Fan Jinshi

Fan Jinshi (Chinese: 樊锦诗; born July 1938) is a Chinese archaeologist and heritage specialist who served as director of the Dunhuang Research Academy between 1998 and 2014.[1] She spends most of her life in Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, currently working as an honorary president and professional researcher in Dunhuang Research Academy, as well as a part-time professor and a doctoral supervisor in Lanzhou University.[2] Fan began working in Dunhuang in 1963, at the age of 25.[3] She has been venerated as "Daughter of Dunhuang" for her over 50 years of devotion to studying and preserving the Dunhuang Grottoes.[4] She was an early proponent of the Dunhuang Academy in contemporary China, and pioneered a series of effective preservation approaches for grottos.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Fan.
Fan Jinshi
樊锦诗
3rd Director of Dunhuang Research Academy
In office
April 1998 – December 2014
Preceded byDuan Wenjie
Succeeded byWang Xudong
Personal details
BornJuly 1938 (age 85)
Beijing, China
Political partyCommunist Party of China
Spouse
Peng Jinzhang
​
(m. 1966⁠–⁠2017)​
Children1
Alma materPeking University
OccupationArchaeologist, heritage specialist
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese樊錦詩
Simplified Chinese樊锦诗

She was a delegate to the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. She was a member of the 8th, 9th and 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Biography

Early life

Fan was born in Beijing and was raised in Shanghai.[3] Her ancestral home is in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.[5] Her given name, Jinshi, means "beautiful poetry" in Chinese.[6] Her father was a graduate of Tsinghua University and was reportedly passionate about Chinese classical art and culture, a passion he passed on to Fan.[6]

Education

Fan Jinshi graduated from School of Archaeology and Museology(previously under the Department of History) in Peking University in 1963. Fan first visited Dunhuang in 1962, on a school-organized trip to the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics (now Dunhuang Academy).[6] Su Bai, a veteran archaeologist at Peking University, was reportedly an instructor and mentor to her during her time at the university.[7]

Career

After graduation, she was dispatched to Dunhuang, where she worked in the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics (now Dunhuang Research Academy). At the time of her arrival, the academy's headquarters was not a comfortable place to live and did not have electricity or running water.[8]

In August 1984 she became deputy director of the Dunhuang Research Academy, rising to Director in April 1998, after 35 years of service at the institute. In January 2015 she became the honorary director.[3] She also served as a part-time professor and doctoral supervisor at Lanzhou University.

She is also a prominent advocate of the Digital Dunhuang (数字敦煌) project, which allows the global public to visit the Mogao Caves online.

According to colleagues, Fan reportedly once said that her greatest wish is to recover the Dunhuang manuscripts lost abroad and house them in a museum at Dunhuang.[9]

Personal life

Fan married her university classmate Peng Jinzhang (Chinese: 彭金章; 1937–2017) in 1966. He was also an archaeologist. Reportedly, as Fan's flourishing career kept the couple apart, Peng resigned his position as Deputy Director in the Department of History at Wuhan University in 1986 in order to live closer to her. [6] Fan has been quoted as saying that "...[my husband] knew that I couldn't live without Dunhuang. He made sacrifices."[6] The couple has a son.[4]

Works
  • Fan Jinshi et al (2002). The Regulations for the Conservation of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu Province.
  • Fan Jinshi; Zhao Shengliang (2009). The Art of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang: A Journey Into China's Buddhist Shrine.
  • Fan Jinshi (2013). The Caves of Dunhuang. Scala Arts Publishers Inc. ISBN 9781857598742.
  • Fan Jinshi; Willow Weilan (2013). Dunhuang: Buddhist Art at the Gateway of the Silk Road: Exhibition April 19 to July 21, 2013.
  • Fan Jinshi. Dunhuang Grottoes.
  • Fan Jinshi, ed. (2016). 丝绸之路与敦煌文化丛书 [Silk Road and Dunhuang Culture Series] (in Chinese). Nanjing, Jiangsu: Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House.
  • 莫高窟史话 [Historical Tales of Mogao Grottoes] (in Chinese). Nanjing, Jiangsu: Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House. 2016. ISBN 9787534426681.
  • Fan Jinshi (2019). Gu Chunfang (ed.). 我心归处是敦煌：樊锦诗自述 [My Heart is in Dunhuang: Readme of Fan Jinshi] (in Chinese). Beijing: Yilin Press. ISBN 9787544779548.
  • 解读敦煌 [Interpretation of Dunhuang] (in Chinese). East China Normal University Press. 2016. ISBN 9787567546691.
  • Fan Jinshi, ed., et al. The Complete Collection of Dunhuang Grottoes. [10]

Honors
  • Fan has received the national honor of "Outstanding Contributor to the Cultural Heritage Preservation" for her substantial contribution to the permanent preservation and sustainable utilization of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.[7]
  • Fan has been awarded the honorary title of "National Advanced Laborer".[7]
  • In 2008, Fan was honored as one of the ten distinguished alumni of Peking University.[7]
  • In 2018, Fan was awarded the title of "Reform Pioneer".[7]

Representation in Media

Opera

Fan was the subject of a Shanghai Huju opera called "The Daughter of Dunhuang".[7][11]

Variety Shows
DateEnglish titleChinese titleRoleNotes
2017Lingting Dajia聆听大家Herself[12]

References
  1. "Fan Jinshi: A kaleidoscope of progress". chinadaily. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  2. School of History and Culture, Lanzhou University (18 May 2016). "Fan Jinshi, Honorary Director and Part-time Professor of Dunhuang Studies Research Institute of Lanzhou University Delivered a Speech at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences Hosted by Xi Jinping". The News of Lanzhou University. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  3. "Fan Jinshi: A lifetime of devotion". gbtimes. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  4. Eileen Cheng (8 September 2015). "Fan Jinshi: 'Daughter of Dunhuang'". womenofchina. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. Zhang Yujie (2019-04-09). 似水如沙久相伴——记敦煌研究院名誉院长樊锦诗. china.com (in Chinese).
  6. 张辉. "Fan Jinshi: Daughter of Dunhuang". China Today. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  7. "[70 years on] Fan Jinshi: The daughter of Dunhuang". newsen.pku.edu.cn. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  8. Cotter, Holland (2008-07-07). "Buddha's caves". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  9. Liu, Zuozhen (2016-02-25). The Case for Repatriating China's Cultural Objects. Springer. ISBN 978-981-10-0597-8.
  10. "An Evolution in Values (Discussion)". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  11. 顾馨. "Shanghai Opera 'Daughter of Dunhuang'". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  12. 口述实录：聆听大家之樊锦诗. ccdi.gov.cn (in Chinese). 2017-01-17.
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