China News Service, Lanzhou, March 2: Why are there swans and phoenixes pulling carts in Dunhuang murals?
——Exclusive interview with Zhang Yuanlin, Vice President of Dunhuang Academy
China News Service reporter Ding Si
The murals of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang are witnesses of the collision of Eastern and Western cultural exchanges.
Why are some murals colorful and others plain?
Why do these images and symbols representing the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations appear simultaneously on the murals of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang?
Zhang Yuanlin, deputy director of the Dunhuang Academy, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" on this issue.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Service reporter: What was the historical process of the formation of Dunhuang murals?
Zhang Yuanlin:
Dunhuang murals, specifically the paintings on the inner walls of the Dunhuang Grottoes in China, are world cultural heritage.
The total area of Dunhuang murals is more than 50,000 square meters, including murals from more than 810 caves in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang West Thousand Buddha Caves, Five Temple Grottoes in Subei, Guazhou Yulin Grottoes, and East Thousand Buddha Caves.
It is grand in scale, rich in content and exquisite in craftsmanship.
The splendid Dunhuang Grottoes art is the result of the exchange, reference and integration of the world's diverse civilizations.
In July 2023, Zhang Yuanlin, deputy director of the Dunhuang Academy, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" in the original large replica of Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.
Photo by Ding Si
It is generally believed that Buddhism spread from India through the Kangju, Da Yuezhi and other countries in Central Asia, along the southern and northern edges of the Taklimakan Desert, to Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, and then to the Central Plains.
Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty passed through the Western Regions, Buddhism had been introduced to the Western Regions east of Congling. All areas along the southern and northern Silk Roads were influenced by Buddhism.
Therefore, some scholars call the "Silk Road" the "Road of the Eastward Spread of Buddhism."
Dunhuang is connected to the Western Regions. Since the establishment of Dunhuang County in the Western Han Dynasty, Dunhuang has always been the gateway town from the Central Plains to the Western Regions.
In the 1990s, the Han bamboo slips unearthed at the Xuanquanzhi site in Dunhuang with the words "Little Pagoda" indicate that Buddhism had been introduced to Dunhuang during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, wars continued in the Central Plains, and the Hexi region was relatively stable. Most of the Central Plains' aristocratic families fled the chaos in Hexi, and many monks from the mainland traveled westward to seek a place to practice and stay in Xi.
At the same time, many monks from India and the Western Regions, such as Zhu Dharma Protector, known as the "Dunhuang Bodhisattva", also set up halls in Dunhuang to teach disciples and spread Buddhism.
During the Mid-Tang Dynasty, Buddhism in Chang'an was mostly introduced to the Tibetan area via Dunhuang.
Dunhuang became one of the hubs for the spread of Buddhism in ancient China.
In February 2023, students at Mingsha Academy in Dunhuang Town learned the copying skills of Dunhuang murals.
Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang
From the 2nd century BC to the 14th century AD, the overland Silk Road was the main channel for exchanges between China and other countries in the world.
Dunhuang is located at the hub of the Silk Road. Since the Western Han Dynasty, on the basis of the profound Han cultural tradition, it has been continuously influenced by foreign religions and arts represented by Buddhist art. Chinese and Western cultures have converged, collided and blended in Dunhuang.
Business travelers, envoys, and Dharma-seeking monks traveling on the Silk Road passed through here. In order to seek peace on the journey and the blessing of the gods, they also participated in Buddhist activities such as copying Buddhist scriptures and digging caves to create statues.
Under the favorable conditions of the time, place and people, the Dunhuang Grottoes represented by the Mogao Grottoes came into being.
In order to meet the needs of monks for meditation activities and to promote and explain Buddhist teachings to believers, these cave spaces and internal murals and statues were carefully created.
Major caves were often sponsored by Buddhist monks, local ruling elites, and Central Plains emperors alike as a tribute to their work.
In November 2022, aerial photography of the Mogao Grottoes in late autumn.
Photo by Wang Binyin
China News Service reporter: What are the main themes and categories of Dunhuang murals? Where do the painters come from?
Zhang Yuanlin:
The Dunhuang Grottoes are essentially the carrier of Buddhist beliefs and ideas and can be understood as a "single Buddhist temple."
It is a three-dimensional art that combines the grotto architecture itself, statues and murals. It is a Buddhist painting painted on the grotto corridor, four walls and the top of the grotto.
Dunhuang murals depict the image of gods, their activities, the relationship between gods and gods, and the relationship between gods and humans, expressing good wishes and soothing the soul.
Dunhuang murals include images of gods, such as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as secular images of donors and characters in story paintings. They are divided into portrait paintings, Buddhist story paintings, Jataka story paintings, fate story paintings, Han mythological paintings, and Buddhist paintings. Historical site paintings, sutra paintings, offering paintings, figure paintings, decorative pattern paintings, etc.
Who painted the Dunhuang murals?
There is no clear record in the official history, but there are names of painters in individual caves.
Judging from the artistic styles reflected in the current murals, they must be made by local Dunhuang painters, styles from the Western Regions, and painting styles from the mainland of the Central Plains.
The figures in Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes are in Western Region style "Qiuci costume".
Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
Reporter from China News Service: What typical images and symbols representing the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations are found in the Dunhuang murals?
Zhang Yuanlin:
Dunhuang murals include images of gods from traditional Chinese mythology, such as the Eastern Prince, the Western Queen Mother, Bodhisattva, Guanyin, Fuxi, Nuwa, Thunder God, as well as images of auspicious animals and exotic beasts such as the green dragon, white tiger, red bird, and Xuanwu; there are also images from Typical images of gods from India and the Western Regions include Asura, Garuda (Garuda King), Kinnara (Lotte), Python God, etc.
