On March 11, 2001, the archaeological excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda was a cultural event that once caused a sensation in the country.
The Leifeng Pagoda on Xizhao Mountain on the south bank of Hangzhou's West Lake was originally a pagoda built by Qian Li, the last king of the Wuyue Kingdom. Because of the beautiful scenery of "Thunder Peak Sunset" and the legend of the white snake, it enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad.
Today, the archaeological excavations of the Leifeng Pagoda site have also become history, and the new Leifeng Pagoda has risen from the old site. And I, an archaeologist, continue my field archaeological work, all over Zhejiang. Over the years, he has participated in numerous archaeological excavation projects. However, there are very few experiences of such impressive and influential work as the excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda, and there will probably not be a similar event in the future.
The Leifeng Pagoda depicted in the anonymous "West Lake Qingqu Tu" (Freer Museum of Art, Washington, USA), is a five-story and eight-sided wooden gallery eaves structure, which is the most concrete image of the Leifeng Pagoda seen today after the reconstruction of the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1195).
Ruins
Leifeng Pagoda stands on the south shore of West Lake, and the Baochu Pagoda on the Jewel Mountain on the north shore is facing off from north to south. This central axis is a classic symbol of the beauty of West Lake. After the collapse of the Leifeng Pagoda in 1924, it was like a Xizi girl who broke one of her arms and blinded her eyes. People of insight have always called for the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda and the restoration of the "Leifeng Sunset" landscape.
A photograph of the Leifeng Pagoda taken by the Japanese scholar Sekino Sadato in the early 20th century. Since the fire during the Ming Jiajing period, Leifeng Pagoda has only the heart of the tower, and it has fallen old, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, Leifeng Pagoda was crumbling. Until about 1 p.m. on September 25, 1924, Leifeng Pagoda crashed to the ground.
In March 2000, the plan to rebuild the Leifeng Pagoda was put on the agenda.
In order to cooperate with the reconstruction project, the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology undertook the task of archaeological excavation at the site of Leifeng Pagoda, with Mr. Li Yuxin as the leader of the archaeological excavation.
After the fall of Leifeng Pagoda, a huge ruin was formed. Before the excavation by the archaeological team, it was a barren hill almost isolated from the earth. Every time the sun sets, the broken bricks and decaying grass face the remnants of the slanting sun, and it is endless desolation.
Field archaeological work is divided into two stages: the first stage is the excavation of the site, which cleans up the ruins formed after the collapse of more than 8,000 cubic meters of Leifeng Peak, and reveals the shape and structure of the tower body and foundation, and the work lasts for nearly five months, specifically from April to September 2000; The second stage, the opening of the underground palace, the opening of the iron letter and the cleanup of some peripheral relics, lasted for nearly eight months, from December 2000 to July of the following year.
During the long period of excavation at the site, every morning after six o'clock, the archaeological team was on their way to the excavation site. The archaeological work is carried out in a closed environment, and the archaeological team is like the lonely ruins around them, like most archaeological excavations in people's experience, tense and difficult but not well known.
The main result of the field work is to reveal that the remains of Leifeng Pagoda are composed of relatively well-preserved tower bases, underground palaces, secondary steps and remnants of some towers.
The tall base of Leifeng Pagoda is equilateral octagonal in plan, surrounded by a stone base. The building platform is made of the original natural mountain high in the west and low in the east. The base of the east pagoda is a double stone Meru seat, carved with Mount Meru and Haitao, which symbolize the "nine mountains and eight seas" of Buddhism; Due to the high terrain on the west side, the base is only in the form of a single-story Meru-za seat.
The secondary staircase is the outer cloister of the stupa. The addition of an outer gallery to the bottom of the pagoda can make the stupa more spectacular and enhance the stability of the building. The secondary step is also a place for Buddhists to walk around the pagoda to pay homage to the Buddha and watch the Buddhist scriptures carved in the stone of the Huayan Sutra embedded in the pagoda body.
