(Airdate: July 15, 2025) We’re at the Mogao Caves, visiting Caves 16 and 17, where the ancient world’s single most important collection of books was found by a Chinese monk in 1901 and then sold by him a number of years later for the equivalent of two hundred English pounds. Among the collection was the earliest known printed book, as well as that exculpatory form letter for drunks to use the morning after. Our guide completed her account of how China’s greatest literary treasure was stolen by a couple of foreigners, and then we moved on to begin our tour of Mogao’s other treasures—its wall paintings. They Constitute China’s greatest art gallery, as well as its richest source of information about cultural exchange on the Silk Road….

(Airdate: July 8, 2025) We’re at the Mogao Caves, at Cave 17. Taoist Monk Wang Yuanlu found a library of ancient Buddhist manuscripts concealed behind a wall in 1901 Wang needed money to repair the shrines that filled the caves, and exploiters were only too happy to help him out. The Dunhuang Manuscripts, as they’ve become known, constitute the ancient world’s most important Collection of books, including the world’s earliest known form letter for drunks and for the hosts who had to endure them….