Across China: Chinese youths help revive Turfan studies on ancient Silk Road

URUMQI, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The vibrant dances once performed along the ancient Silk Road, the centuries-old grape cultivation and the heartfelt letters exchanged by people a millennium ago -- Chinese youths are exploring a wide range of intriguing research topics on the ancient Silk Road, breathing new life into Turfan studies.

Turpan, also known as Turfan in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has long been a melting pot of farming, nomadic and oasis cultures at the heart of Eurasia. Its arid climate has preserved a wealth of multilingual documents, cave murals and relics, making it a treasure trove for studying the exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations.

In mid-April, some 100 graduate students from 34 universities, including Peking University and Fudan University, gathered in the city of Turpan to share their fresh perspectives on this historical field.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree, Tang Yijia, now a postgraduate student at Hong Kong-based Lingnan University, worked in Turpan for a year. She visited numerous cultural sites there, deeply moved by the music-and-dance murals severely damaged in history.

"If we harness the power of art technology to restore these murals digitally, we can revive their original splendor," she said. Now pursuing this as her research focus, Tang added that she would like to contribute to restoring these ancient dance murals.

Turfan studies emerged as an international academic field in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when explorers and archaeologists from Russia, Germany, Britain and Japan excavated, looted and studied the area's ancient tombs, ruins and artifacts, said Chen Aifeng, deputy dean of the Academia Turfanica.

Today, more young scholars are embracing this field, driven by a passion for uncovering history.

He Ziyu, a history post-graduate student at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, became fascinated by Turpan's unearthed documents on grape cultivation, trade and management. She has made the area's ancient vineyard contracts her research focus.

"Grapes are Turpan's signature product," she noted. "Beyond their delicious taste, they offer a window into the area's ancient economic and social development."

He Tao, a student pursuing his master's degree at the Institute of Dunhuang Studies of Lanzhou University, developed a strong interest in Dunhuang and Turfan studies during his undergraduate years. His current research focuses on interpreting the Old Uygur language documents from Turpan to study the practice of sending letters with gifts along the ancient Silk Road.

He said ethnic texts are crucial materials for Dunhuang and Turfan studies. "Though the Old Uygur language is initially challenging, my advisor's patience and timely sharing of the latest domestic and international findings have deepened my fascination with Old Uygur studies."

The seminar was co-organized by the Chinese Association of Dunhuang and Turfan Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Xinjiang's regional department of culture and tourism, and the Turpan municipal government.

Compared to last year, this year's academic submissions for the seminar increased by more than 30, signaling a resurgence in the field, said Zhang Yong, deputy director of Turpan's cultural heritage bureau.

"We hope this platform will attract more youth participation, helping the historically and culturally significant discipline shine even brighter," Zhang said. ■