Event overview
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist monk in the western frontiers of China accidentally discovered a cave full of manuscripts near the Chinese town of Dunhuang, in Gansu province. The cave, which had been sealed for nearly a thousand years, contained several tonnes of manuscripts. Following this discovery, a race between the great nations of the time began, to acquire as many manuscripts as possible.
Observed in their overall context - the Dunhuang manuscripts are a bit like a time capsule, providing traces of what medicine was like ‘on the ground’, away from the main cultural centres, at this particular geographical location. The material ‘fossilized’ in the manuscripts found on the Silk Road provide a fresh view into some of the interactions, exchanges and influences which were in one way or another later written out of printed sources.
The Dunhuang manuscripts are of enormous significance for Buddhist, Central Asian and Chinese history. Their significance for history of science and history of medicine has only recently begun to be explored. In this talk I suggest some ways in which we can begin to make sense of histories of transmissions of medical knowledge along the silk roads.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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7 Dec 2016 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
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