The structure of the tower is similar to that of Suzhou Tiger Hill Tower and Hangzhou Liuhe Tower, but the scale is larger - from the outside to the inside, the outer sleeve, the inner corridor, the inner sleeve, and the tower ventricles. The underground palace is located directly below the ventricle of the tower.
A large number of architectural components, stone inscriptions, and Buddhist artifacts have been unearthed at the site. The tower is made entirely of bricks, and according to conservative estimates, no less than one million bricks were used to build the tower. There are two main types of tower bricks, one is rectangular bricks for construction and the other is Tibetan scripture bricks. The size of the sutra brick is slightly the same as that of the rectangular brick, except that one end is equipped with a round hole for storing the scroll. At 1:40 p.m. on September 25, 1924 (August 27 of the summer calendar), the Leifeng Pagoda collapsed, and a large number of engraved and printed Buddhist scriptures were unearthed in the Tibetan scripture bricks.
The stone carvings are based on Buddhist scriptures, with more than 1,100 large and small fragments, spliced, most of which are the Huayan Sutra, and the rest are the Diamond Sutra and the Dharani Sutra. In addition, there are also the "Huayan Jingba" written by Qian Li and the "Qingyuan Xiu Chuangji" fragment that records the rebuilding of the Leifeng Pagoda in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Buddhist artifacts are made of gold, silver, copper, iron, pottery, stone, etc., and the themes are wide-ranging, mainly various statues, such as the sterling silver Ashoka Pagoda with a gold vase hanging inside, the square stone pagoda with the four sides carved Buddha statues, and Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, Vajra Lux, and patrons. These artifacts were originally hidden in the tower, which fell from a height when it fell, and most of them were broken or deformed. All kinds of cultural relics have a clear Tang and Five Dynasties style, which should be offerings rounded by believers when the Leifeng Pagoda was first built, which can be mutually verified with Qian Ling's "Huayan Jingba" recording that the tower body is "craftsmanship and portrait design, golden and beautiful".
Today, our knowledge of Leifeng Pagoda far surpasses that of the ancients, mainly because of the arduous and lonely work of archaeologists in the excavation of the site. However, what really caused a huge sensation and became known to the public was the excavation of the underground palace.
Before the excavation, little was known about the structure of the Leifeng Tower. After more than half a year of work, the remnants of the tower body and the base of the tower have been seen again. Every tower brick and every ruined wall is a physical witness of Leifeng Pagoda.
Underground Palace
The underground palace is located below the tower ventricle in the center of the base of the Leifeng Tower and is an important part of the site.
The underground palace is well preserved. The square brick cave-like underground palace, about 1.4 meters long, wide and 1 meter deep, has an inner wall plastered with lime, and the mouth is sealed with a square stone slab, and the stone slab is pressed with a huge capstone, which is solid and shows no signs of theft.
The date of the excavation of the underground palace was set for March 11, 2001.
The news spread, and people at home and abroad looked forward to it. CCTV, Hong Kong Phoenix TV and more than 30 media from Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and other media tracked and reported every step of the archaeological excavation in the first time.
The excavation began at 9 a.m. on March 11 and continued until 3 a.m. the next day, lifting from the top stone of the town tower until the last copper coin at the bottom of the underground palace was removed, which took 18 hours.
These 18 hours are only a short moment for Leifeng Pagoda, but they are unforgettable memories for the archaeological team members who experienced it. At that time, I wrote a handbook of the excavation of the underground palace, "Long Day", which was published in Hangzhou "Urban Express" (March 12, 2011), recording many emotional moments before and after the excavation, which is still deeply impressive. Now slightly rephrased, the transcription is as follows:
Previously, I never believed that archaeology would become a high-profile science. When I went to college and was admitted to the archaeology major, my mother shook her head and sighed, worried about this unpopular subject and my future, and for many years.
I couldn't convince my mother because archaeology was really less popular. Although there are hardships and joys during the long years of running in the fields, there are several people willing to share this extreme edge.
However, this time the excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda is different, under the gaze of thousands of pairs of eyes, surrounded by cameras, it is the first time, and I don't know if there will be such a grand occasion in the future. I'm a little nervous.
