Marc Aurel Stein
Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) was a Hungarian-born British explorer and archaeologist. He was the first foreigner to convince Wang Yuanlu to sell him artifacts from the Library Cave in Dunhuang. With the support of the British and Indian governments, Stein undertook three major expeditions to Central Asia.
Stein arrived in Dunhuang in 1907 during his second expedition to Central Asia. His team not only unearthed a large number of Han-dynasty bamboo slips along the Great Wall near Dunhuang but also visited the Mogao Caves, taking numerous photos of the caves. By exploiting Wang's credulousness, Stein defrauded him into parting with 24 boxes of Dunhuang manuscripts and five boxes of silk paintings and textiles from the Library Cave at a low price. Stein later published travel accounts detailing his findings in Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan (1912) and an official archaeological report titled Serindia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (1921), both of which provide comprehensive records of the Library Cave. In 1914, during his third expedition to Central Asia, he returned to Dunhuang and again defrauded Wang into selling him over 570 pieces of Dunhuang manuscripts. This experience is documented in his Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (1928). In addition to these travel accounts and archaeological reports, Stein also authored The Thousand Buddhas: Ancient Buddhist Paintings from the Cave-Temples of Tun-huang on the Western Frontier of China (1921), which focused on the ancient Buddhist paintings found in the Dunhuang Caves.
The artifacts and manuscripts removed from Dunhuang mainly flowed to collections of the British Museum, the British Library, the Library of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and the National Museum, New Delhi.
斯坦因
斯坦因（Marc Aural Stein，1862—1943），英籍匈牙利人，他是第一個騙購敦煌藏經洞文物的外國人，在英國和英屬印度政府的支持下，先后完成了三次中亞探險。
1907年，斯坦因在進行第二次中亞探險時到達敦煌。斯坦因一行不僅在敦煌附近長城沿線掘得大量漢簡，更到訪莫高窟拍攝了大量洞窟照片，并利用王道士的無知，廉價騙購藏經洞出土敦煌文獻24箱、絹畫和絲織品等5箱。斯坦因后來出版的旅行記《沙漠契丹廢址記》（1912）和正式的考古報告《西域考古記》（1921）對敦煌藏經洞均有詳細記錄。1914年，斯坦因第三次中亞探險時再次來到敦煌，又從王道士手中騙購570余件敦煌文獻，這次經歷在他的正式考古報告《亞洲腹地考古報告》（1928）中有記錄。除了上述的旅行記和考古報告外，斯坦因還編著有《千佛洞：中國西部邊境敦煌石窟寺所獲之古代佛教繪畫》（1921）一書。
這些從敦煌得到的出土文物和文獻，主要入藏英國國家博物館、英國國家圖書館和印度事務部圖書館，以及印度國家博物館。
