My acquaintance with Mr.Duan Wenjie can be divided into two periods,the first beginning in 1984 when I went on a pilgrimage to Dunhuang and couldn’t return home after running out of money.I asked Mr.Duan for help,and though we had never met,he was kind enough to pay for my travelling fees.Influenced by Mr.Duan,I hereafter took him as an example for my research after returning to Kizil.The second period includes the last two years in which I have been studying the fine arts of the Western Regions.There are two basic concepts that I must credit to Mr.Duan’s achievements: the typical painting technique of Western Regions Buddhist art—the inflective and mellowed iron-hard line drawings; and the haloing,or shading technique.For young scholars,to study the research results of our seniors means not only to experience and understand their theoretic ideas,but more importantly to realize their scholarly attitude and way of life.