March 10, the day before the excavation. The archaeological team discussed the situation that might be encountered tomorrow at the construction site, and everyone spoke freely, and finally reached a consensus: do not be alarmed, and follow the archaeological excavation regulations.
When I returned from the construction site, it was late at night. The team members agreed to bathe and cleanse. Li Yuxin said that he still wants to put on the pillar incense, we are never superstitious, only pray for tomorrow. When the underground palace was excavated, when the ceiling stone was lifted, there was an accident, and it was quickly turned into a disaster, and everyone said that it was the merit of these pillars of incense, and sure enough, "the light of the Buddha shines high". In the tense atmosphere, I have never been a person who is good at summarizing, but now that I think about it, this accident can be summarized into two points: first, the danger was saved thanks to the full preparation a few days ago, and the on-site command of Mr. Cao Jinyan, then director of the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Li Yuxin, the archaeological leader; Second, it is widely rumored that in order to cooperate with the live TV broadcast, after a careful "dress rehearsal" beforehand, a muffled sound of a boulder hitting the steel pipe shattered the rumor. - Of course, this is an afterword. I should still record the long day in chronological order.
March 11 at 6:30 a.m. We boarded the bus to the construction site, where the underground palace excavation was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. sharp. What is in the underground palace, it is an unknown world, there is no need to think about it. On the way, everyone talked and laughed, but in the end there was something different, like the heroic beauty in a soap opera who seemed to say a calm farewell.
After 7 o'clock, arrived at the scene. I saw that my journalist friends came earlier than us, and there were more of them. They quickly broke through the defense line, took advantage of the terrain to take pictures and interviews, and refused to leave despite any dissuasion. After all, I am soft-hearted, dealing with journalists, not a qualified doorman. At that time, I thought that journalists and archaeologists have different professions, but the professionalism is the same. It can be seen that on the eve of the excavation, I still have the leisure to think cranky.
9 o'clock sharp. We turned off our phones and the excavation began. As my friends saw on TV, at first, the working atmosphere was a little tense, and everyone was busy with their own work according to the deployment. I didn't have time to think of anything else, and I didn't feel the camera. My mind was revived after the cover of the underground palace was lifted and the artifacts were exposed. This is not a lazy approach to the article, I promise.
The first step in excavating the underground palace is to lift the capstone pressed against the floor of the underground palace
At about 11 o'clock sharp, the stone cover of the underground palace was lifted under the pry of the steel pipe. The relic letter and the bronze Buddha statue showed a hazy corner, and everyone was amazed, and the anticipating cultural relics finally appeared. I saw that the relic iron letter was placed in the middle of the underground palace, and there were a large number of various copper coins stacked under the iron letter, mixed with jade money, jade turtles, material beads, onyx ornaments, copper mirrors, silver arms and other objects, to symbolize the "seven treasures" that offered relics. The void of the underground palace outside the iron letter is full of gilded bronze Buddha statues, silver belts, jade Guanyin statues, jade boy statues, gold-stamped wooden seats, lacquered bracelets, copper mirrors, copper coins, silk fabrics, scripture scrolls and other cultural relics. The walls of the underground palace are decorated with small Buddha statues, statues of King Visha Mun and circular perforated silver ornaments – relics dating back thousands of years. The happiness of discovery, the archaeological team members often experience, but this time is different, our happiness is transmitted by the camera, shared by millions of people, the ancients said that "solo happiness is not as good as everyone's happiness", happiness was magnified thousands of times, in an instant, I felt like a happy person.
Uncover the stone cover, the buried treasure in the underground palace, and resurface. This scene, through the TV screen, was sent to thousands of households in the first time
At 12 o'clock sharp, the live TV ended. The subsequent work process was recorded on television and broadcast successively in the following days. The TV people cheered their success live, and applause filled the shed. I gotta say, the live stream doesn't affect the work, but the cheers disturb me. I'm jealous that they can be happier than us for no reason.
At 12:30, everyone had a box lunch and took a break. Excitement makes people not feel tired, and next, there is more heavy work, cultural relics must be cleaned up on the same day, and it is necessary to ensure that the materials are complete, and night battles are inevitable.
