China to mark centennial of late Chinese Dunhuang studies guru

A range of activities will be staged to commemorate the 110th anniversary of birth of Chang Shuhong, a well-known Chinese specialist of Dunhuang studies, and the 60th founding anniversary of the Dunhuang Academy in Dunhuang in northwestern Gansu province, from Aug. 15-20.

More than 300 scholars, specialists, government officials and cultural personnel will participate in the celebration, which willbe organized by the Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics andthe Dunhuang Academy in cooperation with the Gansu provincial government and the State Cultural Relic Bureau, said Fan Jinshi, head of Dunhuang Academy and an expert on Dunhuang grottoes.

Activities will include an opening ceremony, a soiree, the unveiling of a sculpture devoted to Chang, also known as "protector of Dunhuang caves," a symposium on the renowned specialist of Dunhuang studies, an exhibition on new archaeological finds from the northern part of Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang and an international symposium on grotto studies.

The art objects of Dunhuang came to light in 1900 when a Taoist named Wang Yuanlu tumbled into one out of 492 caves at Mogao Grottoes that contained more than 50,000 sutras, records and paintings covering a period from the 4th to the 11th centuries.

Between 1906 and 1919 the Dunhuang grottoes were looted.

In 1961 the Dunhuang Grottoes were cited by the State Council as one of China's key historical and cultural sites. Repairs were carried out from 1963 to 1965. Since then, thousands of Chinese and foreign scholars have come to study these unique stone sculptures.

The Dunhuang Academy was formed in 1944 as a research institute, and Chang Shuhong, also a painter who used to study in France, was made its first president. Chang, whose oil paintings won several international prizes in France in the 1930s, died in 1994 at the age of 90.

The academy now has more than 140 staff members working in a dozen institutes.

Source: Xinhua