Li Jianmao: Why can Changsha kiln become an important witness to the cultural exchange between China and the West?
China News Service Changsha, February 24 Title: Li Jianmao: Why can Changsha kiln become an important witness to cultural exchanges between China and the West?
China News Service reporter Bai Zukai Liu Shuangshuang Deng Xia
After the Battle of Qiluo and the "Anshi Rebellion", the overland Silk Road was basically blocked due to war, and the Maritime Silk Road, which was mainly characterized by the export of porcelain, gradually flourished and replaced the land route, becoming the main channel for trade between China and the West. The discovery of the millennium shipwreck "BlackStone" in Indonesian waters in 1998 is the earliest archaeological evidence of direct trade between China and Arabia seen so far, and has a landmark position in the history of the development of the Maritime Silk Road.
The "Black Stone" shipwreck was loaded with tens of thousands of Chinese Tang Dynasty cultural relics, including more than 56,000 pieces of Changsha kiln porcelain, which shows the status of Changsha kiln in the "troika" of Tang Dynasty export porcelain. How did Changsha kiln rise and embark on the road of export? Why can it become an important witness to the cultural exchange between China and the West? Li Jianmao, vice president of the China Ancient Ceramics Society, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Question" to make an in-depth interpretation.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: Changsha kiln pioneered the colorful underglaze technique, breaking through the single hue of China's Tang Dynasty celadon and white porcelain, which can be called "a milestone in the history of ceramics". How did changsha kiln rise? What are the stages of development?
Li Jianmao: Changsha kiln is based on the celadon firing of Yuezhou kiln, and integrated with the northern porcelain making process. Yuezhou kiln, commonly known as Xiangyin kiln before the Sui Dynasty, was first fired in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and is the site of the earliest celadon kiln in Hunan Province. The Changsha kiln is located in the area of Tongguan in Wangcheng, and was originally supposed to be a peripheral kiln yard of the Yuezhou kiln.
After the "Anshi Rebellion", the ceramic industry in the capital of the Tang Dynasty, including the Sancai kiln industry, was destroyed, and some kiln workers moved south to the Hunan region. Since there were no major wars and famines in Hunan, the economy was relatively prosperous, and some kiln workers lived in the copper officials near Changsha and slowly integrated with the local kiln workers. In this process, the Yuezhou kiln was influenced by ceramic processes such as northern color glaze, and gradually created and formed a unique colored decorative porcelain, that is, Changsha kiln.
From the current changsha kiln artifact chronological inscriptions and excavated porcelain from the tomb, it can be seen that the production of Changsha kiln porcelain will not be later than the seventeenth year of zhenyuan (801 AD) and no later than the fourth year of the fifth dynasty (929 AD). Specifically, Changsha kilns arose at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries, flourished in the late Tang Dynasty, and declined in the Five Dynasties. Changsha kiln has only existed for more than a hundred years, which can be said to be a flash in the pan, but it has left a strong mark in the history of Chinese ceramics and the cultural exchange between China and the West.
The site of the Tanjiapo Dragon Kiln clearly shows the production process of Changsha kiln porcelain. Photo by Yang Huafeng, a reporter of China News Service
China News Service: How did Changsha kiln go from a small town in Hunan to the road of export? What was its place in the ancient Maritime Silk Road?
Li Jianmao: According to research, the export of Tang Dynasty porcelain has a "troika", namely Changsha kiln color porcelain, northern kiln mouth white porcelain and white glazed green color porcelain, Yue kiln celadon porcelain. From the more than 56,000 pieces of Changsha kiln porcelain loaded on the "Black Stone", it can be seen that the Changsha kiln should be the leader in the "troika".
Changsha kiln embarked on the road of export has several factors: First, the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road. Hunan is located inland, but it is rich in water transport resources, and the external ties from the Warring States to the Tang Dynasty are very close. Changsha kiln products are mainly along the Xiang River down the water through Yuezhou, through Dongting to Wuchang, and then along the Yangtze River down the water, from Yangzhou, Guangzhou, Mingzhou (Ningbo) and other places to overseas places.
The second is the strong export awareness of Changsha kiln. In order to meet the needs of foreign businessmen, Changsha kiln has a unique way, according to the preferences of buyers to specially produce or customize export-oriented products, its utensils and patterns are integrated into foreign cultural elements. Fragments of Persian pottery were collected at the Changsha kiln site, which were the living utensils of Persian merchants, which indicates that foreign merchants had visited the kiln site. Judging from some decorative ornaments, foreign merchants should hold the pattern directly to the kiln mouth for customization. Changsha kiln is even more unique in brand marketing, and the words with advertising nature such as "Hunan Daocaoshi Shizhu Mengzi is famous Fan Jiaji", "Bian family small mouth is the first in the world" and "Zheng family small mouth is famous in the world" found on porcelain can be explained.
The third is the price advantage of Changsha kiln. Some of the Changsha kiln porcelain on the "Black Stone" is marked with the inscription "Wu Wen", which is cheaper than the price of Xing kiln white porcelain and Yue kiln celadon porcelain; and it is decorated with underglaze paintings that are not easy to fall off, which can be said to be of good quality and low price.
