Ethnic narratives in Dunhuang Bianwen: a digital humanities approach to pluralistic integration

As a representative form of folk storytelling and singing literature in the Tang Dynasty, Dunhuang Bianwen emerged in the multi-ethnic borderland of northwest China. It directly reflects the perceptions of ethnic interactions in folk society and possesses significant research value. Guided by the ethnic boundary theory, this study takes the 78 Bianwen texts recorded in the Collected Works of Dunhuang Bianwen (Wang et al., 1957). It constructs a quantitative model integrating three core indicators—Interaction Density, Emotional Orientation, and Interaction Impact intensity—and Standard History Narrative Distance Coefficient, analyzing the interactions between the Han ethnic group and surrounding ethnic minorities including the Turks and Tibetans. This research reveals the narrative essence of “differences exist in interactions while connections are sustained through differences” within the pluralistic integration pattern of the Chinese nation, and offers an interdisciplinary analytical paradigm for relevant studies.