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Discovery of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes  |
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The Library Cave is another name of the 17th cave of the Mogao Grottoes. It is famous for the discovery of thousands of ancient sutras, documents, art works and other cultural relics here.
For some reasons, this cave was shut down and became a sutra cave in the early 11th century. Because no trustworthy records were discovered, the time and reason for its closure became a complicated case of history.
On June 22, 1900, Wang Yuanlu, a Taoist living in a Dunhuang temple, accidentally discovered the Library Cave and unearthed over 50,000 pieces of sutras, documents, embroideries, silk paintings, paintings on paper and musical and other instruments. This world-shocking discovery provides numerous rich valuable materials for the study of history, geography, religion, economy, politics, nationality, language, literature, art, science and technology of China and Asia as a whole.
Unfortunately, under the particular historical circumstance, the late Qing Government was corrupt and incompetent, and the western powers invaded China. Soon after the discovery of the Library Cave, explorers from Britain, France, Japan, Russia and other countries, came to Dunhuang one after another. They cheated Wang Yuanlu out of a large amount of Dunhuang relics, with the result that the majority of the relics were plundered and scattered around the world and only a small part remains at home.
The treasures were quick to be plundered, first by Russians who took some ancient scrolls. In 1907, Aurel Stein, from Britain, carted away 24 packing cases of manuscripts and five cases of paintings, embroideries and art relics from Dunhuang, totaling 13,300 pieces of documents and relics, most of which are now preserved in the British Museum. The next year, Paul Pelliot, from France, smuggled about 6,000 volumes of scrolls, probably the most valuable ones, out of China and to France. Later, the Japanese stole about 900 volumes.
Over 80 per cent of Dunhuang documents and relics have been scattered in various foreign countries. According to statistics, and materials published by other countries, of all Dunhuang artifacts, about 13,300 pieces are in Britain, 6,000 in France, 20,000 in Russia, 1,000 in Japan, 25 in the United States, three in Germany, and 16 in Denmark. Besides, India, Finland, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Australia also have had a large collection of Dunhuang treasures. All these treasures account for two-thirds the total findings in the Library Cave.
Editor: Rebecca & Ronnie
Source: Peopledaily.com
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