The four major cultural systems can coexist with each other in Dunhuang
China can prosper for a long time
The most fundamental reason lies in the inclusiveness of Chinese culture
China News Service: Ding Si Li Yalong
Ji Xianlin, a master of traditional Chinese studies, said: "There are only four cultural systems in the world with a long history, a vast territory, a self-contained system, and far-reaching influence: China, India, Greece, Islam, and there is no fifth, and there is only one place where these four cultural systems converge, that is, China's Dunhuang and Xinjiang regions, and there is no second." ”
Among the current factors of global instability, ethnic contradictions and religious conflicts have become one of the triggers that have triggered many wars. Why are the four major cultural systems able to coexist in Dunhuang, China, and build a colorful and diverse Dunhuang culture? What are the manifestations of this culture in Dunhuang? What are the references and enlightenments for the development of world civilization?
Dunhuang today. Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang, China News Service
Zheng Binglin, director of the Dunhuang Institute of Sciences of Lanzhou University, a key research base for humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, a distinguished professor of Yangtze River Scholars, and honorary president of the Gansu Provincial Historical Society, was recently interviewed exclusively by the China News Agency's "East and West Questions" to "decrypt" Dunhuang from a historical perspective.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: Why did Dunhuang embark on the stage of history? What are the historical reasons why it became the confluence of the four major cultural systems?
Zheng Binglin: To uncover the code of Dunhuang, we must start from the Han Dynasty. Last year, I surveyed nearly 30,000 Dunhuang Han Jian commentaries and found that the Western Han Dynasty reached a new height in the cultural exchanges between China and the West.
Why did Emperor Wu of Han go on an expedition against the Xiongnu? At that time, the xiongnu's jurisdiction extended from the east to the northeast and the Hexi Corridor in the west, and controlled the Area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in alliance with the Western Qiang. The Hexi Corridor was the passage from the Central Plains to the Western Regions, and the Xiongnu isolated the Han Dynasty from international dialogue and exchanges. If the Han Dynasty government wanted to develop, it had to open this blockade.
At that time, the "Western Regions" roughly corresponded to today's Xinjiang and Central Asia. The area is inhabited by many ethnic groups, such as the Wusun, the Great Moon Clan, and the Qiang, and is controlled by the Xiongnu in the north. In order to deepen his understanding of the countries of the Western Regions and relieve the Xiongnu from threatening the Western Han Regime, Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions to find allies, bring back a large amount of knowledge and rich knowledge about the Western Regions and other places, and opened up the famous "Silk Road".
At the same time, the young general Huo Fuyi sent two troops to Hexi in 121 BC, attacking the Xiongnu's power in Hexi, the Xiongnu Kun evil king killed King Hutu and surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and the Hexi region was included in the territory of the Western Han Dynasty, and from then on, there were no Xiongnu west of the Jincheng River to Lop Nur. The Western Han government originally wanted the Wusun people, who had been driven out by the Xiongnu, to move back from Central Asia to Hexi, about the kingdom of Kundi. However, the Wusun people had no intention of returning to the east, and the Western Han government could only take the actual border of emigration to the Hexi region and directly manage it by setting up counties and counties.
After taking Hexi, the Han Dynasty established Jiuquan County. With the development of chinese and Western transportation and the increasing importance of Dunhuang, Dunhuang County was added, which was roughly the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (111 BC). Since then, Dunhuang has embarked on the stage of history, and its foreign exchanges have also begun.
Wei Jincai paintings in Hexi area like brick cultural relics "slaughtered cattle portrait bricks". The Hexi portrait brick truly reflects the life and spiritual outlook of the people in the ancient Hexi area. China News Service reporter Tian Yuhao photographed
China News Service: After the Han Dynasty conquered Hexi, how did it operate and develop Dunhuang? How to manage the ethnic minorities in Dunhuang?
Zheng Binglin: The establishment of Dunhuang County has enabled the Dunhuang area to complete the transformation from military construction to administrative division. The Government of the Western Han Dynasty began to continue to migrate to the Dunhuang area, and the first generation of immigrants were the army pawns who guarded Dunhuang, and thereafter there were powerful surnames who violated the law, there were also poor people who lost their land, as well as prisoners and officials and soldiers on the side of the border, as well as officials who broke the law. While migrating to Dunhuang, they also introduced advanced Han culture from the Central Plains. The culture of the Dunhuang area in the Han Dynasty developed on this basis.
After Zhang Qian returned from his second mission to the Western Regions, exchanges between the Han chinese and the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions became more frequent, and Dunhuang became a transportation hub connecting the East and the West on the Silk Road, as well as a post station for receiving merchants and envoys from various countries. Dunhuang County also set up a special institution to receive foreign envoys, receiving kings, royal envoys, nobles, Huke, Yike, self-visitors, visitors, etc. They came to the Han Dynasty through the reception system of post agencies such as Dunhuang Hanging Spring, and the station determined the corresponding standards of food and accommodation according to their identity.
In order to carry out economic and trade activities, Hu people and Hu merchants from the western region also came to Dunhuang, and the Dunhuang market developed. The commodities traded in the Dunhuang market include spices from India, coral from Persia, silverware from Eastern Rome, fur products from the Mongolian Plateau, pigments from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, wine koji and Hu powder from the Western Regions, as well as silk and iron ware from the Central Plains.
Dunhuang is also specially equipped with translators, including Qiang translation, Hu translation, Qianghu translation, etc. The demand for such practitioners is very large, which can also be seen that Dunhuang has a high degree of foreign exchanges.
In order to consolidate the defense of Dunhuang County, and to manage the ethnic minorities in Dunhuang, the Han Dynasty government built a defensive system such as Saicheng to resettle and appease the Guiyi ethnic minorities. For the Qiang people, "Qiang envoys" were set up to deal with the affairs of the Qiang people.
With the gradual collapse of the Xiongnu regime, the Han Dynasty government began to truly operate the Western Regions on a large scale, setting up the Western Regions Capital Protectorate, providing food and accommodation to emissaries and merchants, providing security escorts, etc., smoothing the prosperity and exchanges of the Silk Road. Dunhuang became an indispensable role on the Silk Road, and its functions changed from military points, administrative management, and material support to important places for business and tourism.
Exhibition of Dunhuang murals (replicas). China News Service reporter Luo Yunfei photographed
China News Service: What are the manifestations of multicultural integration and symbiosis in Dunhuang?
Zheng Binglin: Han culture and foreign cultures are symbiotic in the Dunhuang area. In Dunhuang, Buddhism, Jingjiao, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Bon and other religions coexist harmoniously, highlighting the inclusive characteristics of Han culture. After Buddhism entered China, it underwent a process of sinicization. According to the excavated Hanjian records, there is a place in the Dunhuang area called "Futu Li", "Futu" is a Buddhist temple, "Li" is equivalent to a village, and "Futu Li" is a village established by Buddhist monasteries in Dunhuang, indicating that Dunhuang was the initial foothold of Buddhism from the Western Regions to China.
In Dunhuang, all ethnic groups can intermarry, and there is no conflict between religions and ethnic groups, they operate independently, and they can get corresponding status. This kind of cultural tolerance and openness was highly mature in the Tang Dynasty and was reflected in the Chinese dynasties. In addition, the developed Han culture and education in the Central Plains also affected the countries in the western region.
The Silk Road is an artistic road, and Buddhist art and Zoroastrian art in the western region were introduced to China through the Silk Road, and then returned to Dunhuang after Sinicization. Today, the shadow of the mutual integration and symbiosis of ancient multi-ethnic cultures can still be found in the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang. As a place where cultures meet, Dunhuang integrates the cultures of the Western Regions and the Central Plains.
