The Chinese-Uybur (Uighur) Stone Instriptions on the Rebuilding of the Manjusri Temple is preserved in the cave temple on Wen Shu (Manjusri) Hill about 15 kilometers southwest of Jiuquan City, Gansu Province. The stone tablet is about 1.24 m high and 0.74 m wide. The Chinese version of the inscriptions, arranged in 26 lines of 52 characters, was engraved on the front of the stole while the Uygur one, also in 26 lines, on the back. According to the Chinese version, the stone tablet was erected in 1326 by Crown Prince Nomtas.The Chinese version has been included in the Collection of Bronze and Stone Inscriptions in Gansu (Long You Jin Shi Lu) by Zhang Wei. The Uygur version is now published and deciphered for the first time.Though the contents of the two versions are roughly the same, the Uygur version is not a translation of the Chinese one. The difference between the two is not only in paragraphical arrangement, but also in literary from, for the Chinese version is written in prose style while the Uygur one in alliterative verse.The interpretation of the Uygur version reveals and corrects the mistaken names and adds the mising ones in the Chinese version, thus providing a reliable genealogy of the Chagatay branch of the Mongolian Nationality in the Gansu Corridor: Chinggizhan-Chaga tay-Baidar-Alughu-Chubai-Nomguli-Nomtas. In accordance with that, we can correct the slips in the relevant narration of the History of the Yuan Dynasty (Yuan Shi). In addition, the Uygur version is also a good specimenof ancient Uygur for studying the language.
