The return of the head of Tianlong Mountain Buddha overseas at the Spring Festival Gala detonated the country
On Lunar New Year’s Eve, the main statue of the Buddha on the north wall of the eighth cave of Tianlongshan Grottoes in Taiyuan, after a hundred years of wandering overseas, made a stunning appearance in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala special program "Homecoming National Treasure" as a "guest".
The Buddha's face blooms, soothing the homesickness of thousands of local Chinese New Year wanderers.
During the Spring Festival, the hot topic "Tianlong Mountain lost the head of the Buddha and returned to the motherland" not only blasted the circle of friends of Shanxi people, but also blasted the whole country, attracting wide attention and continuous reports from many media.
The Shanxi Evening News "Wenbo Shanxi" WeChat public account seamlessly connected on New Year’s Eve, and was the first to publish this exciting news in the domestic media. By the time of publication, the number of readings exceeded 40,000+; Xinhua News Agency’s official WeChat account The topic "Tianlongshan Grottoes Lost the Head of the Buddha Return to the Motherland" on the blog "Xinhua" has been read 210 million times...This Spring Festival, the Tianlongshan Grottoes are on fire; the return of the Buddha head has become a phenomenon-level cultural topic!
The current return of the Buddha's head originated from an overseas auction
During the Spring Festival Gala, the Buddha head showed his true face for the first time, his face was round, his eyes were raised, the corners of his mouth were slightly pursed, his smile was full, and he looked solemn and warm.
It is understood that the head of the Buddha is 44.5 cm high and 33.7 cm wide. It is the main head of the Buddha in the eighth cave of Tianlongshan Grottoes. It is also the only cave in the cave that was excavated during the Sui Dynasty.
Today, she can return to the embrace of the motherland from an overseas auction.
It is understood that the eighth cave of Tianlongshan Grottoes was excavated in the fourth year of Emperor Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty. According to the record of the "Stone Room Inscription" on the front wall of the cave, this cave was excavated by Yang Guang who was stationed in Jinyang (now Taiyuan) at that time to pray for his parents.
The statues inherited the style of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty's richness and beauty, are important examples of the gradual localization of Buddhist culture.
In the 1920s, driven by the Japanese Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce, the Tianlongshan Grottoes in Taiyuan were robbed on a large scale. More than 240 statues were stolen. Almost all the heads and even the whole body of the statues were stolen overseas and are now stored in Japan. , European and American museums and private hands.
It is speculated that this Buddha head on the north wall of Cave 8 was probably stolen out of the country during this period and lost overseas.
On September 14, 2020, Japan Toyo International Auction Co., Ltd. will auction a "Tianlongshan Stone Buddha Head" from the 20th to the 22nd, which is a suspected cultural relic lost in the history of the Tianlongshan Grottoes.
Immediately, the relevant staff immediately compared and verified the old photos of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, the remnants of the cave body, and expert opinions, and confirmed that the Buddha head was originally the main statue in the north wall niche of the 8th Tianlongshan Grotto (Sui Dynasty) Buddha statue.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage initiated a recourse mechanism and contacted Zhang Rong, chairman of the auction house (overseas Chinese in Japan, native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang) to encourage the return of cultural relics.
On November 17, Zhang Rong donated his head of the Tianlongshan Grottoes to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China for free.
At 12 o'clock on December 12, the Buddha's head arrived in Beijing safely, traversed thousands of mountains and rivers, and finally returned home!
The return of the Buddha head is the first Tianlongshan Grotto Buddha sculpture to return from Japan in a hundred years. It is a precious physical specimen for studying the Tianlongshan Grottoes and even ancient grotto art in my country. It has important historical, artistic and scientific value and is tentatively designated as a country. First-class cultural relics.
The return of the Buddha's head brings a cultural feast online and offline perception of Tianlongshan Grottoes
When people all over the country talked about the return of the Buddha, the first show of his return was exhibited at the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing on the morning of February 12 (New Year's Day).
The exhibition is titled "Xiantong Sifu-Tianlongshan Grottoes National Treasure Return and Digital Restoration Special Exhibition". It not only presents the basic situation of the Tianlongshan Grottoes and the eighth cave, but also displays the results of digital restoration to bring more to the public Witness the artistic charm of Tianlongshan Grottoes.
At the same time, on the morning of February 16th, Hang Kan, professor of the School of Archaeology, Arts and Sciences of Peking University and dean of the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute, also gave a lecture entitled "Surrounding the Tribulation-The History and Art of Tianlongshan Grottoes". Through online and offline interactions, the public can better understand the historical value, scientific value, artistic value and cultural value of the Tianlongshan Grottoes.
In the lecture, Hang Kan gave a wonderful speech on the artistic achievements of Jinyang in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the artistic achievements of the eighth cave of the Tianlongshan Grottoes. "Tianlongshan Grottoes" and other documents explored the historical imprints and exquisite art of Tianlongshan Grottoes.
His combination and use of historical documents and archaeological materials won the praise of online audiences and gave everyone a deeper understanding of the Tianlongshan Grottoes.
When the Buddha head returned, Hang Kan also participated in the appraisal work. In the lecture, he shared: "We looked around this Buddha head repeatedly, no matter what angle she looked at, she was nodding and smiling, which was very moving."
From the time when the Buddha head appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Liu Yuwei, the party secretary of the Taiyuan City Cultural Heritage Bureau, released various reports and VR dynamic images about the Tianlongshan Grottoes in the circle of friends, expressing the joy of the return of the national treasure to the cultural bloggers. It makes people feel the truth that "a strong national movement leads to a strong culture. A strong culture leads to a strong nation".
"Beauty is the ability to feel and move. Hope for the future allows us to see the beauty in life." This is Hang Kan's closing remarks in the lecture, which not only expresses the aspirations of cultural workers, but also the public Looking forward to the national treasure coming home.
The Buddha will return to Tianlong Mountain in the near future, looking forward to the reunion of the head of the century
"Every time I walk into the grotto, I always feel a kind of heartache beauty. I long for the lost statues to return to their hometown, and the body and head are one." Yu Hao, the curator of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, has been full of affection for the Tianlongshan Grottoes for more than 20 years.
The return of the Buddha head this time is a kind of "dream fulfillment", and as everyone is concerned, when will the Buddha head return to Tianlong Mountain?
After returning to Tianlong Mountain, how to protect it?
Yu Hao told the Shanxi Evening News reporter, “Although the head of the Buddha returned this time, the body of the Buddha was eroded by nature, and only the outline can be seen clearly. Therefore, the head of the Buddha will not be installed back into the body of the Buddha at present.” Liu Yuwei said, Taiyuan City Cultural Relics The bureau has made a preliminary plan. After the return of the Buddha, it will be preserved and displayed at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Digital Museum. When the conditions are ripe, it will tour along with the Tianlongshan Grottoes Digital Restoration Exhibition.
"We will also take care of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, strengthen the protection of cultural relics, and carry out ecological restoration and transformation of the surrounding environment."
The return of the head of the Buddha in Tianlongshan Grottoes is not only the reunion of the cultural relics over a century, but also the expectation of many cultural and cultural workers.
In recent years, the staff of the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum has been committed to building a digital restoration project for the caves. Since 2014, it has been 7 years in cooperation with academic institutions at home and abroad to collect more than 100 3D data of the lost statues of Tianlongshan, and achieve 11 The professional digital restoration of two major caves allows the lost cultural relics to be integrated with the original environment in all directions.
The "combination" of the digital image results reduces the regret that the body and head of the statues in the Tianlongshan Grottoes are separated.
Today, the return and display of the Buddha's head in kind, along the way, demonstrates China's power toward rejuvenation and prosperity, leaving behind the traces of the people in the original texts tirelessly pursuing lost cultural relics.
The return of the Buddha's head prompted the influx of the Tianlongshan Grottoes into the public eye. It also ignited the online exhibition of the "Meicheng Tianlong-Tianlongshan Grottoes Digital Restoration Exhibition". The public can use the WeChat public account of the Tianlongshan Grottoes without leaving home. , You can enjoy this online exhibition, witness the magnificent Tianlongshan grotto art through immersive cinema, phantom imaging, 3D projection and other forms, and you can also feel the reality in the 11 grottoes restored by digital technology The strong contrast and shock brought by the brokenness and the restored unity of form and spirit.
In addition, Shanxi Evening News reporters also found the "National Treasure Going Home" thematic column on its WeChat public account, which focused on displaying and introducing the cave art, carving art and its history of the Buddha statue on the north wall.
According to Yu Hao, we will continue to collect information about the loss of Tianlong Mountain's overseas statues in this section in the later period, and we also call on people and organizations from all walks of life to work together for the return of more Tianlong Mountain statues!
As of press time, the number of online digital restoration exhibitions opened by the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum has exceeded 1 million.
Shanxi Cultural Relics' "Homecoming" Road Plays a Strong Voice of National Culture
The return of the Buddha's eyes of the Yungang Grottoes, the return of the head of the stone Buddha, the return of the Dengyu Stone Pagoda, and the return of the head of Tianlongshan Buddha...In recent years, more and more Jin-brand cultural relics have gone through a long period of time. Thousands of mountains and rivers have embarked on the road home, and let the culture of the Chinese nation pass down.
In the museum in Yungang, there is a ceramic Buddha eye. It has drifted for more than 50 years. After being donated by Smith Smith, the former director of the Nelson Museum in 1985, it returned to its hometown; in 2014 and 2018, Chinese American Mr. Wang Chunjie donated the head of the stolen stone Buddha statue in the Yungang Grottoes to Shanxi twice to reunite his body; in 2017, China Taiwan Zhongtai Zen Temple donated the body of the Tang Dynasty Dengyu Stone Pagoda to Shanxi , This stone tower, which had been wandering for nearly 20 years, finally returned to his hometown.
After 4 years, the head of the Buddha in Tianlong Mountain Grottoes returned home. This is not only the flourishing age of Shanxi culture, but also the flourishing age of Chinese culture. Hundreds of millions of people have felt the shock and joy brought by the national treasure. This is also the most confident of our culture. Strong voice!
Time and space cannot be interrupted, and the wanderer’s feeling of going home is willing to lose overseas cultural relics, to cross thousands of mountains and rivers, and return to the embrace of the motherland.
Shanxi Evening News reporter Sun Yiqiong