Wang Yuanlu

Wang Yuanlu (Chinese王 圆 箓/王 圆 箓, Pinyin Wáng Yuanlu ) (* 1849, † 1931) was a Taoist monk who was at the beginning of the 20th century abbot of a monastery Mogao cave at Dunhuang.

In 1900 he accidentally discovered that famous " walled library " ( Cangjing dong藏经洞) ( in today's cave 17), which served as a repository for old papers and more than 50,000 documents and cultural artifacts from the period from 4th to 10th century - ie the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern Song Dynasty - housed.

The library had been bricked up at the beginning of the 11th century, when the Tangut Dunhuang occupied. He sold many of his discoveries - including treasures such as one of the oldest known printing plant: the Diamond Sutra from the year 868 - to foreign researchers. In particular, Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot have rendered outstanding services to their transport. You are now in English, French, Russian, Japanese and Chinese collections.

British explorer Aurel Stein succeeded through its Chinese Assistant Jiang Xiaowan蒋孝琬(aka " Jiang Shiye "蒋 师爷, died in 1922, mostly misspelled as " Jiang Siye " reproduced), as well as to find the common worship of the great Buddhist traveler Xuanzang access to it.

Even the Japanese Tachibana Zuicho ( 3 Otani expedition ) and the Russian Sergei Oldenburg acquired by him manuscripts.