and Dunhuang officials in 1907], Dunhuang xue jikan 3 (2007), pp. 60–76.
17 Huang Zheng, Jie chen yi zhu, pp. 10–13; see also Wang Jiqing, ‘Aurel Stein’s dealings’, p. 3.
18 Ma Shichang 马世长 used the colophon written by Wang Zonghan on a painting from Cave 17 as proof. The dedication, which has been translated into English with the help of Hsieh Han-Lin, reads as follows: 甘肅敦煌縣千佛洞宋初石室所藏畫大士像。光緒卅年四月朔, 奉檄檢點經卷畫像, 迎歸署中供養。 信士敦煌知縣王宗翰謹記。(Tang Dynasty painting of Avalokiteśvara stored in an early Song Dynasty cave at the Thousand Buddha Caves in Dunhuang county, Gansu. On the first day of the 4th moon of the 30th year of Guangxu, I took the official order to inventory the sutra scrolls and paintings and to bring them back to the government for offering). Recorded by the devotee Wang Zonghan, magistrate of Dunhuang. See Ma Shichang, ‘Guanyu Dunhuang Cangjingdong de ji ge wenti’ 关于敦煌藏经洞的几个问题 [Several questions regarding Dunhuang Cave 17], Wenwu 12 (1978), pp. 22, 33, n. 3.
19 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 15 March 1907, MSS Stein 245: f. 167.
20 The term ‘shiye 師爺’ refers to Jiang’s role as a private assistant or private adviser, attending to secretarial duties for Stein.
21 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 29.
22 Ibid, pp. 165–166.
23 Stein, Serindia, p. 803.
24 P. Pelliot, ‘Une bibliothèque médiévale retrouvée au Kan-sou’, Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême Orient 8 (1908), p. 505; this was also mentioned in his travel diary on 27 February 1908; see P. Pelliot, Carnets de Route, 1906-1908, (eds.) J. Ghesquière and F. Macouin (Paris, 2008), p. 277.
25 I. Popova, ‘S.F. Oldenburg’s Second Russian Turkestan Expedition (1914–1915)’, in Russian Expeditions to Central Asia at the Turn of the 20th Century (St. Petersburg, 2008), p. 163, http://www.orientalstudies.ru/rus/images/pdf/a_popova_2008d.pdf.
26 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 27 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 315; see also Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, p. 82; Jacobs, Compensations of Plunder, p. 95.
27 According to Wang Jiqing, Gusztáv von Kreitner (1847–1893), who visited the site in May 1879 with the Count Béla Széchenyi (1837–1893) and Lajos Lóczy (1849–1920), referred to two lamas, established already for 15 years at the Mogao Caves in his travel account, but he did not allude to the presence of any Daoist monks. Neither did the Russian explorer Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky (1839–1888), who came to Dunhuang a few months later. See Wang, Guo bao liu san, p. 8.
28 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 168.
29 Jin Ronghua 金榮華, Wang Daoshi—Dunhuang wenwu wailiu guanjian renwu tanwu 王道士—敦煌文物外流關鍵人物探微 [The Daoist Priest Wang—Exploring the Key Figures in the Dispersal of Dunhuang Items] (Taipei, 1993), p. 109.
30 As early as 1772, a lama named Li Xinneng 李心能 and his disciple Yuan Xiu 源修 undertook to restore the Leiyin Temple 雷音寺 with the alms they had collected; see Wang, Guo bao liu san, p. 7.
31 The text was translated and quoted by Irina Popova from Труды экспедиции ИРГО по Центральной Азии. Ч. 1. Отчет начальника экспедиции В.И. Роборовского [Works of the IRGS Expedition to Central Asia. Part 1. Report of the Expedition Head V.I. Roborovsky] (St Petersburg, 1900), p. 218; see Popova, ‘S.F. Oldenburg’s Second Russian Turkestan Expedition’, p. 163.
32 Confidential report by Stein concerning the cache of ancient manuscripts at Dunhuang, British Museum Central Archives, CE 32/23/16/2.
33 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 29.
34 Stein, Serindia, pp. 801–802.
35 Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 16 March 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 169.
36 The silk paintings are EO 3579, which represents the Amoghapaśa mandala, and EO 1146, which is probably the remaining top section of a mandala. I am very grateful to Roderick Whitfield, who helped with this identification, personal communication, 14 December 2023.
37 This implies that it would probably have been difficult for Wang Yuanlu to sell these specific items to Pelliot without some level of awareness among the resident monks.
