In the Forbidden City in Beijing, there is such a stone sculpture, 51.5 centimeters high and 43 centimeters wide, on which are carved two people, a man and a woman. There are no textured folds of the clothes carved in the picture, and it is obvious that the two sides are "frank" to meet. The man wears a crown on his head, his right arm goes around the woman's shoulder and neck, and his right hand is placed on the woman's right breast, and the left hand is extended; the woman's hair is tied, the right hand grabs the man's left arm, and the left hand is placed on the man's left shoulder. The two sat side by side and kissed. On October 10, 2015, during the 90th anniversary of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the stone sculpture in this public exhibition was named "Stone Man and Woman Embracing Statue".
This is not a modern work of art, but a solid cultural relic, which is a stone carving in the Eastern Han Dynasty, dating back to more than 1800 years. This stone sculpture was excavated in 1941 in the Ancient Tomb Group of Hanya at Jiangkou, Pengshan District, Meishan City. Since the locals have been mining red sand and stone here for many years, many ancient tombs have been destroyed as the excavations have progressed. Later, the local government continued to carry out deep protection, and the grave was gradually covered with wild grass and trees, which also protected the site. Less than two kilometers away from Jiangkou Ancient Town, there is Zhaizi Mountain, the Min River flows through the foot of the mountain, along a small road on the west bank of the Min River to the mountain for about 100 meters, there is a red sand stone stone stem, the stone man and woman hugging statue was excavated there.
In fact, from Zhaizi Mountain to Jiangkou Ancient Town to Fairy Mountain, there are nearly 2,000 Han Dynasty cliff tombs found in this area. In 1941, the Chuankang Ancient Monuments Expedition went here to excavate, and the number of the cliff tombs in the middle of the mountain was numbered, and this stone sculpture was excavated from Tomb No. 550. This tomb is a two-chamber tomb for husband and wife, and the location of the stone carving is on the lintel of the third floor of the tomb door, perhaps the owner of the tomb wants to fully reflect the love and intimacy of the husband and wife when they are alive. Who said that the ancient Chinese people were feudal and conservative, which is not quite open? Not only is it not worse than the ancient stone carvings of any other country, but it is not inferior to contemporary sculptures or paintings and other works of art. In fact, such images are not uncommon in the ancient mainland paintings, stone carvings, pottery figurines or porcelain and other fields, called "secret drama diagrams", which is the meaning of praying for the love of husband and wife, life and death, or multiple children and grandchildren, and the continuation of incense.
However, in this era of stone carvings, people were conservative, and the discovery of the hugging statue caused quite a stir at that time and in the local area, and even the excavators of the archaeological team felt a little embarrassed and uneasy. As is customary, the stone sculptures should be kept in situ, but at that time there were many people watching the excavations of the tombs, and the news of the appearance of the hugging statues of men and women attracted more onlookers. It was surrounded by fields, and the growing wheat seedlings were severely trampled, which caused great dissatisfaction among the landlords. From the perspective of "safeguarding ethics and morality," many people believe that it is "offensive to morality" and encourage the masses to come forward and smash this "indecent thing."
For the purpose of protecting cultural relics, the person in charge of the Chuankang Monuments Expedition had no choice but to write a letter to Li Ji, then director of the Preparatory Department of the National Central Museum and head of the archaeological team of the Institute of History and Linguistics of the Academia Sinica, proposing to chisel the image. The proposal was adopted in support, and then, in collaboration with archaeologists and stonemasons, the hug was cut intact and transported to the warehouse of the Central Museum's Preparatory Office for preservation. In fact, the so-called National Central Museum is the predecessor of the Nanjing Museum, which was built in the 22nd year of the Republic of China (1933) through the initiative of Cai Yuanpei and others, and is the earliest museum created in China and the first large-scale comprehensive museum invested and built by the state in the mainland.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the statues of men and women embracing each other were moved from the warehouse to the Nanjing Museum, and then transferred to the Palace Museum in Beijing. After liberation, when the scholar Guo Moruo saw this stone sculpture, he also gave it a romantic name, called "the first kiss in the world". The Palace Museum in Beijing was formerly known as the Ming and Qing Imperial Palaces, which everyone knows, and was built in the eighteenth year of Ming Yongle (1420). However, after the abdication of the last emperor Puyi, he still lived in the harem, until the thirteenth year of the Republic of China (1924) When Feng Yuxiang launched the "Beijing Coup" and drove the former Qing court out of the palace, Puyi moved into beifu (Zaifeng's residence) on the evening of November 5, so that the palace was truly vacated. The second year, the fourteenth year of the Republic of China, that is, in 1925 AD, the Palace Museum was officially established. You note that although the Forbidden City in Beijing opened earlier than the Nanjing Museum, it was built on the basis of the original building of the Ming and Qing Imperial Palaces, not newly built.
Since October 10, 1925, the Forbidden City has only been renamed the Forbidden City, so 2015 is the 90th anniversary of the Palace Museum (2020 is the 600th "birthday"). At that time, four new areas, such as Baoyun Building, Cining Palace, Yan Wing Tower at Noon Gate, and Donghua Gate, were officially opened to the audience. These four new areas display many national treasure-level cultural relics, including this "stone man and woman hugging statue" known as the world's first kiss. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty is 25-220 AD, the age of this stone carving, at least 1800 years old, is a veritable thousand-year-old cultural relic. Since it can be publicly exhibited in the Palace Museum, it shows that it has its own meaning, cultural relics value, cultural value and artistic value, and the development of the times to today, there will not be people who "stubbornly" think that it is contrary to morality and customs, right?