Professor Duan Wenjie’s scholarship on Buddhist caves and wall paintings combines transmitted texts and visual materials,a method and perspective of research that has been a crucial inspiration on my studies at Dunhuang.Each discovery of Dunhuang artifacts broadens our research horizon,the uncovered relics,visual images,texts,and transmitted texts opening new frontiers for modern scholarship with every examination.The mutual attesting method of texts and images in Dunhuang Studies is an important example demonstrating the implications of comprehensive research on both narrative texts and images.Duan Wenjie was a forerunner of modern archaeological research who used both texts and artistic materials from the caves of Dunhuang as integrative evidence for his studies.
