Joseph Needham : Joseph Needham's sketchbook from his visit to the Buddhist grottoes at Chienfodong 千佛洞 (Qianfodong), Dunhuang, Gansu Province,...

Joseph Needham

<p style='text-align: justify;'>In this sketchbook, made out of scrap paper by Needham at the time, Needham makes notes on the mural in the caves, illustrating them with sketches. He gives the cave numbers, noting later on the front cover "most of my nos. appear to be Chang nos, and need converson to Tunhuang Institute nos.(1960)". The visit is recorded in his North-west tour journal (<a href='/view/MS-NRI-00002-00005-00012-00001/1'>NRI2/5/12/1</a>), and the photographs are included in CFT (<a href='/view/PH-NRI-00002-00010-00001-00001-00003/1'>NRI2/10/1/1/3</a>). These images are also available to view in date order <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/JN_wartime_photos/cft.htm'>here</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The journal, sketchbook, photographs and other materials relating to Needham's visit to Qianfodong were scanned and processed by the International Dunhuang Project (<a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://idp.bl.uk'>IDP</a>), with the generous support of the <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://dunhuangfoundation.us'>Dunhuang Foundation</a>, and are also available via the <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://idp.bl.uk'>IDP website</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://idpuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/needhams-enforced-stay-in-dunhuang.html'>blog</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Further information and resources are available about Needham's time in China from 1943-1946 as Director of the Sino-British Science Cooperation Office <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/JN_wartime.htm'>here</a>.</p>