38 M. A. Stein, On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks: Brief Narrative of Three Expeditions in Innermost Asia and North-Western China (London, 1933), vol. 1, p. 199.
39 L. Bárdi, ‘Chinese assessment of Sir Aurel M. Stein’s work’, in Aurel Stein Bibliography, (ed.) I. Erdélyi (Bloomington, IN, 1999), p. 45, n. 1.
40 Fan Guangchun 樊光春, ‘Dunhuang Daoshi Wang Yuanlu pingzhuan’, p. 44.
41 J. Abercombie, ‘Syncretism in the Study of Quanzhen Taoism: From Essence to Argument’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Whitman College, 2012), arminda.whitman.edu/theses/12 (accessed 18 July 2024).
42 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, p. 83.
43 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 169.
44 Bodleian Libraries Oxford, entry for 29 May 2023, MSS Stein 204: f. 320.
45 The tombstone is located inside a stupa containing the remains of Wang Yuanlu, near the Mogao Caves. Zhao Mingyu 趙明玉, ‘Tai qing gong da fang zhang dao hui si Wang shi Fazhen muzhi’ 太清宮大方丈道會司王師法真墓誌, in Wei Juxian 衛聚賢, Dunhuang shishi 敦煌石室, Appendix 9, Shuowen yuekan 說文月刊 3/10 (1946), pp. 35–36.
46 The letter is held at the Dunhuang Academy, under object number D0311. Referred to in Chinese as ‘催養經款草丹’ or ‘王道士薦疏’, it is signed by Wang Yuanlu and dated to the first to third years of the Xuantong 宣统reign (1910–1911). Some scholars have also suggested that the letter was addressed to the Empress Cixi 慈禧 or to an eminent Buddhist monk. I am grateful to Dunhuang Academy colleagues for this information and for showing me the document.
47 This information is recorded in the stele ‘Record of the Thousand Buddha Caves’ Thousand Images Pagoda’ (Ch. ‘Dunhuang Qianfodong Xiangta ji 敦煌千佛洞千相塔记’), dated to the second year of Xuantong’s reign; see Fan Guangchun, ‘Dunhuang Daoshi Wang Yuanlu pingzhuan’, p. 43. The stele, 112 centimetres high by 56 centimetres wide and 12 centimetres thick, is now in the exhibition centre of the Dunhuang Academy (collection number Z1114).
48 Zhao Shengliang 赵声良, ‘1943 nian Luo Jimei pai she Dunhuang shi ku zhao pian de yi yi’ 1943 年罗寄梅拍摄敦煌石窟照片的意义 [The significance of Luo Jimei’s 1943 photographs of the Dunhuang Caves], in Pengpai Xinwen 澎湃新闻, 23 October 2019, https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_4633619 (accessed 3 April 2024).
49 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, pp. 116–117.
50 J.-P. Drège, ‘Notes codicologiques sur les manuscrits de Dunhuang et de Turfan’, Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême Orient 74 (1985), p. 489.
51 Wang Yuanlu showed his accounts and his temple subscription to Jiang Xiaowan; see Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 168. When Stein went back to the Mogao Caves in 1914, Wang still kept a ‘fine red book of donations’; see M. A. Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (Oxford, 1928), p. 357.
52 Fang Guangchang 方廣錩, ‘Wang Daoshi mingcheng kao’, pp. 116–118.
53 Stein, Serindia, p. 804.
54 Ibid, pp. 821, 809: ‘The limitations of my philological knowledge would not permit a rapid selection of what might be of special interest amidst these masses of Chinese texts.’
55 Ibid, p. 802.
56 P. Pelliot, ‘Une grotte médiévale retrouvée au Kan-sou’, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême- Orient 8 (1908), p. 507: ‘Il semblait probable a priori que les kia-pan parfaitement en ordre, les seuls ouvrages en ordre de toute la bibliothèque, représentaient un Kandjur; et c’est justement le renseignement que m’a donné de lui-même le Wang Tao, sur la foi des lamas qui ont eu accès dans la grotte.’
57 Hundreds of items—both manuscripts and paintings—had been given to officials and other individuals before Aurel Stein arrived at Dunhuang in 1907; see Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, pp. 84–102.
58 Ibid, pp. 84, 100–101.
59 These items proved particularly popular and were rapidly almost exhausted, but Pelliot managed to secure a few during his visit; see Pelliot, ‘Une grotte médiévale’, pp. 506, 528.
