Unearthing Ancient Treasures along the Silk Road

As discussed in the previous episode, the rediscovery of the Mogao Caves at the beginning of the 20th century has immeasurably enriched our understanding of Silk Road history.

The story of that discovery itself is full of drama and involves some incredibly fascinating scholar-explorers. Sven Hedin, Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Langdon Warner, Kozui Otani, and Sergey Oldenburg all helped to bring the treasures of Dunhuang to global attention.

But at the same time, what they did--buying priceless artifacts from men who didn't understand their value and carting them off mostly to Europe and America--was controversial even then and certainly can seem problematic today. Many Chinese believe their actions were little better than theft. And yet...

Support the show