In addition to the influence of Indian Buddhism and its art, the beaded patterns and pairs of birds and animals, which are typical features of Persian-Central Asian art, are also very popular in Dunhuang murals; the "three-sided crown" on the headdress of the mural characters is decorated with moon and sun-moon shapes. The ornamental theme comes from Sasanian Persia.
Another example is the character modeling style in the Dunhuang murals of the Northern Dynasties. There are both the "Qiuci style" of the Western Regions and the "praising clothes and belts" and "beautiful bones and clear portraits" styles from the Central Plains and Southern Dynasties.
The figures in Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes are "clad in robes and belts" and "with elegant bones and clear figures".
Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
The images of Fuxi and Nuwa on the top of Cave 285 of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes (the original large replica cave).
Photo by Ding Si
The painter also made choices and made bold innovations in the image elements that express the same theme.
For example, the image of the moon and the sky riding on a goose carriage painted on the west wall of Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes is composed of upper and lower parts.
In the moon wheel above, the moon and sky ride in a carriage pulled by four geese "back to back"; below the moon wheel, another moon carriage pulled by three lions is drawn.
Swans and lions often serve as mounts for goddesses in Greek culture and Western and Central Asian cultures.
This is the painter's borrowing and transplantation of Eastern and Western cultures, reflecting the exchange and integration of civilizations along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages.
Innovation is much more than that.
The image of the sun and sky in Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes not only depicts a chariot, a traditional Western image element representing the sun god, but also a chariot pulled by three phoenix birds below the sun wheel.
This approach may seem like "superfluous", but it is actually unique.
Phoenix and phoenix bird are one of the symbols of the sun and solar heat in traditional Chinese culture, which are the so-called "fire phoenix".
By double superimposing it with the iconography of the sun god in Chinese culture, the painter allowed local viewers in Dunhuang to more fully understand the "Sun God Riding a Carriage" image of the sun god from another place.
Another example is the "Flying Sky", a typical representative of Dunhuang mural art. This image was introduced to Dunhuang from the Xinjiang region via Central Asia and has been continuously integrated with local culture and art.
The "Flying Apsaras" in Dunhuang fly freely in the sky, but they do not have wings like the angels in the West or the "Flying Apsaras" in India, Central Asia and other places. Instead, they are represented by long streamers and turned-over skirts. Fly freely in the air.
This is "to each his own beauty."
The image of riding a horse in the sun in Cave 285 of Mogao Grottoes.
Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
The image of a swan riding on the moon in Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes.
Photo courtesy of Dunhuang Academy
Reporter from China News Service: What characteristics of cultural integration along the Silk Road do the Dunhuang murals reflect?
Zhang Yuanlin:
The soil and water nourish the people.
When foreign culture is gradually introduced, it is different from the living habits, material civilization, and ethics of the local people. In the process of acceptance, the local people will select, absorb, and transform it.
The Silk Road was a trade channel as well as a channel for cultural exchange and integration.
A large number of artistic remains and archaeological discoveries show that during the long process of cultural exchange and integration along the Silk Road, some foreign cultural elements, while retaining or continuing their original prototypes, also underwent some changes, including modifications, additions and subtractions.
This kind of "change" and "unchangedness" reflects the inherent characteristics of both "influence" and "absorption" in civilizational exchanges, and also reflects the complexity, multi-directionality and multi-level nature of cultural integration on the Silk Road.
The Dunhuang Grottoes were created on the basis of the profound soil of traditional Chinese culture and against the background of cultural exchanges between the East and the West on the Silk Road. It is precisely for this reason that Dunhuang art has shown diverse characteristics and is known as "the city where Huarong handed over" ".
Camel bells on the Dunhuang Silk Road.
Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang
Reporter from China News Service: As a treasure of human art, what enlightenment does the evolution of Dunhuang murals bring to today's exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations?
Zhang Yuanlin:
Throughout history, Dunhuang culture has been based on Chinese culture and has continuously absorbed the civilizational achievements of other regions and nations.
In Dunhuang, foreign religious cultures such as Buddhism, Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism coexist harmoniously with China's local traditional cultures such as Confucianism and Taoism, demonstrating the inclusiveness of Chinese civilization.
The continuous proliferation of civilization requires exchanges, collisions, inheritance and absorption.
China’s excellent traditional culture has strong vitality that never ends.
We should connect ancient and modern times, inherit and develop China's excellent traditional culture; we should also integrate China and foreign countries, and continue to be the promoter and practitioner of exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations.
(over)
Expert profile:
Zhang Yuanlin, Vice President of Dunhuang Academy
Zhang Yuanlin, research librarian, doctoral supervisor.
He is currently the vice president of the Dunhuang Academy, vice president of the China Dunhuang Turpan Society, and deputy chairman of the Gansu Provincial Committee for the Advancement of Democracy.
From 2014 to 2015, he was a visiting scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute Collaborative Research at Harvard University.
His main research areas include Buddhist iconography, comparative studies of Dunhuang and Silk Road art.
He has successively published 3 monographs/edited works such as "Study of Dunhuang Lotus Images from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty", and translated 1 "Treatise on the Pure Land of Maitreya"; co-published "History of Dunhuang Grottoes Art·Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern Dynasties Volume" and "Exploration of Dunhuang Culture" and other 4; published more than 60 papers in domestic and foreign academic journals.