On May 11, 2020, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said during his inspection of the Yungang Grottoes that the Yungang Grottoes embody the characteristics of Chinese culture and the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. This is the treasure of human civilization, we must adhere to the protection of the first, on the basis of protection to study and make good use.
In December 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were successfully declared as a World Cultural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee commented: "[The Yungang Grottoes] represent the outstanding Buddhist grotto art in China from the 5th to the 6th centuries AD, of which the five earliest caves of the Tan yao five caves are the classics of the first peak period of Chinese Buddhist art." ”
The Five Caves of Yungang Tanyao. Courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Spanning 1500 years, how does the Yungang Grottoes reflect the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries? And how to become a cultural bridge for exchanges between the East and the West in the new era?
These have to start from 1500 years ago.
Why is the historical status of the Yungang Grottoes so important?
In 398, emperor Tuoba Jue of Daowu moved the capital to Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi), beginning the Pingcheng era of Northern Wei. In 439, emperor Tuoba Tao of the Taiwu Emperor sent an army to conquer Liangzhou (梁州, in modern Wuwei, Gansu), unifying northern China and ending the chaos of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms. In 460, Tan Yao, a senior monk from Liangzhou, with the support of the Northern Wei imperial family, presided over the excavation of the Yungang Grottoes.
The Yungang Grottoes gave people a strong visual impact when they were excavated. The Book of Wei and Shi Laozhi records that Tan Yao excavated five caves (now numbered 16-20 caves) for the five emperors: "The White Emperor tan yao, in the capital of Xiwu Prefecture, chiseled mountain stone walls, opened five caves, and engraved one Buddha statue. The tall one is seventy feet, the second sixty feet, carved with Qiwei, and crowned in the first world. Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote about the Yungang Grottoes in his famous book "Notes on the Water Classics": "Chiseled stones to open the mountain, because of the rock structure, the true appearance is huge, and the world law is rare." ”
Mr. Su Bai, the founder of Chinese Buddhist archaeology, wrote in "The Gathering of Pingcheng Strength and the Formation and Development of the "Yungang Model"": The Yungang Grottoes are the earliest large-scale grotto group to appear east of Xinjiang, and they were built by the Northern Wei imperial family that ruled Northern China at that time to concentrate the skills, manpower and material resources of the whole country... The new model it created and continuously developed naturally became a typical example of the construction of grottoes in the wei realm. Therefore, from the Wanfotang Grottoes in Yixian County, Liaoning Province in the east to the Northern Wei Grottoes in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ning in the west, there are traces of the Yungang model, and even the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in the distant Hexi Corridor and the cave opening history earlier than Yungang are no exception.
The east wall of Cave 18. Courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Why excavate the Yungang Grottoes?
In 304, the Xiongnu Liu Yuan raised an army to leave Shi (離石, in modern Shanxi) and established the han dynasty. In 316, his son Liu Cong conquered Chang'an and destroyed the Western Jin Dynasty, opening up a situation in which the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms were on their own side for more than a hundred years, and different regimes attacked each other, and ethnic contradictions were very acute.
The Northern Wei regime that ended this chaotic situation in the Yellow River Basin did not solve the ethnic contradictions well at the beginning, and the Northern Wei Emperor Taiwu fought with the Southern Dynasty, and his battle writing said: "The soldiers I have sent today are not mainlanders (Xianbei people). To the northeast of the city are Ding Zero and Hu, and to the south are Qiang and Qiang. If Ding Zero dies, he can reduce the thieves of Changshan and Zhao County; Hu dies, reduces the thieves of The State; and the death of Qi and Qiang reduces the thieves in Guanzhong. "Even if such a regime conquers the north by force, it will not be stable.
So, what do you use to build social consensus and consolidate your rule? The Rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty found Buddhism.
At first, the Xianbei people who originated in the Daxing'an Mountains did not believe in Buddhism, and the Wei Shu Shi Lao Zhi recorded: "Wei Xian founded the country in Xuanshuo, the customs were simple, and they did nothing to defend themselves, and they were unique to the Western Regions, and they could not communicate with each other." Therefore, the teachings of the floating map have not been heard, or they have not been heard and believed. The Tuoba Xianbei people came into contact with Buddhism in the process of going south, and believed that Buddhism had the effect of "helping the forbidden laws of the royal government and the goodness of benevolence and wisdom". And buddhists also declare that "those who can hong Dao are also masters", and the emperor "is the present day", so the emperor issued an edict "ordering Shamen to apply folk customs". At present, many of the devotees in the Northern Wei Grottoes are guided by monks in front of them, which is the concrete embodiment of "Ling Shamen to guide folk customs".
Cave 19 South Wall Rahu Raju Cause. Courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Why is it said that the Yungang Grottoes have witnessed cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries?