Exhibition of Dunhuang murals (replicas). Photo by Gao Zhan, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: What is the role of Dunhuang culture in the cohesion of the Chinese nation and the enhancement of Chinese cultural self-confidence? What are the implications for the development of world civilization?
Zheng Binglin: Understanding Dunhuang and understanding the ancient Chinese style is actually a process of exploring chinese cultural self-confidence. The study of Greater Dunhuang that we are doing now includes the surrounding area radiating outward with Dunhuang as the center, because ancient Dunhuang included not only One Dunhuang, but also the western region it operated. Through the Dunhuang documents, the Hanjian excavated in Dunhuang, and the documents unearthed in the Western Regions, we can understand the ancient Dunhuang and the ancient Chinese governance of the Western Regions, and restore this period of history.
The fundamental source of the problems faced by Xinjiang, Tibet, and the Mongolian plateau is historical solution. Knowing the history, many things can be clearly explained. In the face of foreign doubts, they can all be replied with historical facts, which is the embodiment of cultural self-confidence.
The development of culture and civilization is a process of symbiosis, coexistence and communion. The development of ancient Dunhuang is to learn from and accept different cultures, so that they can find a living space in Dunhuang. The same is true of the development of Chinese culture, China is inseparable from the world, and the world is inseparable from China.
In July 2019, the "Cultural Exchange on the Silk Road: Exhibition of Art Treasures from the Tubo Period" was held in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. Photo by Wei Jianjun, China News Service
China News Service: The national tide culture is becoming more and more popular, and young people are more and more fond of Dunhuang national tide, what do you think about this?
Zheng Binglin: It is a good phenomenon that young people love Dunhuang culture. Ancient Dunhuang was the gathering place of world culture, and its essence was cultural exchange, through which the world could be seen. In addition to loving Dunhuang, I also encourage young people to have a broader mind and world pattern, and to see the world, travel the world and tolerate the world through Dunhuang.
To study Dunhuang, we must also use a global perspective to look at Dunhuang, find Dunhuang in the world, and find the world in Dunhuang. Only research with a narrow national perspective and without inclusiveness is short-lived, and only research with an inclusive and global perspective can be immortalized. The most fundamental reason why the four major cultural systems can integrate and coexist in Dunhuang and China can prosper and develop for a long time lies in the inclusiveness of Chinese culture.
On January 5, 2022, the public visited the exhibition "Silk Road Art of Dunhuang Grottoes and Hexi Corridor" at the Shenzhen Museum. Photo by Bao Gansheng, China News Service
Respondent Profiles:
Zheng Binglin is a native of Huangling County, Shaanxi Province. He is currently the director of the Dunhuang Institute of Lanzhou University, a key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, a first-class professor and doctoral supervisor of Cuiying Scholar of Lanzhou University. He is a member of the Language Expert Committee of the State Textbook Commission, a distinguished professor of Yangtze River Scholars, and an honorary president of the Gansu Provincial Historical Society. He has published more than 230 papers and more than 20 books in journals such as "Historical Research", "World Religion Studies", "Chinese History Studies", "Literature and History", and "Chinese Literature and History Series". He has presided over the completion of more than 20 national cultural support projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology and major and key projects of the National Social Science Fund, as well as major research fund projects of the Ministry of Education and international exchange fund projects. He has won 5 provincial social science awards of the first, second and third prizes, and 4 various book awards. He is the chief editor of more than ten series of books, such as "Special Research on the History of dunhuang guiyi", "Dunhuang Doctoral Library", "Dunhuang Studies Research Library", "Northwest History and Culture Research Library", "Dunhuang Past Series", "Silk Road GrottoEs Buddhist Art Library", "Contemporary Dunhuang Scholars' Self-Selected Collection", "French Sinology Quintessence Series", "Dunhuang Lectures", "Dunhuang Tubo Literature Series" and so on.
Source: China News Service