In the CGTN Europe podcast Frances Wood: Librarian of Treasures we find out why one woman dedicated her life to understanding Chinese language and literature.
The former British Library curator has surrounded herself with ancient Chinese manuscripts for most of her life – among them, some of the oldest and most precious in the world. She tells us what inspired her interest in Chinese culture and what it was like to restore the Diamond Sutra – an incredible scroll described as the world's earliest-dated printed book.
Wood (r) with conservators. / Frances Wood
Frances Wood was born into a family of linguists – people who loved studying foreign languages. In her childhood and teens she mastered French and Spanish, so by the time she was thinking about what she wanted to study at university she was looking for a new challenge.
She chose to study Chinese at Cambridge and in 1971, after she graduated she was able to visit China with the first British youth delegation allowed to enter the country for a long time.
When Wood returned to the UK she got a job in the library at SOAS – the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. She found it wonderful to be surrounded by students and teachers speaking Chinese and being able to choose books about China to equip the library.
But Wood was still keen to improve her Chinese spoken language, so she returned to China in 1975 on a British Council scholarship for a year.
Wood (right) with room mate Yang Huime in Peking University, 1976. /Frances Wood
The pinnacle of her career was to restore the Diamond Sutra. In 1900 a walled-in enclosure was excavated by Wang Yuanlu, a Taoist monk who had long been a custodian of the caves, and the treasures contained within them. Inside were thousands of priceless manuscripts dating from the early days of Chinese Buddhism. In return for helping pay for restoration, Wang sold some of the manuscripts to foreign scholars.
Thousands were brought back to London by an archaeologist called Aurel Stein in 1907, including the Diamond Sutra – an incredible scroll described as the world’s earliest-dated printed book. This remarkable manuscript and the other treasures taken from the Mogao caves would keep Wood busy for a large part of her career.