On 25 October, around 400 participants attended the lecture delivered by Professor HUO Wei, Dean of the School of History and Culture, Sichuan University, on the topic of archaeology in the Tibetan Plateau. The lecture was jointly organised by CLASS’s Global China Studies project and the China Institute of Our Hong Kong Foundation.

Having spent almost 30 years exploring the Tibetan Plateau, Professor Huo shared with the audience the various archaeological discoveries he made during all those years of his adventures. The audience were especially captivated by his fascinating stories on the breakthroughs that he made along the way. Impressive images of historic sites and archaeological finds were also included in the presentation to take the audience on a trip through time to the Tibetan Plateau.

Photo 2: Professor HUO Wei’s sharing of his journey in archaeology attracted a full house.

One of the important findings was the 1992 discovery of the Doungkar caves (東嘎石窟) with Buddhist mural paintings. Professor Huo recalled that their motorcade had come across a young shepherd girl during one of the expeditions. She was excited to meet the explorers and happily led them to the location where there were “a number of colourful paintings on the walls”. After careful examination, it turned out to be a royal site of Buddhist murals, and was one of the most important contributions to the studies of Tibetan Buddhism.

This was the eighth lecture in the “360º View on China” lecture series. This lecture series was launched and hosted by Professor CHANG Hsin-kang, Emeritus President and Professor of CityU and Honorary Chairman of the China Institute of Our Hong Kong Foundation. These lectures bring insights to the public on topics related to history, art and culture, biological sciences, finance and technology.

Cover photo: Professor CHANG Hsin-kang (right) chaired the question-and-answer session after the lecture by Professor HUO Wei.