Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,
After reading the article by Susan Whitfield in the IIAS Newsletter 4 - Supplement, "The International Dunhuang Project: An Initiative in Cooperation", I would like to make the following remarks:
The French research team on the manuscripts of Dunhuang, founded in 1973 and recently changed to Centre de Recherche sur les Manuscrits, Inscriptions et Documents Iconographiques de Chine, admires the energy put into the restoration and conser- vation of the precious Chinese manuscripts of Dunhuang kept at the British Library. The members of the French team also welcome the effort made by two researchers from China to complete the Catalogue of Manuscripts brought back from Dunhuang by Sir Aurel Stein. All that the team members can do, is congratulate Susan Whitfield for her enthusiasm.
However, the author of the article barely considers the studies that have been done in Europe in this particular field. In fact, it has been over twenty years ago now that a team was set up in France to write the Catalogue of Chinese Manuscripts of the Pelliot fund. This study is now nearing its completion: the 5th volume of the catalogue in which more than 1000 manuscripts have been identified and described, will be published this year. Apart from that, the members of this team have published about fifty books and articles about Dunhuang, of which the majority has been translated into Chinese.
Researches on Dunhuang manuscripts have been carried out in France, Russia, the USA not to mention in China and Japan for over fifty years. Susan Whitfield apparently chose to disregard these previous studies, which leaves us wondering about the value of such an international project of scientific nature.

Jean-Pierre Drège