Li Leixin
On February 22, 1976, the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Ministry of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sent a telegram to the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Museum, numbered "Fa 072". The main content of the telegram was: "It is planned that Comrades Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin'er will be sent to Ningxia in April and May this year to investigate and collect Western Xia literature and historical materials, and to jointly compile the "Western Xia Dictionary" and to sort out and study the Western Xia literature materials in consultation with your museum." The telegram was sent to the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Bureau of Culture and Education at the same time, with the same number and basically close words, except that the letter was marked on the lower left of the paper with "76.3.18 Reissuance of this letter (it is said that the unit did not receive it)". In addition to these two telegrams, the author also saw a copy of the report number "Fa 093", written with a single-sided pen, and five pages of manuscript paper. The report was sent to the scientific research group of the Faculty, the author is unknown, there is no report time, mainly report the details of the proposed shi Jinbo and Bai Bin's two comrades mentioned in the two articles of "Fa 072" to go out to investigate the literature and history of Western Xia.
As a "deadly study", after more than a hundred years of efforts, Xixia Studies has gradually become an "international prominent study" (Du Jianlu), but in 1976 it was still a rather lonely science. The protagonists of the telegram and the report, Mr. Shi Jinbo and Mr. Bai Bin, were the first graduate students of the Xixia studies major under the guidance of Mr. Wang Jingru, and the other was Mr. Wang's assistant, and now they have become outstanding people in the Western Xia academic circles. These three telegrams are all seen on an auction website, so it is not easy to retain the vicissitudes of paper, the three texts are just related to each other, and some of the details mentioned have pondering value, so a little analysis.
The Institute of Ethnic Studies sent 072 articles to the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Museum
The Institute of Ethnic Studies sent 072 documents to the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Cultural and Educational Bureau
Why summer hunting
The "Fa 093" report cable lists two purposes for this investigation. First, in order to seize the initiative in the study of Western Xia Studies, it is urgent to collect materials on the history and writing of Western Xia and write weighty articles. Second, for academic development, the study of ancient ethnic history and ancient writings should go out and do field research in the places where the Western Xia activities were carried out in those years. In fact, the two purposes mentioned in the report are only some of the factors that can be carried out, and this investigation can be understood in the historical context, especially in the context of the development of the study of western Xia history.
In 1908 and 1909, Kozlov of Tsarist Russia entered the ancient city of Heishui in Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia, China, and found a large number of Western Xia literature and cultural relics. The research of Western Xia studies in China first recommended Luo Zhenyu, Luo Fucheng, Luo Fuchang father and son. Representatives after Luo Shi's father and son can cite Wang Jingru, the mentor of Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin, who published "Western Xia Studies" series 1-3 in the early 1930s, with a wide range of contents. Overall, it may be said that the start is a little late, but it is not too late.
After World War II, the Soviet Union, Japan and other countries have successively resumed the study of Western Xia, and China's Research on Western Xia has entered a gap period. In the 1950s, China's study of Western Xia was almost blank, and Mr. Wu Tianqi of Sichuan University may have been one of the exceptions, and completed the first draft of the "Western Xia History Manuscript" in 1955. In the early 1960s, Mr. Wang Jingru began to study the literary history of The Western Xia, recruiting graduate students and strengthening the construction of the research team of the Western Xia. In 1962, Shi Jinbo graduated from the Language Department of the Central University for Nationalities and became a master's student of Mr. Wang Jingru. Previously, Bai Bin had begun to serve as Wang Jingru's academic assistant. In 1964, the Institute of Nationalities of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics jointly organized a survey of the Dunhuang Xixia Caves, and re-examined the Xixia Caves of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Anxi Yulin Grottoes. The event was presided over by Mr. Chang Shuhong and Mr. Wang Jingru, with Mr. Su Bai as the consultant and Li Chengxian as the secretary general, and the participants included Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin of the Institute of Nationalities, Wan Gengyu, Liu Yuquan and Li Zhenbo of the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics, and Chen Bingying of the Gansu Museum. This survey scientifically recorded and studied the relevant caves from text inscriptions to artistic styles, and expanded the understanding of the Western Xia Caves within the scope of Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes, "This is a successful research attempt to combine the archaeology, art, writing and historical materials of Xixia, which not only opened up the art research of Xixia, but also pioneered multidisciplinary cooperative research in the process of Western Xia studies, bringing together experts from different disciplines, adopting comprehensive research methods, and making significant progress." (Shi Jinbo: "Introduction to Western Xia Studies", "Western Xia Studies (First Series)", p. 167) For Shi and Bai, what remains in the hearts of this expedition is the spark of Western Xia studies.
