Jiang Xiaowan Explained

Jiang Xiaowan
Birth Name:	蒋孝琬
Birth Place:	Hunan^[1] ^[2]
Death Date:	1922

Jiang Xiaowan was the interpreter who accompanied Aurel Stein on his expedition to Dunhuang in 1907 and enabled Stein to secure the purchase of ancient manuscripts, including the Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest dated printed text.

Name

Jiang Xiaowan
T:	蔣孝琬
S:	蒋孝琬
P:	jiǎng xiàowǎn
W:	chiang3 hsiao4wan3
Also Known As:	Title
T2:	蔣師爺
S2:	蒋师爷
P2:	jiǎng shīyé (historically: jiǎng sīyé)
W2:	chiang3 shih1-yeh2 (historically: chiang3 ssu1-yeh2)
L2:	Lawyer Jiang

Jiang Xiaowan was his given name. His courtesy name according to Aurel Stein was Chiang Yin-Ma;^[3] however the Chinese characters of this name was not recorded.^[1]

Jiang was more often referred to as Chiang Ssu-Yeh^[4] (Wade–Giles) or Jiang Siye (Pinyin), which was likely the mistranscription of .^[1] Ssu-yeh was a title at the time indicating the person had learned traditional Chinese law.^[5]

See also

• Turning the Pages - the Diamond Sutra at the British Library (broadband https://web.archive.org/web/20121204051714/http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/sutra/sutra_broadband.htm or dial-up https://web.archive.org/web/20130605055900/http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/sutra/sutra_narrowband.htm)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 帮助斯坦因盗取藏经洞文物的中国"师爷":蒋孝琬. Sina.com Collection. Sina.com. 2017-04-10. 11 November 2019. zh. 蒋孝琬（？~1922），湖南（一说湖南湘阴）人 ... 字“yin-ma”，汉字不明 ... 俗称“蒋师爷”.
2. Web site: Chinese Collections . International Dunhuang Project. 12 November 2019. Jiang Xiaowan 蔣孝琬 (Jiang Siye, d. 1922), originally from Hunan, was not exiled but posted to Xinjiang in 1883..
3. http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-5-B2-8/V-2/page/0787.html.ja "Ruins of Desert Cathay", Marc Aurel Stein, Vol. 2
4. IDP Newsletter. Idp News : Newsletter of the International Dunhuang Project. International Dunhuang Project. Spring 1998. 12 November 2019. When Stein and Jiang Xiaowan [i.e. Chiang Ssu-yeh] arrived at Dunhuang in Guangxu 33 (1907), the Magistrate of Dunhuang was Wang Zonghan, namely Wang Tao-lao-ye recorded in the relevant work by Stein. . 10. 1354-5914 .
5. Report of the ... Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association. 41. American Bar Association. American Bar Association. E.C. Markley & Son. 1916. 21 November 2019. 674. The people actually learned in Chinese law were the so-called ssu-yeh..