Dunhuang Geographical Documents: Knowledge Production and Local History During the Tang

Описание: Dr Alexis Lycas's presentation titled ‘Dunhuang Geographical Documents: Knowledge Production and Local History During the Tang’. This presentation was given on 21 February 2025 at the British Library conference 'A Silk Road Oasis Symposium: Exploring Dunhuang's Multifaceted Legacy'.

While thousands of Dunhuang manuscripts have been studied from numerous standpoints (art history, book history, religious and economic history), the Dunhuang geographical documents have been exclusively analysed from the perspective of historical geography. The aim of this talk is to understand, from the perspective of the social and cultural history of knowledge, what nine fragmentary manuscripts tell us about geographical practices and knowledge during the Tang (618 – 907) and Five Dynasties (907 – 960). These manuscripts bear witness to the codification of Chinese geographical knowledge as well as to its variety, before the Song dynasty (960 – 1279), a period traditionally considered to have witnessed the development of these phenomena.

To celebrate the closing of the exhibition ‘A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang’, the team of the International Dunhuang Programme (IDP) organised a two-day symposium on 21-22 February. This event, which was held in person at the British Library and live-streamed, brought together 20 established and emerging researchers, sharing the latest insights into the history, culture, and legacy of Dunhuang.