A Collection of Research Papers on Contract Documents of Various Ethnic Groups Unearthed from the Silk Road(Chinese Edition)

The Institute of Excavated Documents and Traditional Economy at Wuhan University took the lead in organizing experts and scholars from both domestic and international institutions specializing in contract studies of various ethnic groups. In 2014, the Institute successfully applied for and undertook the major project of the National Social Science Fund of China entitled "The Compilation of Contract Documents of Various Ethnic Groups Unearthed from the Silk Road and a Comparative Study with Chinese-Language Contracts." The project involved the systematic compilation of contracts written in various ethnic languages, as well as multi-faceted research on these contract documents. In October 2015, the International Academic Forum on Contract Documents of Various Ethnic Groups Unearthed from the Silk Road was held in Turpan, bringing together more than forty scholars from China and abroad. The participants engaged in extensive discussions on contract documents written in Kharoṣṭhī, Tibetan, Uyghur, Tangut, Chaghatay, and Chinese unearthed along the ancient Silk Road. Their exchanges yielded valuable insights into a range of topics, including the role of contracts in the prosperity of the Silk Road, the similarities and differences between contracts in various ethnic languages and their Chinese counterparts-as well as the evolutionary trend from divergence to convergence-the adjustments of Silk Road routes in different periods and the comparative economic activities along them, and the distinctive features and patterns of development in the contracts themselves. The present volume, A Collection of Research Papers on Contract Documents of Various Ethnic Groups Unearthed from the Silk Road, brings together these scholarly achievements for the purpose of broader academic exchange. 武汉大学出土文献与传统经济研究所，牵头组织靠前各民族契约研究方面的专家学者，于2014年申报并承担了国家社会科学基金重大项目"丝绸之路出土各族契约文献整理及其与汉文契约的比较研究"，合作对一些民族语种契约进行系统的整理，同时开展了对各民族契约文献的多方位研究，2015年10月，在吐鲁番市举办了"丝绸之路出土民族契约研究靠前学术论坛"，与会的四十多位来自靠前外的专家学者，对于古丝绸之路沿线出土的佉卢文、吐蕃文、回鹘文、西夏文、察合台文以及汉文契约文献作了多方位的探讨，对于契约在丝绸之路繁荣中的作用，各民族语种契约与汉文契约比较中的异同以及由异趋同的演变，不同时期丝绸之路路线的调整及其经济活动的比较，契约自身发展中的特点和规律性认识等方面，提出了不少真知卓见。现将这些学术成果汇辑成《丝绸之路各族契约文献研究论集》，以广交流。