This partnership is funded by Dr Wang Yin of the Dunhuang Culture Promotion Foundation and is structured so that PFSTA works in close association with the Dunhuang Research Academy. More recently, the remit has expanded to include work with Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT). This partnership was launched in 2015-2016 with a series of workshops for a broad range of audiences in China. This included schools and teacher groups in Dunhuang and Beijing, design workshops in Shanghai and Dunhuang with members of Dr Wang’s team and with artists from the Research Academy. Two PhD students from BIFT also came to London for exchange studies in early 2017.

In 2017, PFSTA hosted a major exhibition Sacred Art of the Silk Road: Dunhuang’s Buddhist Cave Temples at its premises in Shoreditch. This exhibition and accompanying education programme was visited by approximately 3000 people over one month. 

In the 2017-2018 academic year, PFSTA delivered a series of five intensive exchanges centred on an investigation of the artist’s pigments, a topic of particular interest to both DRA and PFSTA, giving many opportunities for mutually beneficial learning. Following this exchange, participants from both PFSTA and DRA put together written and artistic contributions for a small conference or “gathering of experts” at Dumfries House.