Pingcheng was the starting point of the Northern Wei Silk Road, and the Book of Wei recorded the number of miles of the road from the Northern Wei to the West, which was based on Pingcheng, and the unification of the north of the Northern Wei also laid a good foundation for the smooth flow of the Silk Road. In the process of unifying the north, the Northern Wei Dynasty continued to emigrate to Pingcheng, and the number of people recorded in the literature exceeded one million, thus forming a diversified Cultural Outlook of Pingcheng, which was "Hu Customs and National Customs and Miscellaneous Mixed Disorders" from the perspective of southerners ("Book of Southern Qi, Biography of Wei Yu").
Many foreign relics have been unearthed in Datong, Shanxi, and many foreigners have been recorded in the literature who came to Pingcheng. The "History of the North" records the story of a Ōtsuki clan making glass in Pingcheng: "During the Taiwu period, its Chinese merchant Jingshi, Ziyunneng cast stone into five-color glass. So in the mining mountains, Yu Jingshi cast it, completed, and the luster is beautiful to those from the West. It is a hall of worship, with more than a hundred people, and the light and color are reflected thoroughly, and the viewer is shocked to see it, thinking that it is done by the gods. Since then, the glass in the country has become lowly, and people have not cherished it. "Such indigenous glassware, such as long-necked pots, deep-bellied bowls, bowls, small mouth cups, etc., have also been unearthed from the Pingcheng tombs, which are typical of the Central Plains or Xianbei shapes.
The examples of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries seen in the Yungang Grottoes are even more.
In September 1933, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Liu Dunzhen and others of the China Construction Society investigated the Yungang Grottoes, and later published the article "Northern Wei Architecture Represented in the Yungang Grottoes", which pointed out that in the Yungang carvings, there were many manifestations of "non-Chinese", or it was obvious that it inherited the Greek classical lineage; or richly mixed with the influence of Indian Buddhist art, and its main elements were mostly baobao, which was not difficult to identify over time.
Their research is more focused on architecture and decoration, and "the Yungang Grottoes are empirical evidence of the large-scale invasion of Western Indian Buddhist art into China." But the results have not shaken China's basic structure architecturally. In carving, it only strongly touched the new creation of Chinese sculpture art - its spirit, boldness and style fundamentally maintained the inherent Chinese. In the end, in the decorative pattern, it lost to China with a large number of new themes, new changes, and new engravings, which were spread and spread to this day. ”
Why did the Yungang Grottoes become a "messenger of international cultural exchange"?
After the founding of New China, many foreign dignitaries and international friends came to visit the Yungang Grottoes. In particular, on September 15, 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied French President Pompidou on an inspection of the Yungang Grottoes. Pompidou is not only the first French president to visit China, but also the first Person of Western Heads of State to visit China, which is of great significance. While inspecting the university, Premier Zhou Enlai repeatedly stressed that it is necessary to protect cultural relics and monuments. During this inspection, Premier Zhou proposed that "the Yungang Grottoes should be repaired in three years." This is what the People of Yungang often call the "three-year maintenance plan".
Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied French President Georges Pompidou on an inspection of the Yungang Grottoes. Courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Since 1974, China has invested heavily in the large-scale rescue and reinforcement of major caves in three years in accordance with the principle of "emergency reinforcement, elimination of dangerous situations, maintenance of the status quo, and protection of cultural relics". In 2017, President Pompidou's son Alain Pompidou and his wife visited the Yungang Grottoes, viewed the old photos of President Pompidou visiting the Yungang Grottoes hanging on the wall in the Zhou Premier's Memorial Room, and identified the accompanying personnel in the photos.
In May 1977, Grand Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband, Prince Klaus, visited the Yungang Grottoes. 38 years later, in October 2015, King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Maxima and her three princesses visited the famous Hanging Temple and the Yungang Grottoes, a world cultural heritage site, in Datong.
Group photo of the family of King William Alexander of the Netherlands. Courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
For decades, the Yungang Grottoes have received dignitaries from France, Britain, Mexico, Bhutan, Thailand, the Netherlands, Uruguay and other countries, and their international popularity is growing day by day. In the eyes of foreign friends, "The Yungang Grottoes are undoubtedly one of the peaks of world art, which shows that your creative spirit is one of the best contributions of your country's cultural heritage to the world" (Pompidou Pompidou), in the new historical period, the Yungang Grottoes will certainly play a greater role in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
About the Author:
Hang Kan, born in May 1965 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, is currently the president of Yungang Research Institute. He was the deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal History Museum, and the deputy dean and dean of the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University. His research interests include Buddhist archaeology, Song and Yuan archaeology, and cultural heritage. He has published more than 40 papers, including "The Time of the Collapse of the West Wall of Yungang Cave 20th Cave and the Initial Layout of The Five Caves of Yungang", "Several Problems of Net Bottles Excavated from the Two Towers of Dingxian County, Hebei Province", "Local City Sites in the Song and Yuan Dynasties", and "Re-study of the Qingming Upper River Map". He has participated in and organized the preparation of more than 20 large-scale exhibitions and catalogues. He has been selected into the "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program" of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, won the Top Ten Teachers of Peking University, and the Second Prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award.