In 2014, the "Black Stone" shipwreck Tang Dynasty Changsha Kiln Porcelain Exhibition was held at the Changsha Museum, and more than 150 pieces of Changsha kilns on display were "Black Stone" water porcelain purchased from overseas by local collectors and exquisite artifacts excavated from the Changsha kiln site. Photo by Deng Xia, a reporter of China News Service
China News Service: How does Changsha Tongguan Kiln integrate and innovate Chinese and Western cultures to meet the living needs and aesthetic concepts of export objects?
Li Jianmao: Changsha kiln has products for export, these products are tailored to the needs of overseas markets, according to the use of functions, customs and aesthetic needs, in the shape and pattern of a large number of imitations of overseas pottery, bronze, gold and silverware and brocade in the artistic elements, or directly according to the sample production. There are indications that Changsha and Dongting Lake areas in the middle and late Tang Dynasty were important areas for Arab activities, and they should have participated in the design and production of Changsha kiln export products.
From the "Black Stone" and the Changsha kiln porcelain pots found abroad, mold-printed appliqué pots account for a large proportion. Judging from the molded appliqué pots fired with the same pattern at the mouth of the northern kiln, foreign companies may have provided patterns to the kilns that intend to buy goods at the same time. Changsha kiln technology is formed on the basis of the integration of north and south porcelain technology, the product is the most inexpensive and beautiful, and the appliqué coating brown spots, this innovation makes the pattern more eye-catching, the product is most suitable for foreign needs, so the purchase volume is large, the output is also more, the molded appliqué has become the symbol pattern and characteristic decoration technique of Changsha kiln export. Its ornamentation is mainly based on the Date Palm Pattern and Lion Pattern in the West Asian style.
Foreigners visit the excavated cultural relics at the Changsha Tongguan Kiln Museum with blue glaze brown spots pasted with date palm pattern porcelain pots. The date palm pattern has a distinctly West Asian style. Photo by Yang Huafeng, a reporter of China News Service
This kind of Changsha kiln, which can be called "customized", is undoubtedly the product of China's porcelain-making technology reaching a certain height, and it is also a proof of the opening up of society to the outside world at that time. The two-way exchange of Chinese and Western cultures has laid a solid foundation for the best-selling of Changsha kilns.
China News Service: Why can Changsha kiln become an important witness to cultural exchanges between China and the West?
Li Jianmao: The Japanese ancient ceramicist Sanjinan once said: The ancient civilization exchange between the East and the West was written on Chinese ceramics, when Chinese tea was drunk, the silk was rotten, and the dust was erased, and the Chinese ceramics of the past were still shining. The all-encompassing Changsha kiln porcelain not only witnessed the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty, but also provided us with precious physical materials for our study of the history of communication between the West and the West, the history of trade, and cultural exchanges.
Exquisite Changsha kiln porcelain bowl. Photo by Deng Xia, a reporter of China News Service
Changsha kiln is rich in products, and calligraphy and painting are used for porcelain decoration, containing Chinese civilizations such as poetry and aphorisms, tea and wine culture, etc., which can be regarded as a mirror reflecting the social life of the Tang Dynasty. These porcelains with Chinese aesthetic taste and Chinese cultural imprints were shipped overseas, which not only brought beauty to foreigners, but also spread Chinese culture to the outside world in the form of art, and also showed China's strong economic strength and cultural self-confidence at that time. While spreading outward, Changsha kilns are also influenced by foreign cultures, using elements from Indian Buddhist culture, Persian culture and Islamic culture for my own use, integrating and presenting them on porcelain, reflecting the characteristics of openness, inclusiveness and eclecticism, and is an indispensable witness to the study of Cultural Exchanges between China and foreign countries.
On the porcelain of the Tang Dynasty copper official kiln in Changsha is a poem written about the inn: "Small water leads to a big river, and there are many birds in the mountains." The host is very friendly and the winding road is also passed. "Reflecting the commercial development of the Tang Dynasty, the hotel flourished. Photo by Liu Shuangshuang, a reporter from China News Service
The blue glaze excavated from the site of the Lan'anzui kiln in Tongguan Town "This is a drinking bottle, and it is not allowed to use the "brown and green color Mo exhaustion porcelain pot" otherwise. It is a long-nosed, sharp-toothed, fish-tailed animal in Hindu mythology, and the Capricorn ornament contains obvious foreign cultural factors. Photo by Deng Xia, a reporter of China News Service
Today, when we inherit and carry forward the Changsha kiln as a cultural element in the Maritime Silk Road, we must not only carry out systematic academic sorting in terms of ornamentation, export channels, development background, etc., but also see that the reason why Changsha kiln can become an important witness to the cultural exchanges between China and the West at that time is because it has the endogenous power of "tolerance and innovation". This kind of tolerance and innovation is based on strong cultural self-confidence, communicating and colliding with an open mind, learning from exchanges, and developing in reference, so as to promote the progress of civilization. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Li Jianmao is the vice president of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society, the executive director of the China Museum Association, and the vice chairman of the Hunan Archaeological Society. An outstanding expert of the Ministry of Culture, an expert enjoying special allowances of the State Council, a former secretary of the Party Committee of hunan Provincial Museum, he has authored books such as "Economic Research on Ancient Chinese Ceramics" and "Changsha Kiln", and published more than 50 papers.