On December 15, 2018, the “Academic Activities of the 110th Anniversary of Lanzhou University” and also the First Northwest China Regional Research Forum, sponsored by the Institute of Ancient Chinese History, School of History and Culture, Lanzhou University, was held at Lanzhou University. Professor Zhang Tieshan, Minzu University of China, and Professor Du Changshun, Qinghai Normal University, delivered keynote speeches of The Study of Pieces of the Old Tibetan and Two-leaf Uighur Scripture ‘Ekottara-agama’ from Dunhuang Academy and The Hui People’s Religious Leaders in the View of Social Governance at the Grass-Roots of Qing Dynasty respectively.
The forum focused on “Theories and Methods of Regional History Research”, “Ethic and Religious Studies of Northwest China”, “Historio-geographical Research of Northwest China” and "Military System Research of Northwest China”, etc. At parallel sessions, the participating scholars had in-depth exchanges on the topics of Dunhuang and Turpan documents, the new interpretation of unearthed literature, the interpretation of grottoes and murals, the Xinjiang problems in Qing Dynasty, the issues of Northwest China in modern times and the history, ethic groups, religion and society of Northwest China.
Northwest China (including Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang) enjoys an extremely important historical position for it is one of the important birthplace of Chinese civilization and is a gathering place of various ethic groups and religions in the North. Many ancient dynasties including Zhou dynasty (1046 B.C-256 B.C), Qin dynasty(221 B.C-207 B.C), Han dynasty (202 B.C-220 A.D) and Tang dynasty (618 A.D-907 A.D) originated in this regions, thus laying the foundation of Chinese culture and opened the “Cultural Silk Road” between China and the West. It is reported that as an important part of the academic activities of the 110th anniversary of Lanzhou University and for the academic exchanges and cooperation of the college, the Institute of Ancient Chinese History aims to explore new methods and directions on northest regional history studies, share new research achievements and build new partnership.by holding the Forum.
(Translated by Zhang Wei; proofread by Li Zhi; edited by Tanbai）
