CIVILIZATION AND ARCHEOLOGY 

Inhospitable terrain: His journeys are widely regarded as having been severely uncomfortable. Despite drawing up detailed plans for long stays in remote locations, the harsh conditions often won the day. During his travels, Stein suffered from recurrent malaria, stomach problems and lost toes to frostbite.

Photo: Exploration and mapping

Susan Whitfield, of the British Library, believes the issue is overplayed. "We have had a close working relationship with China and Stein's collections in London has never been an issue. It just doesn't come up." The British Library holds thousands of manuscripts Stein took from the sites he discovered, including the Diamond Sutra, dated 868AD, the first dated example of block printing. By the mid 1920s, China refused permission for any further explorations in the region.

  Chinese officials had known about the existence of the Dunhuang caves but had not acted on it, says Susan Whitfield. "China became very sensitive about allowing foreigners into the region. Lobbied by their own academics they restricted the access. "Later they became aggrieved about the relics going out of China because they felt they weren't in control." Despite the digitization projects, the issue of the Stein collections in the UK may one day, like the importance of the Elgin Marbles for Greece, become a cause celebre. "When the time comes I think the Chinese authorities will request the return of these relics," says Yasha Ke, an official in the cultural section of the Chinese Embassy in London. "It's hard to say when that will be. Little by little, we will expect to see the return of items taken from Dunhuang. They should go back to their original place. "But it should be done gradually. The handover needs to be well arranged because if it is done all at once it will be chaos." –Marcus Georges