URUMQI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Once a thriving crossroads on the Silk Road in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the ancient kingdom of Kucha has left traces of its rich history in museums and collections around the world.
Buddhist murals, sculptures and manuscripts from the Kucha kingdom, also known as the ancient Qiuci State ("Qiuci" being its Chinese pinyin form), are now held in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and elsewhere.
Reconstructing its past is therefore requiring researchers to work across borders and pool their expertise. Understanding Kucha's past has become an international scholarly effort.
The shared pursuit brought more than 180 scholars from 15 countries and regions to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, for a two-day symposium, titled Towards Anxi from Afar: Academic Symposium on Qiuci Studies, which concluded on Sunday.
Scholars from China, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Pakistan and elsewhere exchanged research findings on ancient texts, religion, archaeology and cultural heritage conservation.
Located between the Tianshan Mountains and the Taklimakan Desert, the ancient Kucha region encompassed parts of today's Kuqa, Baicheng, Xayar and Xinhe in Xinjiang.
For centuries, it was a meeting point of civilizations. Chinese silk and paper traveled westward along trade routes, while Buddhism from India, Persian artistic influences and Sogdian merchants made their way east.
At the symposium, Rong Xinjiang, a professor at Peking University and president of the Chinese Dunhuang-Turpan Society, presented new research on a tomb epitaph unearthed in Kuqa in 2025.
For overseas researchers, keeping up with archaeological discoveries in Xinjiang is an important reason to maintain close ties with Chinese scholars.
"Continued contact with colleagues around the world, especially in China, is essential," said Caren Dreyer, a researcher at the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin. "It enables us to keep abreast of new findings and to participate actively in the international scholarly community."
For Erica Hunter, a scholar from the University of Cambridge who specializes in relics and Syriac manuscripts excavated from Turpan, the value of such gatherings lies in bringing together evidence that would otherwise remain separated by geography.
Russian scholars can share materials from St. Petersburg, while German researchers can discuss those in Berlin, Hunter said. Equally important are the different interpretations scholars bring to their research.
Hunter has visited Xinjiang several times over the past four years to share her research on Syriac manuscripts discovered in the region. She said such exchanges help scholars overcome barriers and learn from one another. "It's a two-way process, and that's very important."
On his first visit to Xinjiang, Pakistani scholar Fawad Khan followed the presentations with keen interest. He said the symposium offered a valuable learning opportunity for scholars.
The exchanges also reflected a growing emphasis on international collaboration in Silk Road studies, as Chinese institutions expand academic cooperation in fields ranging from Turpan and Qiuci studies, to research on the ancient city of Beiting.
For Italian scholar Erica Forte, the symposium was also a reunion. Speaking Chinese with colleagues, she caught up with old friends and professors who had supported her during her studies.
For her, the conversations reflected what had long given the Silk Road its significance, namely connections between people and cultures, as scholars came together to exchange findings, compare perspectives and deepen their understanding of a kingdom that once stood at the crossroads of civilizations. ■
