China News Service, March 19 Title: Wang Qi: How did the unique copper galloping horse become a cultural symbol of exchange between the East and the West?
China News Service reporter Feng Zhijun Ai Qinglong
Horses were an important means of transportation, military equipment and agricultural production animal power in The Han Dynasty society, and were widely used in transportation stations, the defense of the Great Wall, military operations, ethnicity and kinship. The bronze galloping horse, a national treasure of the Eastern Han Dynasty, hidden in the Gansu Provincial Museum, is considered to be the messenger and symbol of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, especially the humanistic and commercial exchanges of the ancient Silk Road, because of its ingenious design and excellent craftsmanship.
Wang Qi, deputy director and researcher of the Gansu Provincial Museum, who has been engaged in the research of cultural relics protection for more than 40 years, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Question", detailing the story of the copper galloping horse becoming a symbol of Chinese tourism and the messenger of exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: There are countless fine cultural relics in China, why does the copper galloping horse become a symbol of Chinese tourism? What are the little-known stories behind it?
Wang Qi: The ancient Silk Road runs through the whole territory of Gansu, and the copper galloping horse should be the most representative historical relics carrier among them. At the end of the 1960s, the bronze galloping horse was accidentally found in the Leitai Eastern Han Tomb in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and became a rare masterpiece in ancient Chinese bronze artworks because of its wonderful conception, unique shape and exquisite casting.
▲Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Museum
After the excavation and investigation of the Leitai Han Tomb was completed, the relevant departments of Gansu Province decided to raise all the cultural relics excavated from Leitai to the Gansu Provincial Museum for preservation, and the copper galloping horse was also listed among them, but its value has not yet been recognized and developed. In September 1971, when mr. Guo Moruo, a famous Chinese historian, accompanied the then Cambodian Prime Minister Bin nu on a visit to Lanzhou, he specially visited the Gansu Provincial Museum to visit cultural relics, and Guo Moruo was particularly interested in the bronze ceremonial figurines unearthed in Wuwei, and the bronze galloping horse firmly attracted his attention.
It was a galloping horse, and one of its hooves swept onto the back of a bird in its run, and the bird turned its head in surprise to look back, and a dreamlike moment condensed into eternity. Guo Lao, who has seen countless cultural relics, marveled at the impeccable shape and perfect balance of the work, and sighed: "Flying in the sky, going alone, that is, taking it to the world, are first-class art treasures." ”
▲ In 1971, Wang Yi (left), then head of the Gansu Provincial Museum, introduced the copper galloping horse to Mr. Guo Moruo (center). Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Museum
Soon after, the bronze figurines, including the bronze galloping horse, were transferred to Beijing to participate in a large-scale national exhibition of historical relics, which was well received by the audience. After the exhibition in Beijing, the bronze galloping horse caused strong repercussions in the field of historiography and archaeology at home and abroad. In 1972, Guo Lao presided over the preparation of a large-scale exhibition of historical relics for China's foreign exchanges, originally the copper galloping horse was not selected for the list of exhibited cultural relics, and then the French and British ambassadors to China repeatedly requested the bronze galloping horse to participate in the exhibition, and then coordinated the wish.
In order to see the style of Chinese horses, a long queue was lined up at the entrance of the British Museum, and the British audience praised it as a "unique treasure" and "a genius Chinese horse", and visitors were all impressed. When exhibited in the United States, the bronze galloping horse jumped on a huge poster and became the symbol of the cultural relics exhibition. Overseas media rushed to report that the copper galloping horse caused a sensation in the world.
According to the statistics of Chinese official publications in 1975, from April 1973 to August 1975, the Bronze Galloping Horse toured 12 countries in France, Britain, Japan, Romania, Austria, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States, with more than 5 million visitors.
After the reform and opening up, in order to expand foreign exchanges, the fledgling tourism industry also needs a symbol and logo, and the copper galloping horse that has previously been "famous overseas" itself has the meaning of galloping forward, coinciding with the thriving cause of reform and opening up, and naturally stands out among many "campaign cultural relics" and becomes a symbol of Chinese tourism.
China News Service: In Gansu Province, where the ancient Silk Road runs through the whole territory, bronze horse relics unearthed in various places are not uncommon, why can copper galloping horses stand out from them? What does it mean to ban exhibitions abroad?
Wang Qi: Before the Han Dynasty, Gansu was already a meeting point for exchanges between the East and the West. After Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to hollow out the western region, Gansu became an important passage to guard the Silk Road. Therefore, many precious historical relics of the Han and Tang dynasties have been unearthed in Gansu, especially a large number of bronze, pottery, wood and other rich and diverse horse cultural relics, which also reflect the busy scene of exchanges between the East and the West during the Han and Tang dynasties.
