URUMQI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 scholars from China and abroad gathered in Turpan, a city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to attend a conference on the inheritance and development of Turfan studies from Monday to Wednesday.
Turfan studies is a very important branch of Silk Road studies. It is also a window to understand the diversity and integration of different civilizations in Turpan, also known as Turfan.
Experts shared their latest findings and visited archaeological sites.
Among the relics they visited was the Xipang Jingjiao monastery relics site. Texts including Buddhist and Taoist manuscripts in Chinese and Nestorian manuscripts in Syriac had been unearthed there.
Scholars also visited the Tuyoq Buddhist Grottoes, a site that can be traced back to the fifth century.
A group of Chinese archaeologists conducted new excavations here earlier this year. Xia Lidong was among them.
Turfan studies are interdisciplinary studies of Turpan's cultural heritage, and have attracted significant global attention. Over the past century, experts and scholars of various fields from across the world have contributed to Turfan studies.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
