For the first time, all the ancient Tibetan documents of Fazang Dunhuang were collated and published

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Lanzhou, 13 Jan (Xinhua) -- After 15 years of compilation, the "Collection of Dunhuang Tibetan Documents in the National Library of France", compiled by the National Library of France in cooperation with the Northwest University for Nationalities of China and the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, has been compiled for the first time in its entirety.

Cai Rang, editor-in-chief of the "Dunhuang Tibetan Literature Collected by the National Library of France" and professor of Northwest University for Nationalities, introduced that this set of documents consists of 35 volumes, including 3174 document numbers and more than 28,000 high-definition plates. These ancient Tibetan documents from the 7th to the 10th centuries, including Buddhist classics, historical works, contract documents, legal provisions, letters and many other contents, show the history of social and economic activities and ethnic cultural exchanges during the Tubo rule of Dunhuang.

In 1900, 50,000 or 60,000 documents were unearthed from the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. Among them, there are about tens of thousands of ancient Tibetan documents, and the number of excavations is second only to Chinese documents. Unfortunately, a large number of Dunhuang literature was lost overseas. Dunhuang ancient Tibetan documents are mainly preserved in France, Britain and China, of which the French and Tibetan parts are concentrated in the French National Library.

The ancient Tibetan documents of Dunhuang that were photocopied and published this time were re-cataloged in the form of Chinese and Tibetan bilinguals. Cai Rang said that in the 1970s, France published a selection of ancient Tibetan documents in Fazang Dunhuang, but it was the first time in the world that all the Fazang Dunhuang ancient Tibetan documents were sorted out and published in the order of numbering. This will play a role in promoting the study of Dunhuang studies and Tibetan studies.