Turning over China's 5,000 years of splendid cultural history, there is a splendid name engraved in the hearts of Chinese, it is the world-renowned Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. More than a thousand years ago, the ancestors left a large number of precious cultural treasures here for future generations, and those who have seen these exquisite murals and sculptures have all admired the exquisite skills and profound wisdom of the ancients.
The Mogao Caves thousand buddha caves are a pearl in the history of Chinese culture, and if we listen to its story with our hearts, we will find that this is also a piece of eternal pain in Chinese heart. Because the countless artistic treasures and precious classics in the Mogao Grottoes were once plundered by almost robbers, and now we are left with only the ruins of the broken walls.
The address of mogao caves is 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang in Jiuquan City, on the cliff on the west bank of the Tangquan River on Mingshashan East Road. According to records, the first Buddhist cave here was built by a senior monk named Lezun in 366 AD, that is, the second year of the Former Qin Dynasty, which belongs to the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
In the centuries since, Buddhism has flourished in the Dunhuang area, with monks and temples digging Buddhist caves here, and the activity of opening cave statues has also been strongly supported by the governments of several dynasties.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Mogao Grottoes reached the heyday of history, and it is recorded that during the Wu Zetian period, the Buddha Caves of the Mogao Grottoes were already as high as more than a thousand caves, which is a veritable "Thousand Buddha Caves"!
With the prosperity of Buddhism, many large-scale monasteries have also been built in the northwest dunhuang area, which are very famous in history.
However, the rise and fall is the law of history, and the Thousand Buddha Caves, which were once full of Buddha's light, cannot surpass this reincarnation, and after the Yuan Dynasty, the Mogao Caves began to decline and were gradually forgotten by people.
The countries of the Western Regions were submerged in the yellow sand due to the great changes in the climatic conditions in Xinjiang, and Dunhuang gradually moved away from its former glory.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Silk Road was completely cut off, and it became a border area, and the people of the Central Plains had completely forgotten the Thousand Buddha Caves here, and only the shepherds would occasionally pass by here and look up at these bodhisattva arhats who had experienced thousands of years of wind and sand.
It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the imperial court re-established Dunhuang County here, and the Mogao Grottoes were re-known, but at that time they did not attract people's attention. The rulers of the closed country only knew that there were a large number of Buddhist caves left by the ancients, and there were some Buddha statues and magic tools and the like.
Out of respect for the Buddhist family, Dunhuang County arranged for special personnel to take care of the place, but the strength was very small, only a few monks and Taoists, and the cost provided was also very small.
During the Guangxu period, there was only one Daoist priest left here to watch over these Buddhist caves, and this Daoist monk's name was Wang Yuanzhen. This Taoist monk named Wang Yuanzhen had a wish to build a Taoist temple and promote the Taoist Dharma.
But Wang Yuanzhen had no money and no background, and what was even more ironic was that when he came to Dunhuang, he was instead arranged to guard the Buddhist caves.
However, Wang Yuanzhen did not abandon this job, he did not give up his dream, and he even wanted to use the original layout of the Thousand Buddha Cave to transform it into his own Taoist temple. Of course, this is just a dream of his, and it is very difficult to make it a reality.
Wang Yuanzhen is still very serious and responsible for his work, and he will often enter the cave to clean up and clean, so he is very familiar with the Thousand Buddha Cave.
Even Wang Yuanzhen himself did not expect that heaven would let him discover a secret that shocked the whole world here.
According to records, on May 26, 26, Guangxu, when Wang Yuanzhen was cleaning the seventeenth cave of the Mogao Caves, he accidentally found that the wall on the side of the cave was hollow.
The wall was originally painted with frescoes, and after a moment's hesitation, Wang Yuanzhen decided to chisel the wall to see what was inside.
Wang Yuanzhen found tools, and easily chiseled a large hole in the wall, and with the help of the sunlight that came in obliquely, Wang Yuanzhen peeked into a small room inside, and it was full of sutra scrolls and other objects.
Such a scene made Wang Yuanzhen's eyes light up, and the things inside must be extraordinary, so Wang Yuanzhen completely opened the wall and went inside to see what was going on.
The hidden mysterious cave behind this wall is the most famous attraction of mogao caves today, "Tibetan Scripture Cave"!
It is said that when Wang Yuanzhen first entered, he found that there were a large number of scripture scrolls, books, painting scrolls, and some other documents and magic tools in an orderly manner, and there were tens of thousands of volumes of document classics alone.
