Paul Pelliot: Encyclopedia II - Paul Pelliot - The Expedition

Paul Pelliot - The Expedition

Pelliot's expedition left Paris on June 17, 1906. His 3-man team included Dr. Louis Vaillant, an Army medical officer, and Charles Nouette, a photographer. The three traveled to Chinese Turkestan by rail through Moscow and Tashkent. The team arrived in Kashgar at the end of August, staying with the Russian consul-general (the successor to Nikolai Petrovsky). Pelliot amazed the local Chinese officials with his fluent Chinese (only one of the 13 languages he spoke). His efforts were to pay off shortly, when his team began obtaining supplies (like a yurt) that were previously considered unobtainable.

His first stop after leaving Kashgar was first stop was Tumchuq. From there, he proceeded to Kucha, where he found documents in the lost language of Kuchean. These documents were later translated by Sylvain Levi, Pelliot's former teacher. After Kucha, Pelliot went to Urumchi, where they encountered Duke Lan, whose brother had been a leader of the Boxer Rebellion. Duke Lan was in permanent exile in Urumchi. Pelliot's final stop on his expedition was the famed Dunhuang.

At Dunhuang, Pelliot managed to gain access to Abbot Wang's secret chamber, which contained a massive hoard of ancient manuscripts already observed by Sir Aurel Stein. Like the yurt in Kashgar, it is believed that Pelliot's abilities with the Chinese language played an important role here. After 3 weeks of analyzing the manuscripts, often at a rate of one thousand a day, Pelliot convinced Wang to sell him a selection of the most important ones. Wang, who was interested in continuing the refurbishment of his monastery, agreed to the price of 500 taels ( £ 90).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Expedition", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki