China News Agency, Taiyuan, April 8th: Why do Yungang Grottoes reflect the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries?
Author Hang Kan, Director of Yungang Research Institute
On May 11, 2020, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said when he inspected the Yungang Grottoes that the Yungang Grottoes embody the characteristics of Chinese culture and the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
This is the treasure of human civilization. We must insist on protection first, and make good use of it on the basis of protection.
In December 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were successfully declared as a world cultural heritage.
The World Heritage Committee commented: "(The Yungang Grottoes) represent the outstanding Buddhist grotto art in China from the 5th to the 6th century AD, and the earliest five caves in the Tanyao Five Grottoes are the classic works of the first peak period of Chinese Buddhist art. ."
Over 1500 years, how does the Yungang Grottoes reflect the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries?
How to become a cultural bridge between East and West in the new era?
These have to start from 1500 years ago.
Yungang Tanyao Five Grottoes.
Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Why is the historical status of the Yungang Grottoes so important?
In 398 AD, the Taoist Emperor Tuobagui moved the capital to Pingcheng (now Datong, Shanxi), and started the era of Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 439, Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao sent troops to conquer Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu), unified northern China, and ended the chaotic situation of the Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms.
In 460, Tan Yao, an eminent monk from Liangzhou, presided over the excavation of Yungang Grottoes with the support of the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The Yungang Grottoes gave people a strong visual impact when they were excavated.
When recording the five caves (now numbered 16-20 caves) that Tanyao dug for five emperors, "The Book of Wei, Shi Laozhi" wrote: "Tanyao Baidi, in the west of the capital, Wuzhou, cut mountains and rock walls, and opened caves. There are five Buddha statues engraved in each. The tallest is 70 feet, the second is 60 feet, and the carvings are magnificent and crowned by the first generation." Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty recorded the Yungang Grottoes in his famous book "Shui Jing Zhu": "Cut stones to open mountains. , Because of the rock structure, it is really gigantic and rare in the world."
Mr. Su Bai, the founder of Chinese Buddhist archaeology, wrote in "The Concentration of Pingcheng Strength and the Formation and Development of the "Yungang Model": Yungang Grottoes are the earliest large-scale grottoes to appear in the east of Xinjiang, and they were the first large-scale grottoes that ruled northern China at that time. The royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty was built by concentrating the national skills, manpower and material resources... The new model it created and developed has naturally become a model for the construction of grottoes in the Wei kingdom.
Therefore, from the Wanfotang Grottoes in Yixian County, Liaoning Province in the east, and the Northern Wei Grottoes in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia in the west, there are traces of the Yungang pattern. No exception.
The east wall of Cave 18.
Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Why dig the Yungang Grottoes?
In 304, Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu, raised an army to Lishi (now Lishi, Shanxi) and established the name Han.
In 316, his son Liu Cong conquered Chang'an and annihilated the Western Jin Dynasty, opening a situation in which the Five Husbands and Sixteen Kingdoms dominated each side for more than a hundred years. Different regimes attacked each other, and the ethnic conflicts were very acute.
The Northern Wei regime that ended the war situation in the Yellow River Basin did not solve the ethnic conflicts well at the beginning. Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei fought against the Southern Dynasty. To the northeast of the city are Dingling and Hu, and to the south are Di and Qiang. If Dingling were to die, the thieves in Changshan and Zhaojun would be reduced; the death of Hu would reduce the thieves of Bingzhou; the death of Di and Qiang would reduce the thieves in Guanzhong." After conquering the northern regions, the regime is also unstable.
So, what can be used to build social consensus and stabilize one's own rule?
Northern Wei rulers found Buddhism.
At first, the Xianbei people originated from the Greater Xing'an Mountains did not believe in Buddhism. "Wei Shu, Shi Lao Zhi" records: "Wei first founded the country in Xuanshuo, and his customs were pure and simple. Teaching is not heard before, or it may be heard but not believed." The Tuoba Xianbei people came into contact with Buddhism in the process of going south, and believed that Buddhism had the effect of "helping the forbidden laws of the king's administration, and benefiting the goodness of benevolence and wisdom".
And Buddhists also claimed that "the person who can achieve the Tao is the master", and the emperor "is the Tathagata of today", so the emperor issued an edict "to order the monks to guide the folk customs".
Now many of the donors in the Northern Wei Dynasty grottoes are guided by monks.
Cave 19 south wall Rahula karma.
Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Why is it said that the Yungang Grottoes witnessed the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries?
Pingcheng is the starting point of the Silk Road in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The "Book of Wei" records the number of miles on the road from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the west. It is based on Pingcheng. The unification of the north by the Northern Wei Dynasty also laid a good foundation for the smooth flow of the Silk Road.
During the process of unifying the North, the Northern Wei Dynasty continued to immigrate to Pingcheng, and the number of people recorded in the literature exceeded one million, thus forming a diverse cultural landscape of Pingcheng. · Biography of Wei Lu).
Many foreign relics have been unearthed in Datong, Shanxi Province, and there are many foreigners who came to Pingcheng in the literature.
"Northern History" records the story of a Da Yuezhi person making glass in Pingcheng: "In Taiwu, the Chinese merchants and merchants in the capital, from Yunneng, cast the stone into five-colored glaze. Therefore, in the mining mountains, they cast it in the capital, and it is finished, and its luster is beautiful. For those who came from the west, it was an imperial palace, which accommodated more than a hundred people, and the light and color were reflected, and when the viewers saw it, they were all horrified and thought it was done by the gods. Such locally made glassware, such as long-necked pots, deep-bellied bowls, bowls, and small-mouthed bowls, were also unearthed in the tombs, all of which were typical of the Central Plains or Xianbei.
There are more examples of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries seen in the Yungang Grottoes.
In September 1933, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Liu Dunzhen and others from the China Construction Society investigated the Yungang Grottoes, and later published the article "Northern Wei Architecture Represented in Yungang Grottoes", pointing out that in Yungang carvings, "non-Chinese" There are many expressions, either obviously inheriting the classical Greek lineage, or richly mixed with the influence of Indian Buddhist art.
Their research focuses more on architecture and decoration. "The Yungang Grottoes are a testament to the large-scale invasion of Indian Buddhist art from the Western Regions into China. However, looking at the results, the basic structure of China has not been shaken in architecture. In sculpture, it has only strongly touched China. The new creation of sculpture art—its spirit, vigor, and style, basically maintain the inherent Chinese characteristics. However, in the end, in the decorative pattern, it lost to China with a large number of new themes, new changes, and new carving methods, which have been spread and spread to this day. "
Why did the Yungang Grottoes become an "international cultural exchange messenger"?
After the founding of New China, many foreign dignitaries and international friends came to visit the Yungang Grottoes.
Especially on September 15, 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied French President Pompidou to inspect the Yungang Grottoes.
Pompidou is not only the first French president to visit China, but also the first Western head of state to visit China, which is of great significance.
Premier Zhou Enlai repeatedly stressed while inspecting the university that cultural relics and historic sites must be well protected.
During this inspection, Premier Zhou proposed that "the Yungang Grottoes will be repaired in three years".
This is the "three-year maintenance plan" that Yungang people often say.
Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied French President Georges Pompidou to inspect the Yungang Grottoes.
Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Since 1974, China has invested heavily in the large-scale rescue and reinforcement of major caves in three years in accordance with the principle of "rescue reinforcement, eliminate dangerous situations, maintain the status quo, and protect cultural relics."
In 2017, Alain Pompidou, the son of President Pompidou, and his wife visited the Yungang Grottoes, watched the old photos of President Pompidou's visit to the Yungang Grottoes hanging on the wall in the Premier Zhou Memorial Room, and identified the photos one by one. escorts in .
In May 1977, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband, Prince Claus, visited the Yungang Grottoes.
Thirty-eight years later, in October 2015, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and their three princesses visited the famous Hanging Temple and Yungang Grottoes, a world cultural heritage, in Datong.
The family of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
For decades, the Yungang Grottoes have received dignitaries from France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Bhutan, Thailand, the Netherlands, Uruguay and other countries, and their international reputation has increased day by day.
In the eyes of foreign friends, "the Yungang Grottoes are undoubtedly one of the peaks of world art. It shows your creative spirit and is one of the best contributions of your country's cultural heritage to the world" (President Pompidou), In the new historical period, Yungang Grottoes will surely play a greater role in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
(Finish)
About the Author:
Hang Kan, born in Nantong, Jiangsu in May 1965, is currently the Dean of Yungang Research Institute.
He used to be the deputy director of the Shanghai Museum of History, and the deputy dean and dean of the School of Archaeology, Culture and Museology, Peking University.
The main research directions are Buddhist archaeology, Song and Yuan archaeology, and cultural heritage.
Published "The Time of the Collapse of the West Wall of Cave 20 in Yungang and the Initial Layout of the Five Caves in Yungang", "Several Issues on the Unearthed Bottles from the Two Pagodas in Dingxian County, Hebei", "Local City Sites in Song and Yuan Dynasties", and "Re-study on the Map of Shanghe River during Qingming Festival" "and more than forty papers.
Participated in and organized the compilation of more than 20 large-scale exhibitions and catalogues.
He has been selected into the "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program" of the Ministry of Education of China, won the top ten teachers of Peking University, and the second prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award.