Dunhuang documents from the examination

Author: Xu Jianping
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: The 21 articles included in this collection of essays were selected from papers on Dunhuang studies. If there is any achievement, it is an account of the work done over the past eighteen years. However, with the abundance of tedious textual research in the collection, the author is inevitably labeled as such. One of my colleagues once compared my work to this: "If ancient books are like pieces of torn clothing, my work is akin to mending those with numerous holes. After much reflection, I had to agree with his analogy. God has given me a brain that lacks creativity—I can’t be a fashion designer, sew trendy and beautiful clothes, or even be a street tailor who mends torn clothes. But the level of skill in mending torn clothes varies, and I certainly don’t possess the expertise of Qingwen mending her brocade robe. I only hope that the few torn clothes I’ve encountered can be made a bit less torn through my efforts, rather than becoming more damaged. However, whether I mend them well or not, I still need the criticism of the advanced scholars in academia to help me improve—'if it’s bad, I will correct it; if it’s good, I will strive to do even better.' I would like to express my gratitude in advance."