Fan Jinshi : The Daughter of Dunhuang

 China's President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, takes a photo with Fan Jinshi after presenting her national medal on September 29, 2019 in Beijing

 Fan Jinshi at Mogao Grottoes

Fan Jinshi, born in 1938 in Beijing, is the president of Dunhuang Academy and spent more than five decades in cultural relic research in the northwestern historic city, earning the moniker “The Daughter of Dunhuang”.

After graduating from Peking University in 1963, Fan was dispatched to work in Dunhuang. Since then, Fan began studying and protecting the Dunhuang Grottoes as well as disseminating Dunhuang culture. Fan pioneered and promoted the nationwide booking system of traveling in Dunhuang. She also compiled an Archaeological Report on Grottoes 266 to 275 at Mogao Grottoes, authored Interpretations of Dunhuang, and advanced the “Digital Dunhuang” project, thus exerting her life-long efforts not only to save the invaluable treasures in Dunhuang but also to introduce them to the world.

Fan has been awarded the honorary title of “National Advanced Laborer”, and in 2008, she was honored as one of the ten distinguished alumni of Peking University, and in 2018, she earned the title of “Reform Pioneer”. This year, Fan won the “Award for Positive Energy” at the ceremony of “Lui Che-Woo Prize” held in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on October 3, and she was also listed as a recommended candidate for the “The Most Beautiful Striver”. In addition, Fan has received the national honor of “Outstanding Contributor to the Cultural Heritage Preservation” for her substantial contribution to the permanent preservation and sustainable utilization of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

Source：The Press Office, International Department of the CPC Central Committee