Culture is often compared to a river that never stops, nourishing a group of people, a people, and even deeply affecting the world. So, where is the source of this river of culture, and how it flows to the present, this is a very valuable question.
Countless literati and scholars have explored the secrets of culture from all sides, but what cannot be circumvented back and forth is cultural relics. Unlike virtual theories, cultural relics are real, witnesses of history and culture.
The excavation of an important cultural relic can even subvert the conjectures and theories of a discipline.
Since the value of cultural relics is so precious, the protection of cultural relics has become an unshirkable responsibility of a nation.
There is such a person, who has devoted his life to the protection of the Mogao Grottoes, but is said to be a sinner of the nation in Yu Qiuyu's best-selling books, and the merits of the period are difficult to define, and some people even think that Yu owes him an apology.
1. Wang Daoshi and "His Mogao Caves"
Wang Daoist, whose real name was Wang Yuanzhen, in the early years was just a small Daoist who could not even eat enough, coupled with the frequent wars in the era at that time, people were displaced, Wang Daoist fled while turning his fate, becoming thousands of helpless people who followed the tide of the times
Until one day, he met "his Mogao Caves".
It is said to be "his Mogao Grottoes" because when Wang Daoshi came to the Mogao Grottoes, it was just a pile of ruins.
In our modern view, the Mogao Grottoes are a famous scenic spot like thunder, it is the largest and most content Buddhist art site in the world, not only a national key cultural relics protection unit, but also a world cultural heritage.
However, when time retreated to the time when Wang Daoshi was located, the light of the Mogao Grottoes was far from being seen by the world, but was lost in the thick sand of time.
Speaking of this, some people may find a problem, the Mogao Caves are Buddhist, while Wang Daoshi believes in Taoism. This may be fate, people's beliefs can be different, but the pursuit and appreciation of truth, goodness and beauty should be people's common feelings.
All in all, under the management of Wang Daoshi, the light of the Mogao Grottoes is like a fascinating historical picture, slowly unfolding.
In normal times, Wang Daoist monks went everywhere to make friends, part of them to maintain their own lives, and the rest was used to repair the murals of the Mogao Caves, although the progress was slow, but it was always a beginning.
The real discovery of the Mogao Caves was extraordinary, it was an accidental day, when Wang Daoshi accidentally found a large number of Buddhist scriptures while cleaning and repairing the murals. Even if you are not a Buddhist monk, you can see that these verses are very precious and must be properly arranged.
Then leave it to the government, Wang Daoshi naturally thought. However, the facts told him that things were far from simple.
He took a few scrolls of scripture and walked 50 miles on foot to the county court, but the county official did not learn any techniques, thinking that he was holding a few pieces of broken paper to fool himself, not only did not attract any attention at all, but also scolded wang Daoshi.
When Wang Daoshi returned, he guarded the cave full of Buddhist scriptures, like a small soldier who had been ordered to guard the gold mine alone, lacking strong help. Later, a new county official came to the county, he was not like his predecessor, after hearing about this matter, he immediately took people to the Mogao Grottoes to check it out, but in the end he took away a few volumes of scriptures, leaving only a good life to supervise the instructions, and nothing else.
Later, Wang Daoshi took the scriptures and went to find Lord Daotai, but unexpectedly, the adults scoffed at this, believing that what was written in the Buddhist scriptures was not as good as what he had written. In this way, Wang Daoshi was sent away again.
In the end, Wang Daoshi even wrote a letter to Empress Dowager Cixi, but did not receive any reply, perhaps the empress dowager did not receive it, perhaps in the eyes of the stormy Qing Dynasty court, the Mogao Grottoes was just a trivial "small matter". 2. "The man who knows the goods" is coming
After such a toss,, Wang Daoshi was disheartened, and some of the officials he saw on his arduous trek did not understand anything, some of them understood a little bit and were vassals and elegant, and some of them were weak in heart. In the end, he did not find someone with both vision and ability.
Soon after, the "man who knows the goods" came, but he was an uninvited guest. He was the Englishman Stein.
Wang Daoshi was like a child who had stumbled upon a treasure, and his loud shouts and running around did not attract the attention of the adults, but it attracted the jackals who were staring at him.
Stein is "knowledgeable", in a way, he understands the value of the Mogao Caves better than those adults, he immediately expressed his willingness to spend a lot of money to buy these scriptures, Wang Daoshi refused, "not my race" The truth, Wang Daoshi understood in his heart.
Subsequently, Stein changed his strategy and molded himself into a "confidant" and "fan" of Mogao Cave culture, soft and hard bubbles, so that Wang Daoshi was relieved, and then Wang Daoshi received some money that could repair Mogao Grottoes, and Stein obtained more than 10,000 valuable scriptures.
The British left, the French came again, concocted the same, and returned home with the relics.
When the Qing Dynasty government finally eased up, it sent the remaining cultural relics of the Mogao Grottoes to the palace in the capital and kept them. However, at this time, only more than 8,000 cultural relics were left that could successfully reach the capital.
3. The fault of non-man, the fault of the times
In Yu Qiuyu's article, he believes that Wang Daoshi has carried out devastating damage to the cultural relics of the Mogao Caves, which is really a sinner of the nation throughout the ages. However, when he understood the ins and outs of the events of that year, when he felt strangled and sighed for the loss of cultural relics in the Mogao Grottoes, it was difficult to criticize Wang Daoist.
To evaluate a historical figure, we must stand in the era and position in which he lives. To put it bluntly, Wang Daoshi was just an ordinary person in that turbulent era, and his power was really too small.
When he discovered the value of the Mogao Caves, from the county official, to the Daotai Lord, to the letter to the empress, he did almost everything he could. If Wang Daoshi should be responsible for the loss of cultural relics in the Mogao Caves, I think that those layers of officials and masters are the bigger culprits.
Of course, there are also many people like Yu Qiuyu who believe that Wang Daoshi "sold" cultural relics to the British and French, which is a national sinner. Such acts have indeed caused the loss of cultural relics in foreign countries, and many of them have not returned to this day.
However, I see more of the helplessness of a small person in that era. Not only Wang Daoshi, but also foreigners who transport cultural relics back to their own countries one by one can even pass through customs checkpoints with a big swing. Therefore, some people will feel that Yu Qiuyu owes Wang Daoshi an apology.
brief summary:
The weakness and helplessness of national strength can be seen from the fate of a volume of scriptures.
When we ourselves are not capable, even the cultural relics left by our ancestors cannot be kept and cannot be protected. In real life, there are no muscles and strong mana boundless superheroes, some are just a small person floating and sinking in the great river of fate, by chance, Mogao Grottoes and Wang Daoshi met, perhaps, in another parallel time and space, Mogao Grottoes will meet Li Daoshi and Zhang Daoshi, and others will not necessarily do better than Wang Daoshi.
The loss of cultural relics is sad, however, the fault of non-human beings is also the fault of the times.