Travels of Dunhuang and Turpan Manuscript Books between East and West

Abstract

During the ninth to 13th centuries, multiple polities flourished along the Silk Road, and despite political boundaries, the flow of people, goods, and even books continued unabated. Dunhuang manuscripts recovered from the Library Cave record the exchange of books between Dunhuang and the Central Plains, India, and Khotan. Manuscripts excavated from Turpan reflect the travels of books between Xizhou Uyghur and Dunhuang, Sogdiana and other places, and some of the Turpan manuscripts are proven to have been brought from the West. Manichaean and Nestorian manuscripts found in Turpan are mostly codices, which are different from traditional books written in Chinese language. It is certain that the codex, as a book form, originated from the West.

Keywords

history of books / Silk Road / East-West exchange / Uyghur / Sogdiana / codex

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