The majority of surviving Dunhuang manuscripts were kept in a cave, the so-called Library Cave (Cave 17), which had … See more

While most studies use Dunhuang manuscripts to address issues in areas such as history and religious studies, some have addressed questions about the provenance and materiality of the manuscript… See more

The variety of languages and scripts found among the Dunhuang manuscripts is a result of the multicultural nature of the region in the first millennium AD. The largest proportion of the manuscripts are written in C… See more

By far the largest proportion of manuscripts from the Dunhuang cave contain Buddhist texts. These include Buddhist sutras, commentaries and treatises, often copied for the purpose of generating religious merit. Several hu… See more

• Non-Buddhist religious texts
• Social documents, such as contracts, account books and loan receipts
• Philosophy, notably the Confucian classics, including an ancient edition of Analects commented by Huang Ka… See more

• Afghan Geniza, similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
• Cairo Geniza, similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
• Dunhuang Manichaean texts… See more

• Mair, Victor H. (ed.) 2001. The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10984-9. (Amazon Kindle edition.) See more