Why does the Copper Gallop stand out from the crowd? Because the shape of this horse is particularly peculiar, unlike other horses, it is a three-legged flying on the back of a bird, and the bird shows the shape of the bronze horse in a moment of looking back. Compared with other horses in static, the bronze galloping horse vividly interprets the dynamics of the horse galloping, reflecting the creativity and superb casting process of the ancient craftsman genius.
In 1983, the bronze galloping horse was identified as a Chinese tourism symbol by the former China National Tourism Administration, in 1996 it was identified as a national treasure cultural relic by the expert group of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and in 2002 it was listed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage as one of the first precious cultural relics prohibited from being exhibited abroad. The Englishman Peter Hobcock said in his book "Foreign Devils on the Silk Road": "Although this 'pegasus' has long been extinct, its image has not been erased under the hands of Han and Tang sculptors and artists. ”
Copper galloping horses belong to the world's treasures, orphans and gems, and are prohibited from exporting for exhibition, in fact, in order to better achieve local protection and avoid some unexpected situations in long-distance transportation. Not only that, from May 1 to October 15 every year, the copper galloping horse is exhibited in the Gansu Provincial Museum, and the rest of the time is maintained in the warehouse, so that it can get the time and space for "rest and recuperation".
▲On June 17, 2020, visitors enjoyed the authentic "Copper Galloping Horse" exhibited at the Gansu Provincial Museum. China News Service reporter Yang Yanmin photographed
China News Service: Why does the copper galloping horse reflect the characteristics of mutual integration and mutual learning between eastern and western cultures? How to give play to its cultural connotation and "messenger attribute"?
Wang Qi: With the continuous improvement of the popularity of the copper galloping horse, the academic research on the copper galloping horse has also become a hot topic, what kind of horse is it? Why did this perfect shape of two thousand years ago not appear in the culturally prosperous Central Plains, but in the remote Hexi Corridor? What was the relationship between the sweat and blood BMW of the Great Wan Kingdom and Guliang Prefecture (present-day Wuwei, Gansu)?
According to historical records, the Chinese Han people raised horses before the Qin and Han Dynasties, mainly to cultivate land or pull carts, and the breed of war horses was not good. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu, an ethnic minority in the north, invaded the northern border areas of the Han nationality for many years with strong soldiers and strong horses, and the Han army often lost wars because the speed and endurance of the horses were inferior to the horses of the nomadic people.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Wu of Han was determined to strengthen the strength of the cavalry in the army, and sent people to the western region three times to seek Wusun horses, and set up the first official camp military horse farm in the Damaying grassland at the foot of the Qilian Mountains between Wuwei and Zhangye in Gansu, and crossed and bred the sweat-blooded HORSES and Mongolian horses brought back, breeding the later famous Hexi horses, also known as Shandan horses.
▲The world's largest horse farm Gansu Shandan Racecourse. Photo by Wang Chao, China News Service
After the Western Han Dynasty, the countries of the Western Regions would send some missions to China every year for visits and trade exchanges. In particular, the Kingdom of Dawan paid tribute to the central imperial court every year, and with the continuous eastward arrival of good horses in the western region, Wuwei became an important horse breeding base at that time. It is precisely because Wuwei has too many good horses, so it is also natural that the copper galloping horse was born here two thousand years ago.
▲ Gansu Wuwei Leitai Han tomb excavated bronze carriage horse honor guard. Courtesy of Gansu Provincial Museum
As an important carrier of "you have me, I have you" in the process of east-west exchanges, horses have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history. But the rise of the ancient Silk Road itself was a process of continuous mutual learning between the East and the West. Modern archaeological excavations have shown that China's bronze casting industry may have been imported from the West, and the highest craftsman representing bronze smelting, copper galloping horses, has both "excellent elements" of both the East and the West.
In recent years, the copper galloping horse that is no longer exported for exhibition still attracts many national tourists to come to visit, and the Gansu Provincial Museum, which takes the copper galloping horse as the "treasure of the town museum", has become an important punch card on the Silk Road tourism line. At the same time, the various online exhibitions opened by the museum also allow more audiences at home and abroad to understand the "shadow" of mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations through copper galloping horses.
Respondent Profiles:
Wang Qi, 60 years old, is currently the deputy director and researcher of the Gansu Provincial Museum, and a researcher of the Gansu Provincial Government Museum of Culture and History. He has been engaged in the research of cultural relics protection for more than 40 years, and his main research direction is the research and identification of Neolithic culture, Silk Road culture, historical ceramics, bronzes and Buddha statues in Northwest China. Since 1995, he has been a member of the Gansu Provincial Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee and an adjunct professor at the School of History and Culture of Lanzhou University.
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