In the following period, the domestic research on the Western Xia was stagnant, with a lack of researchers, literature and physical objects. In contrast, abroad, there are many new materials, experts, and achievements in the study of Western Xia, and it seems that the focus of the study of Western Xia has been abroad. After entering the 1970s, Western Xia research gradually ushered in a period of slow "recovery". Fundamentally, the recovery of Western Xia research stems from the country's understanding of the importance of Western Xia studies, that is, Western Xia is a Chinese dynasty, China should take the initiative to conduct research, and in the case of already backwardness, research should be restored and strengthened as soon as possible. The more direct driving force of "recovery" is the academic consciousness and responsibility of professional researchers. At that time, western academic circles, including the Soviet Union, had the viewpoint that Western Xia was included in the historical scope of Central Asia and regarded Western Xia as an independent nation-state and a Central Asian country. Chinese scholars believe that the Western Xia is a Dynasty of China, the Dangxiang clan is a nation in Chinese history, and the history and culture of the Western Xia is an organic part of the history and culture of the Chinese nation. In order to adhere to our principled stand in the study of Western Xia, it is necessary to come up with excellent academic achievements, give play to the "geographical advantages" under the unfavorable conditions that most of the new materials are hidden abroad, carry out field investigations, understand the geography of the mountains and rivers in the areas where Western Xia actively operated in those years, and search for all kinds of materials scattered in the hometown of Western Xia.
The investigation was also able to be carried out thanks to some long-term preparations and new changes. For example, Shi Jinbo has been overcoming difficulties and insisting on studying, especially after returning to Beijing, "consciously taking advantage of the free time at that time to systematically collect and research western Xia materials and prepare for the restoration of western xia studies." ("Western Xia History and Culture Hook Sinking", p. 350) He also paid attention to the continuous achievements of the Soviet and Japanese academic circles, and followed up and shortened the gap in a timely manner. From 1972 to 1975, the Ningxia Museum conducted archaeological surveys and excavations on the Tombs of the Western Xia Kings in Yinchuan, and unearthed a large number of precious cultural relics. In 1975, the faculty of Shi and Bai resumed business, and the Study of Western Xia was already included in the plan, "While assisting the old director in organizing the research on the history of ethnic minorities, I officially engaged in the research of the Western Xia included in the plan with my colleague Bai Bin. Part of their research plan was a comprehensive survey of the Western Xia homeland. Due to objective reasons, he could not go too far, so he could only exert his initiative and seek opportunities to go to Baoding to investigate the ruins of the temple where the Western Xia scriptures were excavated. The research force has been accumulating for a long time, due to the change of the situation, deeply felt that the scientific research time is precious, bai and the two applied to go out for an inspection, obtained approval, and finally completed the trip in the summer of 1976.
The Institute of Ethnology sent 093 articles to the scientific research group of the Faculty of Studies
Where to find summer and how to find summer
In terms of the areas surveyed, the "Fa 093" report believes that "the three provinces of Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu should be mainly engaged in western xia activities that year." These three provinces were the central areas of the Western Xia local separatist regime... There are a large number of Relics and Historical Relics of the Western Xia in this area... Now we plan to unify the ancient city of Wan (near Huaiyuan County) in northern Shaanxi, yinchuan, the former capital of Western Xia, and heicheng in Gansu... This work is carried out in key areas". The report also proposes that "other locations and Qinghai, Xinjiang and other places should rely on local organizations and make arrangements according to specific conditions after going to various regions", leaving a certain amount of maneuver space for the inspectors, and in the actual investigation, Mr. Shi and Bai did not go beyond this range of activities in the end.
Collaborative summer search is the basic consensus between the Institute of Nationalities and Ningxia, because there have been "072" two telegrams and Ningxia Museum consultations, and the museum has a reply (not seen), the "Fa 093" report further clarifies the cooperation matters.
The first is to "collect, sort out, and study the literature and history of the Western Xia ... We have made a preliminary agreement with the Ningxia Bureau of Culture and Education and the Museum to carry out the collection, collation and research of materials on the literature and history of the Western Xia." This work has since become a long-term work of the Institute of Nationalities and Ningxia.
The second is to jointly edit the Western Xia Dictionary. The report states that at that time, the Soviet Union and Japan "had published several Dictionaries of western Xia ... There are many problems with the information and editing technology at its disposal... Our firm and the Ningxia Museum have tentatively agreed to jointly compile a "Western Xia Dictionary"." Looking back at the history of the compilation of the Western Xia Dictionary, in the Soviet Union, Nie Lishan compiled the Western Xia Dictionary, which was published in 1960 as one of the contents of the Western Xia Literature. Sophronov compiled a list of about 6,000 words of Western Xia characters, which was included in the second volume of the Western Xia Language Law published by the Moscow Science Publishing House in 1964. In Japan, in 1964 Nishida Ryūo published the Nishisha Minor Dictionary. China's first Western Xia dictionary can be pushed forward to 1915, when Luo Fucheng edited and published the "Western Xia Guoshu Series" based on the "Palm pearl" and other documents. It was not until 1997 that Li Fanwen finally published the detailed Xia-Han Dictionary. The compilation of the Xixia dictionary is not an easy task, and in addition to academic accumulation, there are still too many practical problems. The cable mentioned that the joint preparation of a Western Xia Dictionary was at the stage of "preliminary agreement", and later the two sides concluded a cooperative compilation agreement and carried out practical preparation work, but unfortunately it could not be successfully concluded.
The third is to take this opportunity to "agree with the Ningxia Museum on the detailed plan of the first two tasks and carry out some work." In the future, according to the data conditions, the method of working in Beijing and Ningxia for a period of time can be adopted."
The fourth is a specific issue, "In order to effectively carry out the research on the language and history of the Western Xia in the future, we initially intend to cast two models of Western Xia lead characters." Western Xia literature is the smallest among the ancient minority writing materials. Song Dynasty moments (press: the original character is "engraving") are not only printed with woodcuts, but also have movable type printing. At present, There are already Xixia script lead prints in Japan."
The report mentions the printing of Western Xia chinese, especially the problem of movable type printing in Xixia, which Mr. Shi Jinbo has researched in this field, and co-authored with Yasen Wushouer the book "The Invention and Early Spread of Movable Type Printing in China: Research on Movable Type Printing in Western Xia and Uighurs" (Social Science Literature Press, 2000). The book analyzes the engraving printing and movable type printing of the Western Xia, cites the documentary evidence of the application of movable type printing in the Western Xia, and discusses several kinds of movable type printed documents of the Western Xia, believing that "the printing industry in the Western Xia has a foundation for a long time, and the early Western Xia has been applied to engraving printing, and the rapid development is about the middle of the Western Xia, and the application of the Movable Type Edition in the Western Xia is in the middle and late Period of the Western Xia, and the wood movable type printing may be until the late Western Xia." The use and development of movable type printing in Xixia has formed its own characteristics, and is of great significance to the development of movable type printing in China, and occupies a special position in the history of Movable Type printing in China." (The Invention and Early Spread of Movable Type Printing in China: A Study of Movable Type Printing in the Western Xia and Uighurs, p. 60)
The western Xia character manuscripts were printed, and relevant research papers and books at home and abroad were copied by hand for a long time. Japan adopted The Xixia script lead character printing earlier, and the promoter was Nishida Ryuo, "According to Mr. Nishida himself, a Japanese printing house has a set of Western Xia character copper molds cast specifically for the typesetting of his works, which is his own production cost." (Nie Hongyin, "Research on Western Xia Characters in the Twentieth Century," "Twentieth Century Western Xia Studies," 2004, p. 114) Unfortunately, China's idea of casting Xixia lead characters has never come true. A few years later, when Li Fanwen compiled the Xia-Han Dictionary, he was still facing the problem of printing and typesetting Western Xia characters, initially planning to use a computer, but still taking the form of writing Western Xia characters and then taking photos to make plates, "Cutting and pasting Western Xia characters is dozens of times slower than lead type typesetting... I had to hold a study class at Ningxia University and recruit students to stay in school during the winter vacation to undertake this work. However, it took 3 years and 3 months to just typeset, cut and paste, proofread, etc. (Li Fanwen, "The Compilation of < Xia-Han Dictionary >, Four-Corner Number Classification and Input Computer Problems", Ningxia Social Science, No. 4, 1997) Thanks to the progress of research on the digital processing technology of Xixia characters, the problems faced by Xixia printing have gradually improved.
Finally, the report pointed out that "according to the official contact between the Ningxia Museum and our institute, the initial arrangement is to depart from Beijing in mid-May, and the working time of the trip is about three months." Regarding the travel experience of Mr. Shi Jinbo and Mr. Shirahama, the two gentlemen have talked about some of them separately, and here is a try to do a thorough combing.
West looking for the Great Summer March trip
"In order to be familiar with the geographical environment of Western Xia, I also hope to investigate the Western Xia classics and other cultural relics in the homeland of Western Xia... We set out in June 1976. (Shi Jinbo: "The Precious Classics of the Western Xia Dynasty", foreword) Departing from Beijing, the time was already a little later than the scheduled time, and Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin first passed through Taiyuan, Shanxi, and found the Western Xia coins. Entering Shaanxi in 1976, it was the wheat ripening season, and in Xi'an, the two found the imperial "Burning Horse Card" that passed on the emperor's order in Xi'an, and unexpectedly saw a fragment of the Muddish Scripture of the Western Xia text "The Golden Brightest Victory King's Classic" that still existed in the Xi'an Municipal Cultural Relics Management Office, and the golden book on paper was very eye-catching. There are also more than 100 pages of fragments of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra written in Western Xia, as well as fragments of the engraved version at the end of volume 9 of the Xixia "Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra" with the imprint of the vowing text.
Leaving the ancient capital, they entered northern Shaanxi from Tongchuan and spent a night of bloody battles with bed bugs in an inn with dozens of people in Tongchuan. After Yan'an, the holy land of the Jin Dynasty Revolution, from Yan'an to the north into the homeland of Western Xia, passing through Zhidan, Suide, Mizhi, Yulin, Jingbian to Tongwancheng (July 12), county by county, the more likely to be found are Mizhi, Jingbian, Hengshan and other places. In the bronze warehouse of the waste collection station in a county in northern Shaanxi, they picked up a Western Xia bronze waist plate, with the four characters of "Inner Fate Standby" inscribed on the front of the Western Xia script, and the names of the Western Xia literati on the back, which were the objects of the Western Xia court guards. In March, in addition to inspecting cultural relics and consulting materials at western Xia sites, museums, cultural management offices, and libraries in various places, it is common to go in and out of waste collection stations to rummage, collect, and pick up.
After passing through Yanchi in Dingbian County and inspecting into Ningxia, Shi and Bai visited some areas in the north and south of Yinchuan, and arrived in Yinchuan at the end of July. They visited the Tomb of the Western Xia Kings on August 5, 1976, and Baibin had a poem, "When he was dominant in the past two hundred years, the former mound of Helan Mountain was erected." Broken bricks and broken stele piles, read the history of the rise and fall of Western Xia." The surviving Chengtian Temple Pagoda in the city, the double pagodas of Baisigou under Helan Mountain, the 108 pagoda arrays on the shore of Qingtongxia, and the ruins of the provincial song city in the north are all passed by one. The two gentlemen met Mr. Luo Xueqiao in Yinchuan, and saw Luo Shi's movable type book Xixia "Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra" and Western Xia porcelain, and exchanged academic and exchanged information. They also found a fine Tang Dynasty bronze mirror in a scrap collection station in Ningxia.
Entering Gansu from Ningxia in late August, Bai Bin and Shi Jinbo found Mr. Chang Shuhong through the Provincial Bureau of Culture, the first time they had reunited with the Dunhuang defender since 1964. At that time, Shuhong initially regained his freedom, listened to their expedition plan, and specially found the treasured official seal of the three-year chieftain of the Western Xia Yuande and asked them to take pictures. In Lanzhou, the two visited the Gansu Provincial Museum, which is rich in Western Xia cultural relics, and saw a variety of ancient books from the Western Xia script from the Tianti Mountain and the Xiaoxigou Mountain Cave in Wuwei. From the northwest of Lanzhou into the Hexi Corridor, the four counties of Hexi are all over the place. In Wuwei, he went into the mountains to inspect the Xiaxigou Da Nang Cave, where various Western Xia cultural relics had been stored, and also specially inspected and proofread the induction pagoda stele; left Wuwei to visit the indoor reclining Buddha Nirvana statue in the Great Buddha Temple built in Western Xia in Zhangye and found the Heishui Bridge Monument; in Jiuquan, "Me and Baibin... Two long stones were found next to a basketball court in Jiuquan City, which were used by people to stand on them and watch basketball games. We see that there are words on the stripe of stone. This stele is the "Monument of the Hereditary Inheritance of Lu Huachi on the Great Yuan Suzhou Road" engraved by the descendants of the Western Xia, which was originally divided into two and set on the Jiuquan East City Gate Cave Bi, and was demolished in 1962. In Dunhuang, they inspected the cultural relics excavated in the northern area of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and visited the Yulin Grottoes in Anxi.
