OCI Public Talk: The Dunhuang Collection -17,000 Chinese Manuscripts & a dozen Printed Books

Join us online for an enlightening talk at 1pm (UK time) on Friday 6th June 2025 as we journey through the rich tapestry of history woven by these ancient documents and uncover the stories they hold. 

Description of the talk 

In 1900, tens of thousands of documents dating from the 4th to the 10th century were discovered by chance in a small cave near Dunhuang in China’s Gansu province.  

The discovery provoked a race between foreign archaeologist/explorers in the first decades of the 20th century and opened up a field of study that remains current. Though the documents were 90% Buddhist and many written in Chinese, they included many in Tibetan, reflecting the power of the Tibetan empire in the area in the 9th century, and many in other scripts such as Sogdian.  

They also reflected the extraordinary mix of religions that moved along the trade routes: Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. Trade documents, tax documents, and fragments of the imperial census were all piled together for reasons not yet finally determined. 

This fascinating topic will be explored in depth by Dr. Frances Wood, a renowned sinologist and former curator of the Chinese collections at the British Library. Dr. Wood will delve into the historical significance of the Dunhuang manuscripts, shedding light on their impact on our understanding of ancient trade routes, religious diversity, and cultural exchanges.  

There will be a discussion session after the talk. Dr. Lars Laamann, Senior Lecturer in the History of China at department of history and Centre of world Christianity will facilitate the discussion and guide the Q&A with the audience. 

About the speaker and facilitator 

Frances Wood 

Dr Frances Wood worked as a library assistant in the Chinese section of SOAS Library from 1972 to 1977 when she moved to the British Library and looked after the Chinese section until retirement. Most activity during that time was devoted to raising money for the conservation and cataloguing of some 7000 Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang and supporting the Chinese conservators and scholars who carried out the work.  

She has written a number of books on Chinese cultural history including The Silk Road: 2000 years in the heart of Asia (2002) and, with Mark Barnard, The Diamond Sutra: the story of the world's earliest dated printed book (2010). 

 Lars Peter Laamann  

Dr Lars Peter Laamann is Senior Lecturer at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London. His research interests include popular religions (incl. Christianity) during the Qing period and in Republican China, the history of medicine and drugs in modern China and the language, culture and history of the Manchus in Qing China.  

To register, please sign up here on Eventbrite.

The talk will be on MS Teams and a recording will be made available afterwards on the OCI events page.