At that time, Wang Yuanzhen went through some of the classics and scriptures and found that most of them were Buddhist scriptures, as well as some ancient documents.
At this time, Wang Yuanzhen realized that he had found valuable information hidden in the cave by the ancients, and it must be properly kept. But he was alone, and he was afraid that it would be difficult to keep it, so he reported the matter to the government.
Wang Yuanzhen personally ran to Dunhuang County to ask for a county order, told him in detail about his inadvertent discovery of the tibetan scripture cave, and also showed some of the scripture scrolls he had brought out to the county order.
Dunhuang County Ling learned that it was only some Fragments of Buddhist scriptures and copper and iron magic tools, and there was no gold and silver jewelry, so it was not interested. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the officialdom was dark and decaying, and there was no sense of cultural relics protection at all, and this county decree believed that the place of the Thousand Buddha Cave was full of things from a thousand years ago, and there was nothing rare. So I let Wang Yuanzhen go back.
In the following three years, Wang Yuanzhen repeatedly begged the government for protective measures, but there was no response, and the contents of the cave were always under his care.
Three years later, Dunhuang County ordered a change of personnel, and Wang Yuanzhen thought that the new arrival might understand things better than the previous one, so he ran to the county court again to ask for the support of the government.
However, Wang Yuanzhen was once again poured with cold water, and the newly appointed one was still not interested in these old things, but entrusted him with good storage.
This time Wang Yuanzhen was very angry, these sesame officials were blind, they didn't know what the real treasure was, he pinned his hopes on the country's supreme leader. So he wrote an impassioned letter to Cixi Lafayette, hoping to attract the attention of the imperial court.
Then the letter sank into the sea without suspense, and Wang Yuanzhen applied for more than six years, not only did not apply for a penny, but also exhausted himself. Since then, Wang Yuanzhen's attitude towards these cultural relics has undergone tremendous changes, and the government doesn't care, I am so fucked up to do anything, love it!
But just a year later, something unexpected happened!
In 1907, when the qing court's national gate had been knocked open by the strong ships and cannons of the great powers, in addition to the influx of foreign merchants into China's coastal trade and trade, Western explorers also began to enter China for exploration and investigation.
China was one of the largest countries in the world at the time, and because of its long period of isolation, it has always been an extremely mysterious country in the eyes of Westerners.
China is big, and these explorers have a strong interest in many parts of the mainland, but there are two places that they are most concerned about, and many people are desperately drilling into it.
These two places are Xinjiang and Tibet, which we regard as remote and desolate, from the surface, these two places have a harsh environment, but they have a long history and culture, because they have been very closed since ancient times, so they have a strong mysterious color. From this point of view, it is really attractive to explorers.
But the most important reason why Westerners are interested in this place is not this, they value these two places because in their eyes, this is the core of Eurasia, the traffic throat.
Whoever controls here will be able to rule Eurasia, and whoever rules Eurasia will be the hegemon of the world and will be able to rule the whole world. Because the regions outside of Eurasia are either desolate or poor!
In short, Western explorers began to explore along the ancient Silk Road in large quantities, and in 1907, the British explorer Stein brought his expedition to the Mogao Caves.
Stein was shocked by the many Buddhist caves and exquisite works of art in the Mogao Caves, and he did not expect that there were so many treasures hidden in such a desolate place.
Of course, he also met the Taoist priest Wang Yuanzhen who was in charge of guarding the place, and Stein just needed a guide, so he soon became friends with Wang Yuanzhen.
Stein asked Wang Yuanzhen about the question, of course, will pay a certain amount of remuneration, Wang Yuanzhen saw that this foreigner was generous and good friends, so he told Stein everything he knew without reservation.
Later, during a chat, Wang Yuanzhen inadvertently revealed the story of the Tibetan Scripture Cave, and he thought that these foreigners were just curious about these old objects that they had never seen, took some photos and left.
Unexpectedly, however, Stein was so interested in the cave that he repeatedly asked to see the mysterious cave and what was hidden inside.
Although Wang Yuanzhen was already disheartened by the government, Stein's courtesy immediately aroused his vigilance, and he never mentioned the cave again.
Stein had traveled thousands of miles to come here, and he would never give up, so he tried all kinds of ways to finally get Wang Yuanzhen's consent and let him take a look at the Cave of the Scriptures.
When Stein entered the interior, the artifacts were still arranged according to the original layout. Stein was immediately struck by the sheer number of scriptures, written records from more than a thousand years ago, so numerous and so well preserved that it was impossible in any country in the world.
In the days that followed, Stein was in the Cave, and he was reluctant to leave, he wanted to buy a batch of artifacts in it. This unreasonable request was categorically rejected by Wang Yuanzhen.
Although Wang Yuanzhen was already disheartened, he was a believer after all and had a true belief in religion. In traditional Chinese culture, Confucianism and Taoism have actually long been integrated, and although each has its own sect, it is very respectful and familiar with each other.
Therefore, Wang Yuanzhen has been carefully guarding these Buddhist caves and Buddha statues, and his faith does not allow him to sell these treasures to outsiders.
Stein was not dead-hearted, and he inquired from many sources that Wang Yuanzhen admired the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang very much, so he took a side-by-side detour and chatted with the old Taoist priest about Xuanzang.
Wang Yuanzhen did not know what the plan was, and seeing that he no longer mentioned the matter of the cave, he thought that Stein was dead-hearted, so he began to talk with him. Over the next few days, the relationship between the two became more and more familiar.
Stein told Wang Yuanzhen that he was also a fan of Master Xuanzang, and that he not only worshipped Xuanzang from the bottom of his heart, but also practiced what he preached, coming to China to learn the scriptures.
Then Stein took out his knowledgeable skills and told Wang Yuanzhen what he had seen and heard around the world, and the old Daoist priest was fooled around.
In the end, Wang Yuanzhen agreed to sell him some sutra scrolls to bring back to promote the Dharma. But as soon as this mouth was opened, it was unmanageable, and Stein took one piece after another in the cave to see which one was good, which one was reluctant to put it, and finally loaded more than a dozen boxes.
At this time, Wang Yuanzhen also had some more than enough and insufficient strength, perhaps he thought that selling these things to foreigners would be better preserved.
It is said that Stein took away more than 9,000 cultural relics at that time, as well as dozens of exquisite Buddhist scrolls and some precious magic tools.
Stein later used an octoper camel to take these artifacts away, and when he left the country with China's precious national treasures, he did not encounter any obstacles.
Stein brought these valuable artifacts back to England for exhibition, and he did not expect that his discovery would shock the world. When explorers from all over the world received this news, they immediately organized their respective teams to rush towards the Mogao Caves.
The year after Stein's departure, in 1908, the French explorer Bo Xihe, who had received the news, came to the Mogao Caves to find Wang Yuanzhen before the other expeditions.
This Boch was much more powerful than Stein, who had a strong interest in China very early on, had traveled to many parts of China, and was not only familiar with Chinese history and national conditions, but also proficient in Chinese. Therefore, he and Wang Yuanzhen did not even use translation to communicate.
At this time, Wang Yuanzhen had already let go of his vigilance, coupled with Bo Xihe's flickering and high prices, so Bo Xihe also grabbed a large number of precious cultural relics.
Bo Xihe was very knowledgeable about the Chinese language, and at that time the Chinese script had not yet been simplified and reformed, so he did not have much difficulty reading these sutra documents from a thousand years ago.
At the same time, Bo Xihe knew very well that the Mogao Caves had now become fat in the eyes of explorers around the world, and now there must be more than one team speeding towards here, so he must speed up the rush to grab the relics. Due to the large number of cultural relics, Wang Yuanzhen would not agree to let him take all the cultural relics away, so he had to choose the most valuable cultural relics.
The main things in the cave are Buddhist scriptures and ancient documents, and Bo Xihe began to go through these documents as quickly as possible and select them. According to Bohehe and later recollections, he was racing against every second, flipping through the scrolls at a rate of almost 100 copies per hour.
After a quick selection, Bo Xihe picked out more than 6,400 copies of the most valuable scriptures, which was also the worst catastrophe in the cave.
In the following years, several groups of foreign expeditions came to the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and they not only bribed Wang Yuanzhen to purchase the remaining scriptures and cultural relics in the Cave, but also comprehensively searched other Buddhist caves and stole a large number of valuable Buddhist statues, ritual instruments and other precious cultural relics from them.
These expeditions included not only Europeans but also Japanese, including the orange Ruichao who stole a large number of cultural relics from the ancient city of Loulan.
In 1914, Stein returned to Dunhuang again, this time buying more than 600 Buddhist scriptures from Wang Yuanzhen, which are said to contain five large boxes. At this time, the cave had been basically emptied.
Writing is the most important carrier in human civilization and has extremely important cultural value, the ancients cloud: Cangjie made characters ghost night cry! Once humans have mastered the written word, the gods and ghosts are invincible!
The documents in the Mogao Caves contain not only Buddhist scriptures, but also many social and scientific documents of great historical value. The document stolen by Stein contains a astrological map drawn by Li Chunfeng, a famous Tang Dynasty minister, who is said to have been a manifestation of his vision of "Taibai Jingtian" to Li Shimin.
This astrological chart is also the earliest and most comprehensive astrological map found in the world so far, in which the constellations are complete and the orientation is accurate, which makes the West ashamed.
Western astronomical circles have not understood how Chinese during the Tang Dynasty located constellations that could not be discovered with the naked eye, after all, it was hundreds of years before the invention of astronomical telescopes. And this astrological map has also become a historical mystery!
This image is still preserved in the British Museum!
In 1925, the American explorer Warner came to Dunhuang for the second time, and by this time the Cave had already become an empty Buddhist cave, except for the statue of Master Hong and some dilapidated murals, not even a fragment of the book page.
But Warner was not dead-hearted, anticipating this situation long before he set out, so another important target of his trip was the Buddha statues and murals in the Thousand Buddha Caves.
Warner admired the exquisite murals in the Caves, using special chemical glue to glue large pieces of murals, and then using special means to peel them off, and then completely peeling them off by chemical methods after being transported back to China.
At this time, Warner no longer looked at the Mogao Caves as an explorer, and he began to expose the sinister face of the colonists.
Warner's ambition was great, and his original plan was to empty all the murals and Buddha statues in the Mogao Caves and erase all traces of historical civilization. Chinese cannot be allowed to know that they once had such a splendid civilization, which is the true face of the Western colonizers.
According to their logic, one of the most important ways to make themselves strong is to find ways to keep others behind forever.
But the size of the Mogao Grottoes is so large that Warner has stolen only a small part of them with all his might, and because of this, we can see the exquisite ruins of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes today.
The massive and exquisite cultural relics of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes have been continuously exhibited overseas, and they have successively shocked the world, and patriots overseas and people of insight at home are deeply ashamed and saddened by this. They repeatedly jointly demanded that the government take protective measures against the Mogao Caves, and only then did the government take compulsory measures against the place and strictly restrict foreign explorers from entering the country to explore the country, and similar thefts were stopped.
However, the doom of the Mogao Grottoes did not end there, in addition to the theft and destruction of foreigners, there are also some ill-intentioned people in The country who quietly sneak into the Mogao Grottoes to carry out theft activities.
In addition, the famous painter Zhang Daqian once went to Dunhuang to copy for three years. However, during his copying, some destruction of the remaining frescoes was also carried out.
Because the Mogao Grottoes have gone through thousands of years and have gone through several ups and downs, some people in ancient times have reshaped Buddha statues and redecorated murals on the basis of the ruined Buddha caves.
After applying a special material to the original mural, they repainted the coating, and over the years, some of the coating naturally peeled off.
Zhang Daqian discovered this secret, and he was eager to know what the older murals looked like, so he set out to peel off the outer murals, causing great harm to the Buddhist cave murals.
Because of this, Zhang Daqian was once unanimously scolded by patriots. And Zhang Daqian's Dunhuang murals are also criticized by people, saying that from his paintings, it can be seen that his selfishness is quite heavy, lacks spirituality, and is far inferior to the skills of craftsmen thousands of years ago!
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government adopted rescue protection for the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, and a large number of archaeologists dedicated their youth to the protection and research of the Mogao Grottoes. It is precisely because of their selfless dedication that we can see the exquisite murals in the Mogao Caves today, and we can imagine the glory of the Ancient Silk Road and the flying grand scenery of the rebounding pipa!
But we must not forget that the majestic and magnificent Mogao Grottoes in our eyes today are only a section of ruins left to us by the marauders, and an eternal wound in our Chinese hearts!
So far, tens of thousands of scripture scrolls and cultural relics in the Cave are still lost overseas, and there are also many extremely precious written records that have been secretly collected by overseas collectors, so that how many cultural relics have been stolen from the Cave and the Mogao Caves, we still can't know!
I am the Phantom of Shi Hai, and I am following me to praise history.