Fan Jinshi joined the Dunhuang Academy in 1963 after studying archaeology at Peking University. Her work brought together archaeological documentation, historical research and the daily management of Mogao. She later helped compile and edit the twenty-six-volume Complete Collection of Dunhuang Grottoes, a systematic record of the site. Over decades, the caves became the focus of her professional life, and their long timeline demanded a way to connect scholarship with practical care.
From the journal
Fan Jinshi and the long work of protecting Mogao
An archaeologist's career at Mogao helped turn preservation into a long-term plan joining research, visitor management, training and care for fragile caves.
In the same city · Jiuquan ↗A scholar makes a life at Dunhuang
Treat the caves as a living system
The caves face several connected pressures. Moisture and soluble salts can contribute to flaking and detachment in painted plaster. At Cave 85, the Dunhuang Academy and Getty Conservation Institute studied these material changes and the environmental conditions around them. Carbon dioxide, heat and air exchange are monitored as visitor-comfort and ventilation indicators; humidity and salts are central to the account of wall-painting deterioration. The distinction helps conservation teams match each measure to the problem it addresses.
A plan that includes visitors
Fan Jinshi’s work on the Mogao master plan linked conservation with research, education and visitor management. Each cave has its own condition, safety considerations and significance, so access is planned around those needs. Interpretation, photography, study collections and digital presentations give visitors other ways to encounter sensitive rooms. The plan makes public understanding part of the long-term work of preservation.
Build the next generation of care
Long-term preservation also requires training. The Cave 85 collaboration brought the Dunhuang Academy together with Getty, Lanzhou University and the Courtauld Institute to develop professional training in wall-painting conservation. Conservators learn to observe materials, understand how a surface is changing and choose an intervention suited to the evidence. Fan's legacy lives in an institution able to join research, practical skill and public education in the ongoing care of Mogao.
Management begins with measurements
The visitor-capacity study assessed 112 priority caves, combining laboratory analysis, environmental monitoring, condition surveys and estimates of each cave’s visitation potential. The work linked the scale of a visit to a room’s size, significance, safety and access limits. For Fan Jinshi, management meant translating specialist knowledge into a durable plan: visitors could encounter the site while individual caves received access suited to their condition.