Video loading...
In the middle of the 7th century, in a secluded mountain in Dazu in the Yangtze River basin, there was a sound of axes chiseled from cliff statues.
From the early Tang Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the history of Dazu stone carvings has lasted for hundreds of years, and more than 50,000 statues and more than 100,000 inscriptions have been broken one after another. Cave art originated from ancient India, Yue Dunhuang, through Yungang, through the Longmen, integrating Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and folk secular culture, playing a brilliant sound in the land of Bashu.
Standing among the mountains for thousands of years, after the baptism of time, the Dazu stone carvings have also been dim and mottled. The relay, restoration and protection of generations of craftsmen have made this treasure in the history of Chinese cave art timeless.
The thousand-year-old Buddha caves, treasures of art
In 1940, the famous architect Liang Sicheng visited the Dazu stone carvings and took a large number of precious images. Seven years later, he systematically presented the results of the expedition at an international academic symposium. This is the first time that the Dazu stone carvings have attracted the attention of the world.
As the areas with the highest concentration of cave temples in southern China, Sichuan and Chongqing have the richest content and the largest number of national security units since the late Tang Dynasty, and the Dazu stone carvings are among the dazzling artistic treasures.
"Dazu stone carvings were excavated in the early Tang Dynasty, went through the late Tang Dynasty and five dynasties, and reached their peak in the Two Song Dynasty." Mi Defang, director of the Dazu Research Center of the Dazu Stone Carving Research Institute, said that especially the Baoding Mountain stone carvings in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty pushed the artistic achievements of Dazu stone carvings to a climax. Bashu Cave Temple has witnessed the localization process of cave art after the introduction of Buddhism to China, and is a treasure of cave art with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese style.
Luo Xiaochun, deputy secretary of the Dazu District Party Committee, said that the Dazu stone carvings contain rich values such as "kindness, benevolence, filial piety, righteousness and honesty", which fully demonstrate the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
In 1999, the Dazu stone carvings were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The years have endowed the Dazu stone carvings with a unique historical heritage, but they have also brought it diseases such as weathering of the stone carcass and cracking of the gold layer. The responsibility of guarding the history of the thousand-year-old Buddha country is in the hands of a new generation.
Technological empowerment, stone carving renewal
On the 88-square-meter cliff wall, 1,007 arms stretch out like waves. There is also a story of cultural relics restoration and protection behind this.
In 2007, a team from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage visited Dazu. At that time, this statue of the Thousand Hands Guanyin, which had been excavated in the Southern Song Dynasty and sat on the cliff wall for more than 800 years, had been "riddled with diseases" under the erosion of wind and water for many years. At the moment when the experts turned around, with a "snap", one of the fingers of the Thousand Hands Guanyin fell. The accidental drop of Guanyin's finger made the eyes of cultural relics workers glaze with tears when they gazed at the statue, and also opened the rescue restoration that lasted for 8 years.
In 2008, the rescue protection project of the stone carving of the thousand hands Guanyin was listed as the "No. 1 Project" of the national stone cultural relics protection. "But such a large-scale restoration of stone cultural relics has no experience at home and abroad to learn from." To this end, we brought together nearly 100 experts and technicians, and it took only three years to study the restoration project in the early stage. Chen Huili, director of the Protection Engineering Center of the Dazu Stone Carving Research Institute, said.
"Statue gold leaf reinforcement requires a stable and durable adhesive, like 'injecting' cultural relics, and the choice of 'medicine' is very important." Chen Huili introduced that the northern bovine glue material initially used was not suitable for high temperature and high humidity environment, and after repeated testing and comparison of more than 10 materials, the team finally selected the traditional lacquer material in southwest China.
Create health records for each hand of Guanyin; Organize multidisciplinary technical forces such as microenvironment monitoring and microbial disease treatment to jointly tackle tough problems; For the first time, modern technologies such as X-ray flaw detection and infrared thermal image detection were applied in the restoration of large-scale immovable stone cultural relics...
In the past eight years, more than 110 researchers, engineers and craftsmen have glued more than 1,900 kilograms of mineral powder and 1.5 million pieces of gold leaf to the cliff wall, making the Thousand Hands Guanyin brilliant restored.
The Thousand Hands Guanyin Statue Rescue Protection Project created a precedent for the restoration of large-scale gold-painted immovable cultural relics in China. In the heart of Chen Huili, who has been engaged in the protection of cultural relics for more than 20 years, this is "the pride of Dazu, the pride of Chongqing, and the pride of China".
At the same time, the Dazu stone carvings in Chongqing, which are historically connected by blood, and the Anyue Grottoes in Ziyang City, Sichuan, are holding hands in the context of the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin Cities Economic Circle. Since 2021, Dazu District has signed a cooperation mechanism with Anyue County of Ziyang City to jointly build a cooperation mechanism for the protection and utilization of cultural relics, and cooperate on the safety management of the joint construction of cave temples, academic research on grottoes, and digital protection and utilization of cultural relics.
Activation and utilization, ingenuity inheritance
From restoration and protection to inheritance and development, Dazu stone carvings "fly into the homes of ordinary people" in the activation and utilization.
In the Dazu Stone Carving and Creative Park, the crisp sound of chiseled stones rises and falls, and craftsmen are holding their breath and contemplating, carefully carving the embryonic stone carved statues. Guanyin with a solemn expression, a lifelike stone elephant, Maitreya with a vivid posture... The exquisite stone carvings are dizzying.
In front of a large statue of Guanyin, the engraver Gao Wanli held a carving knife and stopped to think from time to time during the carving process. In order to accurately grasp Guanyin's demeanor, with the permission of the management, he often went to the cave to copy the scene, sometimes staying all night.
Gao Wanli told reporters that he had studied painting and sculpture since he was a child, and he was deeply shocked after coming to the Anyue Grottoes during an inspection, "It felt like really seeing the eyes of a Buddha." Today, Gao Wanli has been specializing in stone carving and reproduction for more than 10 years, and has become the county-level representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project "Anyue Stone Carving".
"For thousands of years, the land of Dazu has given birth to countless outstanding craftsmen, forming unique local stone carving skills, and this year, the younger generation has become the main force in inheriting stone carving skills." Tang Chen, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Dazu Stone Carving Cultural and Creative Park, introduced that at present, the park has cooperated with Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts on projects such as "Dazu Stone Carving Skill Inheritance and Development", and has cultivated more than ten cutting-edge carving artists.
Dazu Stone Carving Cultural and Creative Park is exploring the activation and secondary innovation of cultural heritage centered on Dazu stone carvings, so that the stone carving industry can stimulate new momentum for local economic development. In 2022, the Cultural and Creative Park will promote the completion and operation of 3 projects, including Furui Sculpture and Lianshan Art Base, with 102 market entities and a total industrial output value of 410 million yuan.
In the future, Chongqing Dazu and Sichuan Ziyang will jointly build a cultural tourism infrastructure network, jointly shape regional cultural tourism boutiques, sing the cultural tourism brand of "Zizu Changle", and jointly promote the integrated development of "cultural tourism +" industry... The cultural legend of the Millennium Grotto continues.
Chief planner: Zhao Danping, Gu Qianjiang
Curator: Wei Tiemin
Executive Producer: Min Jie
Reporters: Zhou Siyu, Liu Enli, Zhang Hailei
Video: Sha Qing, Zhang Haizhou, Yang Jin
Editor: Liu Chang
Xinhua News Agency to the outside
Xinhua News Agency Chongqing Branch
Xinhua News Agency Sichuan Branch
Co-production
Produced by China Story Workshop