60 P. Terzi and S. Whitfield, ‘Reconstructing a medieval library? The contents of the manuscript bundles in the Dunhuang Library Cave’, Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage 1.1 (2023), pp. 56–76.
61 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 182; Stein, Serindia, pp. 808–809.
62 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 182; Stein, Serindia, pp. 808–809.
63 Stein, Serindia, p. 801.
64 Ibid, p. 814.
65 Ibid, p. 823.
66 Bodleian Libraries Oxford, entry for 28 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: ff. 317–318: ‘During the Tao-shih [Daoshi]’s absence, I succeeded in digging down to floor in the NE corner. Here between the wall & base three bundles full of silk pict[ure]s, waste paper, etc., had been thrown down to keep off the damp! […] No moisture in rock, but clay built base appar[ently] absorbs some from outside air.’
67 Stein, Serindia, p. 814.
68 When Stein started looking at some of the ‘miscellaneous’ packets placed at the bottom of the ‘regular’ bundles, Wang was visibly annoyed that he disturbed his arrangement and proceeded to fill the space with bundles that the explorer had already sifted through. See Bodleian Libraries Oxford, MSS 204: f. 318.
69 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 188.
70 For a thorough review of Stein’s acquisitions of Dunhuang materials, see Terzi and Whitfield, ‘Reconstructing a medieval library?’, pp. 56–76.
71 Stein, Serindia, p. 802.
72 Ibid, p. 803.
73 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 165.
74 Ibid, p. 165.
75 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 166.
76 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 22 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 305.
77 Stein, Serindia, p. 803.
78 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 166.
79 Stein, Serindia, p. 803.
80 Ibid, pp. 804, 808.
81 Ibid, p. 804.
82 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 167.
83 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 22 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: ff. 305–306.
84 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 169.
85 Stein, Serindia, p. 807.
86 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 23 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 307.
87 Stein, Serindia, p. 807.
88 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 172; Stein, On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks, p. 204.
89 Stein, Serindia, p. 808.
90 Ibid, p. 809.
91 Ibid, p. 814.
92 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 23 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: ff. 307–308.
93 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 182.
94 Ibid, pp. 178–179.
95 Stein, Serindia, p. 813.
96 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 181.
97 Stein, Serindia, p. 813; Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 181.
98 Confidential report by Stein concerning the cache of ancient manuscripts at Dunhuang, British Museum archives, CE 32/23/16/2.
99 Stein, Serindia, p. 812.
100 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entries for 23 to 27 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: ff. 307–315.
101 Stein, Serindia, p. 822.
102 Ibid, p. 822.
103 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 27 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 315.
104 Stein, Serindia, p. 823.
105 Ibid, p. 823.
106 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 191.
107 Stein, Serindia, pp. 823–824. The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 2 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: ff. 317–318.
108 Stein, Serindia, p. 823.
109 Ibid, p. 813.
110 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries, entry for 23 May 1907, MSS Stein 204: f. 316.
111 Stein, Serindia, p. 824.
112 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 193.
113 Bodleian Libraries Oxford, entry for 29 May 1907, MSS 204: f. 319.
114 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein field diaries, entry for 29 May 1907, MSS 204: f. 320.
115 This item was given the number Ch.00269 by Stein and received the registration number MAS, 0.1129 at the British Museum.
116 Stein, Serindia, p. 825.
117 Ibid, p. 825.
118 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 339.
119 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 27 September 1907, MSS Stein 205: f. 90.
120 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 339.
121 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 29 September 1907, MSS Stein 205: f. 91.
122 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 5 October 1907, MSS Stein 205: f. 94.
123 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 339.
124 The Bodleian Libraries Oxford, typed transcript of Stein’s field diaries from December 1906 to August 1908, entry for 5 October 1907, MSS Stein 205: f. 95.
125 The author would like to thank their two anonymous reviewers for suggesting that ‘lan-di’ might be Stein’s transcription for 爛的, meaning ‘rotten’, ‘decayed’, or ‘ragged’. This term would have denoted manuscript scraps considered of low value.
126 British Museum Central Archives, CE 32/23/16/2.
127 P. Pelliot, ‘Trois Ans dans la Haute Asie: Conférence de M. Paul Pelliot au Grand Amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne, le 10 décembre 1909’, Extrait du Bulletin du Comité de l’Asie Française (Janvier 1910) (Paris, 1910), p. 13. The article has been digitised and is available on Toyo Bunko, http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-5-B2-12/, https://doi.org/10.20676/00000241.
