Category Archives: Dunhuang

Dunhuang Studies Conference – Cambridge 2019

We just finished the Dunhuang Studies Conference held at St. John’s College, Cambridge on 17-18 April 2019. This was a major event, the first such conference in Cambridge. It was organised by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Cambridge, conference, Dunhuang, History of scholarship | 1 Comment

Composite manuscripts in medieval China: The case of scroll P.3720 from Dunhuang

Imre Galambos, “Composite manuscripts in medieval China: The case of scroll P.3720 from Dunhuang.” In Michael Friedrich and Cosima Schwarke, eds., One-Volume Libraries: Composite Manuscripts and Multiple Text Manuscripts. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016, 355–378. Manuscript Pelliot chinois 3720 (hereafter: P.3720) … Continue reading

Posted in Chinese manuscript, Codicology, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A snapshot of Dunhuang studies, circa 2016

Imre Galambos, “A snapshot of Dunhuang Studies, Circa 2016.” Orientations (2016) 47.4, 33–38. The Dunhuang manuscripts were discovered in the summer of 1900 in a sealed-off cave within the Buddhist cave-temple complex (also known as Qianfodong, or ‘Thousand Buddha Caves’), at Mogao, near the … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, Chinese manuscript, Codicology, Dunhuang, History of scholarship | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Scribbles on the verso of manuscripts written by lay students in Dunhuang

Imre Galambos, “Scribbles on the verso of manuscripts written by lay students in Dunhuang.” Tonkō shahon kenykū nenpō 敦煌寫本硏究年報 (2016) 10, 497–522. The vast corpus of Dunhuang manuscripts includes a series of items with what we may call ‘educational texts’ … Continue reading

Posted in Chinese manuscript, Codicology, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits, students | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Confucian education in a Buddhist environment

Imre Galambos, “Confucian education in a Buddhist environment: Medieval manuscripts and imprints of the Mengqiu.” Studies in Chinese Religions (2015) 1.3, 269–288. Although most of the surviving collections of medieval manuscripts and imprints are of Buddhist nature, they normally include a … Continue reading

Posted in Chinese manuscript, Dunhuang, History of scholarship, Japanese, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Manuscripts and printing: East Asia

Imre Galambos, “Manuscripts and printing – East Asia.” In Jonathan A. Silk and Stefano Zacchetti, eds., Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Leiden: Brill, 2015, 968–978. Although historically East Asia has been an arena where ethnically and politically diverse states alternated with one another, … Continue reading

Posted in archaeology, books, Buddhism, Codicology, Dunhuang, printing, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Valley of Dantig and the Myth of Exile and Return

Imre Galambos and Sam van Schaik, “The Valley of Dantig and the Myth of Exile and Return.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (2015) 78/3, 475–491. The valley of Dantig in Amdo plays a central role in Tibetan … Continue reading

Posted in Buddhism, Dantig, Dunhuang, Tibetan | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

She association circulars from Dunhuang

“She association circulars from Dunhuang.” In Antje Richter, ed., History of Chinese Epistolary Culture. (Handbuch der Orientalistik.) Leiden: Brill, 2015: 853–877. This is an article published in Antje Richter’s volume on the history of Chinese epistolary culture, which is a … Continue reading

Posted in Character variants, Codicology, Dating, Dunhuang, Mistakes, Orthography, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Punctuation marks in medieval Chinese manuscripts

This article about punctuation marks mainly in the Dunhuang manuscripts came out recently. It is sort of an inventory of the most important types of marks used in the manuscripts, although it is certainly not complete in its scope. Imre … Continue reading

Posted in Codicology, Corrections, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Punctuation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The earliest catalogue of Dunhuang manuscripts

Modern scholars have often remarked how unfortunate it was that during Aurel Stein’s initial visit to the Mogao Caves in 1907 no attempt was made at prodicing a catalogue of the contents of the cave library. This was, of course, … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, Aurel Stein, Dunhuang, exploration, History of scholarship | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment