Hotan 和田, Xinjiang, China
(June 25–July 3, 2025)
This intensive program is sponsored and organized by Peking University Research Center for Buddhist Texts and Art, hosted and organized by Hotan College 和田學院, especially its two affiliated institutes—Khotanese Academy 于闐學院 and the Research Centre for the Khotanese Buddhist Culture 于闐佛教文化研究中心. Lasting from June 25, 2025 to July 3, 2025, this program includes an international conference (June 26–27) and field visits (June 28–29).
| Schedule | Seminar and Lecture Series | Lecturers | Conference |
| Student Participants | Reports |
The backbone of this program consists of six seminars and lectures delivered by eleven scholars (listed by the alphabetical order of the speakers’ family names):
- Suyu CHEN 陳粟裕 (The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 中國社會科學院): 3-11世紀于闐流行佛典及其相關圖像 The Popular Buddhist Scriptures and Their Related Imagery in Khotan from the 3rd to the 11th Century (Lecture)
- Imre Galambos 高奕叡 (Zhejiang University 浙江大學/University of Cambridge 劍橋大學): The Medieval Buddhist Library of Dunhuang 中古敦煌的佛教圖書館 (Lecture Series)
- Agnieszka Helman-Ważny 赫峨嵇 (University of Hamburg 德國漢堡大學): Materiality of Tibetan Canonical Buddhist Manuscripts 藏傳佛教寫本藏經的物質性 (Lecture)
- Ciro Lo Muzio 穆恣翱 (University of Rome 意大利羅馬大學): Artistic Contacts between Khotan and Kucha: New Perspectives on an Under-explored Topic 和田與庫車藝術交接：一個欠研究題目的新視野 (Lecture)
- Stephen Teiser 太史文 (Princeton University 美國普林斯頓大學): Buddhist Liturgical Manuscripts 佛教齋儀寫本研究 (Lecture Series)
- Ru ZHAN 湛如 (Peking University 北京大學) and Jinhua CHEN 陳金華 (The University of British Columbia 加拿大英屬哥倫比亞大學): When the Marginal Turned out to be More Central than the Centre: Several Case Studies of Buddhist Monks and Their Religious Traditions from Khotan and Gandhāra 邊地寔為中國：來自于闐與犍陀羅的數位僧人及其宗教傳承新考 (Lecture Series)
The theme for the international conference (scheduled for June 26–27) is “Treasures of Khotan: Khotanese History, Literature and Art International Conference and Field Study”. The conference will bring together 30–35 top scholars from all over the world. Student participants are expected to attend all sessions and, if they have relevant papers, may also be invited to present at the conference.
Senior undergraduate students and graduate students specialising in any Buddhist tradition(s), and postdoctoral fellows working in relevant fields, are encouraged to apply. Please direct applications and inquiries to FrogBear.Project@ubc.ca. Please submit applications before February 25, 2025. Each application should include: (1) an application form; (2) updated curriculum vitae, (3) one writing sample in either Chinese or English, and (4) a reference letter (to be emailed by the referee directly to the above email address).
To guarantee sufficient interaction of student participants with instructors, and between student participants themselves, student enrollment is limited to 30. Tuition Fees will be waived for successful applicants, who will be provided by free accommodation and meals during the program, although transportation fees will be theirs. Additionally, students with successful proposals to the conference may receive a limited amount of travel subsidy depending on his or her individual needs and the distance s/he has to travel for the program. Details of the conference are available here: https://frogbear.org/treasures-of-khotan/.