128 Translated by the author; Pelliot, ‘Une bibliothèque médiévale’, p. 505.
129 Ibid, pp. 506–507.
130 Ibid, p. 505.
131 Ibid, p. 508.
132 Ibid, p. 507.
133 Ibid.
134 M. Lalou, ‘Les manuscrits tibétains des grandes prajñapāpāramitā trouvés à Touen-houang’, in Silver Jubilee Volume of the Zinbun-Kagaku-Kenkyusyo (1954), p. 257.
135 Pelliot, ‘Une bibliothèque médiévale’, p. 507.
136 In his travel diaries, Pelliot said on 12 May 1908 that he had only managed to buy one of these books; see Pelliot, Carnets de Route, p. 294. However, the post-scriptum to an article published in the same year indicates that he had secured three volumes; see Pelliot, ‘Une bibliothèque médiévale’, p. 529, n. 1.
137 Pelliot, Carnets de Route, p. 136.
138 See full quote earlier in the article; Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, pp. 178–179.
139 Pelliot, ‘Trois Ans dans la Haute Asie’, p. 15.
140 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, p. 106.
141 Shuchen Wang, ‘Atoms & Bits of Cultural Heritage: The Use of Dunhuang Collections in Knowledge Making, Nation Building, Museum Diplomacy, Cultural Tourism and Digital Economy’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Aalto University, 2019), p. 57, footnote 15, https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-8685-9 (accessed 30 July 2024).
142 Wang was not the only person with manuscripts for sale. The diaries of Yoshikawa Koichirō reveal that he was offered a scroll by the head of the Anxi Telegraph Office even before reaching Dunhuang in 1911. He also purchased a smaller number of manuscripts from several locals, including a farm labourer and a Chinese merchant. Imre Galambos, ‘The third Ōtani expedition at Dunhuang: acquisition of the Japanese collection of Dunhuang manuscripts', Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology 3 (2008): pp. 30–31. Ueyama Daishun, ‘How I came to be convinced that the Ōtani collection contains forged manuscripts', in Dunhuang Manuscripts Forgeries, (ed.) S. Whitfield (London, 2002), pp. 316–320.
143 Galambos, ‘Third Ōtani expedition at Dunhuang', pp. 30–31.
144 English translation from Yoshikawa Koichirō's diary. See Daishun, ‘How I came to be convinced’, p. 317.
145 Ibid, pp. 317–8. See also Galambos, ‘Third Ōtani expedition at Dunhuang', p. 31.
146 Ibid, p. 32. The author found the precise number of manuscripts in an interview given by Yoshikawa Koichirō 70 years after the events. See also Hao Chunwen, Dunhuang Manuscripts: An Introduction to Texts from the Silk Road, (trans.) S. Teiser (Diamond Bar, CA, 2020), p. 51.
147 Shang Lin 尚林, Fang Guangchang 方廣錩, and Rong Xinjiang 荣新江, Zhongguo suocang Dagu shoujipin gaikuang: tebie yi Dunhuang xiejing wei zhongxin 中國所藏集品概況—特別以敦煌寫經為中心 (Kyoto, 1991).
148 Stein, Innermost Asia, p. 356.
149 Ibid, p. 355.
150 Stein, On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks, p. 210.
151 Ibid, p. 211.
152 Stein, Serindia, p. 830.
153 Stein, On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks, p. 211.
154 Stein, Innermost Asia, p. 358.
155 Ibid, p. 358.
156 Ibid, p. 358.
157 Ibid, p. 358.
158 Ibid, p. 358.
159 Ibid, p. 359.
160 Ibid, p. 357.
161 Ibid, p. 360.
162 Ibid, p. 359.
163 For an overview, see Hao Chunwen, Dunhuang Manuscripts, pp. 54–56. For more details, refer to Popova, ‘S.F. Oldenburg’s Second Russian Turkestan Expedition (1914–1915)’, pp. 158–175. In addition to the items collected in 1914–1915, several Dunhuang manuscripts acquired from an unknown source had been transferred to St Petersburg in 1911. See A. Zorin, ‘The collection of Dunhuang Tibetan texts kept at the IOM RAS’, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS, St. Petersburg, 2012, pp. 365–367, http://www.orientalstudies.ru/rus/images/pdf/a_zorin_2012_b.pdf.
164 Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, p. 169.
165 Ibid, p. 170.
166 Jacobs, Compensations of Plunder, p. 97.
167 They are now respectively held at the British Museum and British Library.
168 Rong, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang, p. 107.