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,[3] including the Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest dated printed text.
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[2] (Pinyin), which was likely the mistranscription of Chinese: 蔣師爺; lit. 'Lawyer Jiang'.[1] Ssu-yeh was a title at the time indicating the person had learned traditional Chinese law.[5]
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"
Jiang Xiaowan 蔣孝琬 (Jiang Siye, d. 1922), originally from Hunan, was not exiled but posted to Xinjiang in 1883.
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.
The people actually learned in Chinese law were the so-called ssu-yeh.