After arriving in Jiuquan in September, the most important blackwater city had a slightly difficult time traveling. At that time, the Ejin Banner, where the black city was located, was under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province, and the provincial cultural relics department did not block or restrict it, but only emphasized the safety issue. Bai Bin and Shi Jinbo, holding a letter of introduction issued by the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Ministry of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, went to the Jiuquan District Public Security Bureau to apply for a passport, "I (Bai Bin) hold a passport No. 231 of the Ganjiudi Gonghu Character, and the photo indicates ... Went to Ejin Naqi to 'engage in cultural relics archaeology' work. Valid from 10 September 1976 to 10 October 1976". From Jiuquan to Ejina banner 400 kilometers, only one long-distance bus per week, the journey is more than 10 hours. Shi and Bai drove out of Jiuquan on September 14, and about 2 hours later, they passed the Golden Pagoda Oasis and entered the endless Gobi Desert. There is no public transportation from the seat of the Ejin Banner Government to the ruins of Heishui City, but fortunately, the flag appoints an off-road vehicle and asks a guide to accompany you... North to Juyanhai, then through the Yumen Pass, west out of Yang Pass to Hami, southwest to Xining, The extreme edge of Western Xia they all traveled. (The above itinerary mainly refers to the memories in Mr. Shi Jinbo's related articles, as well as the account in Mr. Shirahama's book "In Search of the Forgotten Dynasty"))
Everything is difficult to find the beginning of the summer has been at that time
When summarizing the cause of cultural relics and archaeology in Western Xia, Mr. Shi Jinbo divided the 1970s into a paragraph, believing that in this period, "there have been new progress in the archaeology of cultural relics in Western Xia and important achievements have been made." One of the important components is "In 1976, Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin, Researchers of the Institute of Nationalities of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went to Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai and other places to conduct field research in Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai and other places, and not only inspected a large number of Western Xia cultural relics, but also newly discovered many valuable Western Xia cultural relics." In addition to the direct investigation and harvest, Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin visited many scholars traveling through provinces and regions along the way, promoting exchanges and enlivening the academic atmosphere. For Shi and Bai personally, "After 3 months of field investigation, we opened our eyes, measured the Western Xia with our feet, touched the Western Xia with our own hands, and harvested a full harvest." (Preface to the History of the Precious Classics of the Western Xia Dynasty) Their academic research path has also become more and more accessible.
The time node of the two gentlemen's "West Seeking Great Xia" is special, and the significance of this expedition is also unique and far-reaching. Mr. Wu Tianqi looked forward when the revised edition of the "Draft History of Western Xia" will be written: "Comrade Bai Bin recently made a survey and statistics, pointing out that after the liberation of China, there were about ninety research papers and materials on the history of Western Xia published in China... In the nearly five years after 1976, it accounted for more than 70% of the total number of headpieces... If you add the publications and some unpublished manuscripts published in the most recent year, the proportion of western Xia history research institutes in these five or six years is even higher. This gratifying development trend is really encouraging! (Manuscript of the History of Western Xia, p. 426) The March inspection of the "Western Search for Great Xia" more than forty years ago was not only an important opportunity for the personal academic lives of Mr. Shi Jinbo and Bai Bin, but also looked back like a signal flag for the development of Chinese Western Xia studies, and the Western Xia under the veil of mystery will eventually become clearer and clearer.
(In the writing of this article, I have consulted Mr. Shi Jinbo, Nie Hongyin and others on related issues, and I would like to express my sincere thanks.) Due to the limited level of the author, I am afraid that there are still mistakes and omissions, and please also ask Haihan. ）
Editor-in-Charge: Zhong Yuan
Proofreader: Ding Xiao