Experts say they have launched an overall classification of documents from the Maijishan Grottoes (Wheat Pile Hill) in Tianshui City of west China's Gansu Province.

"There are over 1,000 documents stored in our research institute, the contents of which have remained unknown to the world," said Wei Wenbin, deputy director with Maijishan Grottoes Art Research Institute.

"We plan to finish the classification work of those documents in three years," Wei said.

According to Wei, the cataloging of the documents has been completed and some important documents had been sorted and published.

Most documents were left by monks in Ruiying Temple and nearby temples in Maijishan, while others are from the Maijishan Grottoesand nearby regions.

"Like the documents discovered in the Dunhuang Grottoes, the Maijishan documents are important historical materials on grotto construction in ancient China and the culture communication history of the Silk Road," said Wei.

The Maijishan documents consist of inscribed or written documents from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Five Dynasties (907-960) to the Song (960-1279), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)dynasties, according to Li Xiaohong, a research member with the research institute.

"The contents of the documents cover a large variety of fields, including Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, medicine, divination, music, education, art, history and philosophy," Li said.

The classification work includes recording, annotating, publishing, and creating a plan on long-term protection, as the Maijishan documents are under the threat of mold and rot caused by the local moist climate and damages done by moths and mice, said Wei.

Established 1,600 years ago, the Maijishan Grottoes is one of the most famous grottoes in China, famous for its plentiful exquisite sculptures. Named as the "eastern sculpture museum" on the Silk Road, it enjoys the same reputation as the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, the "eastern art gallery" of China.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2004)