From 65438 to 0929, Stan proudly told the audience about his experience in Dunhuang in a series of lectures at Harvard. When Stan returned to Dunhuang on 19 14, Taoist Wang warmly greeted him and showed him an account detailing how he used the money to repair the cave. "Considering his (Wang Daochang's) official handling of these documents, he regrets not having enough courage and wisdom to accept my proposal to sell all the classics through Master Jiang Xiaowan." Stein felt that because he paid the Taoist King more money than others (the China government didn't pay), he could have bought all the scriptures and shipped them out of China. Even in 1929, many scholars in Europe and China thought that China cultural relics should stay in China, but Stein still didn't think there was anything wrong with transporting documents and cultural relics from China.
When thinking about the problem of the dispersion of Dunhuang documents, we should try our best to avoid judging Stein by modern standards. Today, many people support the return of Elgin marble to Greece. However, it must be taken into account that Stan and other explorers were active in the period when imperialism was prevalent before the First World War. Both European powers and Japan sent expeditions to dig in Xinjiang, and few people questioned this at that time. Some skeptics include German Albert Grünwedel and Russian scholar Sergei FeDolovics oldenburg. They all criticized LeKirk and others for stripping murals from the website.
At that time, foreigners had legitimate reasons to think that it would be safer to leave Dunhuang for the documents of the Tibetan Sutra Cave. The Dunhuang Grottoes were destroyed during the Hui uprising in Shaanxi and Gansu (1862- 1873), and Stein knew very well how restless the local people were. 1June, 907, just one month after Stan left, riots broke out in the local area because of food prices.
China people's views on Stein's behavior are gradually softening. During the Cultural Revolution, he was a thief and straightforward. Even when I was a graduate student in the mid-1980s. At that time, our professor said that if it was Dunhuang documents, he would rather be taken to Paris or London because the preservation conditions there were much better than Beijing. A classmate from China flew into a rage when he heard this. During the period of 1998, a Chinese translation of Celindia was published, in which Stein's negotiations with the Taoist king in Dunhuang were described in detail. Meng Fan, an outstanding archaeologist in China, prefaces this book. The book Archaeological Atlas of the Western Regions contains the translations of the materials obtained by Stein by top scholars at that time, which "represents the highest level of research in this field before the 1920s", but Stein's "predatory behavior" should be severely condemned.
With the development of publishing industry, Dunhuang documents hidden abroad are more and more easily used by China scholars: microfilm first came out in the late 1970s. Subsequently, several volumes of photocopies of Dunhuang documents were published in the 1990s, in which the text photos were clearly readable. Now write a photo and upload it to the website of London International Dunhuang Project.
Professor Rong Xinjiang from Peking University is a leading figure in the research field of Tang Shi in China. In 2005, he published an article in China's top historical magazine Historical Research. This paper compares the practices of Stan and pelliot. Stein didn't tell China scholars about his discovery, but pelliot gave his colleagues in China the photos of the documents he bought and shipped back to Paris. Professor Rong draws readers' attention to an irrefutable fact: Although China scholars in the early 20th century called for the protection of Dunhuang documents, no one left their comfortable homes, and no one followed Stein and Boscio to visit Dunhuang in person. As a result, Dunhuang documents were taken away in large quantities.
But even by the standards of the time, Stan's practice was deceptive. He claimed to be a disciple of Xuanzang. When he bought documents and silk paintings, he knew very well that the money he paid was far below the market price. He took extreme secrecy measures, everything was done at night, and only a few people knew what he had done. People can't help wondering why Stan was so generous about how he was sneaking around at that time.
Although Stan didn't specifically mention william matthew Frindas Petrie when discussing Dunhuang, he often admitted that he was influenced by this man in other places. Petrie is a leader in British archaeological excavations. He met Stan after his first expedition in 1902. In the preface of Ancient Khotan, Stein called Petrie "an archaeological explorer with unparalleled experience". 1904, Methods and Objectives of Patrice Archaeology (Methods &; Aims in archaeology) provides step-by-step guidance for each stage of excavation, including logistics preparation, on-site excavation and results release. Petrie excavated in Egypt. He taught archaeologists how to work in backward countries and how to get workers to hand over small items they found with a small amount of money instead of selling them themselves: "Money can guarantee the best care." Petrie also suggested that readers publish the research results in two versions, one is a paperback with fewer plates for "students and ordinary people", and the other is a fine hardcover for libraries, book collectors and wealthy amateurs. Stein strictly followed his advice, and even the layout and font of his books were the same as those of Petrie.
In the chapter "Ethical Issues in Archaeology", Petrie foresees that once an archaeologist has completed the excavation in the site, he will not leave anything here for future generations. Archaeologists can put their discoveries in museums, but these things will always rot and publications will eventually become the only records. "Rights should be judged by whether you can get the most knowledge now and in the future." Petrie criticized the government for always making laws and regulations prohibiting foreign archaeologists from digging, but allowing "ignorant old farmers" to "dig and destroy" at will. In the preface of "Ancient Hotan", Stan quoted Petrie's warning that investigators must "work hard, record in detail and publish completely". When dealing with Taoist Wang, Stein used the regulations of China government bluntly, which perfectly reflected the pragmatic spirit in the Manual. Like his mentor, Stan aims at "getting the most knowledge now and in the future" and has no worries about transporting documents and cultural relics out of China.