Fan Jinshi: The Daughter of Dunhuang

Fan Jinshi， honorarypresident of theDunhuang Academy，has spent the past61 years in Dunhuang. Overthe decades， she has beeninseparable from the MogaoGrottoes and spends most ofher days escorting the grottoesinto a new era of preservation，research， promotion， andmanagement.

In 1963， Fan began workingat the Dunhuang Academy aftergraduating from the Schoolof Archaeology at PekingUniversity. The harsh workingand living conditions uponarrival could hardly dampenher enthusiasm for researchingthe ancient grottoes. Sheused archaeological researchmethods to study the muralsand painted sculptures ineach cave， determining theirchronological relationships.Since the 1960s， she and hercolleagues have completed achronological classification ofthe Dunhuang caves from theNorthern Dynasties （439-581），Sui （581-618）， and early andmiddle Tang （618-907） periods，providing a scientific basis forthe protection and research ofthe Dunhuang grottoes.

In 1994， Fan Jinshi tookcharge of restarting a projectto compile data on everythingin the Dunhuang grottoes. Theproject had been proposed inthe 1950s and suspended in the1960s. She reworked the plansfor a 100-volume collectionand set editorial conventionsfor the archaeological reportComplete Collection ofDunhuang Grottoes. In2011， the first volume ofthe Complete Collection ofDunhuang Grottoes， titledArchaeological Report onCaves 266-275 of the MogaoGrottoes， co-authored by FanJinshi and her coworkers， waspublished. The second volumewas published in January 2024.

The report is characterizedby objective and detailedtextual records， meticulouslydrawn surveying and mappingdiagrams， high-resolutionphotos， and digitally stitchedimages， which complementeach other while presentinga comprehensive view ofthe murals. It representsan important academicachievement of the DunhuangAcademy. It has laid thefoundation for subsequentvolumes of the CompleteCollection of DunhuangGrottoes and provided valuablereference and guidance forother grotto conservationand research institutions inChina tasked with compilingarchaeological reports. Ithas received widespreadrecognition from scholarsboth domestically andinternationally.

The Mogao Grottoes boast735 caves， over 2，400 statues，45，000 square meters ofmurals， and more than 50，000documents unearthed fromthe Library Cave. Fan stressedthat a lifetime is not enoughto complete the archaeologicalreports. Compiling the 100volumes of archaeologicalreports could take centuriesand requires continuous effortsacross several generations.

Fan began to serve as thepresident of the DunhuangAcademy in April 1998. Underher leadership， the academylaunched the Digital Dunhuangproject in 1999， which involvescapturing the caves， murals，colored sculptures， and allcultural relics related toDunhuang in high-definitiondigital images. The project alsoworks to compile Dunhuangdocuments， researchfindings， and relatedmaterials scattered aroundthe world into electronicarchives， using digitaltechnology to preserveinformation permanently.New technologies involvingmeasurement， remotesensing， computer vision，artificial intelligence， virtualreality， augmented reality，and cloud computing aredeployed to reconstruct thecultural heritage. By theend of 2023， the DunhuangAcademy had completeddigital collection of muralsin 295 Dunhuang grottoesand scanning of 50，000historical archive negatives.

Fan also proposed theconstruction of a digitalexhibition center for the MogaoGrottoes in Dunhuang in 2003.The center was completedand opened to the public in2014， revolutionizing theprevious single-mode tourismexperience where visitors spentaround two hours exploringthe grottoes. Now， visitorsfirst watch a digital movieto understand the past andpresent of Dunhuang beforeboarding shuttles to visitthe Mogao Grottoes. Thisapproach shortens the durationof visitors’ stay in the grottoes，balancing volume of visitorsat any time， and increases thetotal flow into the grottoeseach day， achieving a win-winresult for both cultural heritageprotection and utilization.

“The protection of culturalheritage must be proactive，and all decisions must bebased on pragmatic and factualresearch，” said Fan.

Fan is always happy tospend the Chinese New Yearin Dunhuang because it feelslike home by now. Sometimes，to escape the hustle andbustle on the first day ofthe Chinese New Year， shetakes a small stool into thegrottoes to admire the muralsbefore returning to her roomto read and write. When sheenters a grotto， all her worriesdisappear， and her heart isat ease. “It was my destinyto serve as a guardian of theMogao Grottoes.”