By Fu Yingqing

POET, calligrapher and painter Jao Tsung-I is exhibiting more than 80 paintings and calligraphic works featuring Dunhuang culture at the Shenzhen Art Museum.

A versatile scholar, Jao, 92, has contributed many fields in the humanities, including archaeology, literature, philosophy, musicology and history.

"It is significant to hold the Dunhuang exhibition in Shenzhen," said Jao during the opening ceremony on Jan. 16.

According to his latest published research, "Preface of Li Zhengwu Han Tomb," Shenzhen was a crucial geographic location for China's Marine Silk Road back in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). The Marine Silk Road was almost in the same period as the development of the Silk Road in the northwest part of the country. Human settlements appeared in the Shenzhen region as early as East Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.).