Due to the small space of the underground palace and the layers of cultural relics, it is very difficult to clean up. Everyone initially decided to demolish the southwest wall of the underground palace and wait for the opinions of the famous archaeologist Mr. Xu Pingfang and others.
The underground palace is not very big. The iron letter is placed in the center, and thousands of copper coins and miscellaneous treasures are stacked under it. In the gap beyond the iron letter, there are gilded bronze Buddha statues, silver belts and other cultural relics.
At about 3 p.m., Mr. Xu Pingfang rushed to the scene and thought that the plan was feasible.
Just do it, Li Yuxin and other archaeology team members Shen Yueming, Sun Guoping, Peng Biping began to demolish the brick wall, and Director Cao Jinyan told everyone that if they were tired, they would change to another group of team members. From 3 p.m. until the early hours of the next morning, they put the suggestion of a "rotational break" behind. Every time they asked, they refused on the grounds that they had "worked for a long time, were familiar with the situation, and had a good idea". Because of their persistence, I have been engaged in a relatively light job, taking written records when cultural relics are unearthed, and guarding cultural relics when no cultural relics are unearthed.
When documenting artifacts, I was moved by their selfless work. When guarding the cultural relics, I was a gambling child, holding the cultural relics with both hands, and never letting others look at them without permission, deeply afraid that the treasure would melt in the hot eyes of others.
I just spent countless hours doing nothing.
Until around midnight the next day. The largest cultural relic in the underground palace, the iron letter, is about to be unearthed. A good body of strength, finally came in handy. In order to prevent the bottom of the iron letter from falling off, we first support the bottom with a wooden plank, and then tie ropes around the body. One group of people held up from the bottom, the other group grabbed the rope and lifted it up, carefully moved out of the underground palace, and then seven or eight people hugged each other and carried them onto the car that had been waiting for a long time.
The iron letter was unearthed. The friends of the TV station breathed a sigh of relief and left. We breathed a sigh of relief and continued to clean up the small artifacts left in the underground palace.
2 a.m. We delivered the artifacts to the cave warehouse of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in the isolated mountain of West Lake, and then returned to the construction site, where the car flew by the West Lake. In the early morning, West Lake is silent, which is the only "illegal driving" experience in our lives on the shore of West Lake.
At 3 a.m., all the members of the archaeological team took a group photo at the site of the site, and the excavation was over.
At sunset, we pack our bags. Director Cao announced that the excavators would rest tomorrow, anyway, they could make up for it, and I actually had the idea of partying all night. In the car, I realized the impulse just now, I was a little sleepy, confused, and didn't know where I was. I suspect that it must have been because of the lack of action in the second half of the excavation, because the colleagues who had always insisted on working at the bottom of the pit were tireless and unanimously called for a restaurant to wait for dawn.
At 5 a.m., we walked into a Yonghe soy milk shop on Hushu South Road, and as soon as we entered the door, we praised their spirit of serving the people 24 hours a day, saying that people can't do it with KFC and McDonald's. The waiter was praised happily, saying that you are not the people on TV, yesterday's Leifeng Pagoda underground palace excavation live broadcast is really good, the ancestors are really powerful, to sum up, that is, Chinese culture is attractive. We were also delighted by them.
6 a.m. Go home, turn your head and go to sleep.
When I woke up, it was dawn. Television and newspapers were full of news of the excavation of the underground palace. I called my mother and said that the child was doing a meaningful job, at least today.
The statue of Buddha Shakyamuni enshrined in the underground palace is made into a screw bun, his face is plump, his eyes are slightly closed, and he is smiling; Wearing a long-shoulder coat, the smooth texture shows the texture appropriately; Buddha sat cross-legged on a lotus throne, making a statement, lovingly sheltering all sentient beings in the world; Under the lotus seat, there is a dragon holding up, the shape of the dragon, strong and powerful, saber rattling. Under the backlight, the sitting Buddha is more majestic and peaceful under the contrast of the dragon.
The excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda set off a news boom, and it is still called "the largest cultural news event in Zhejiang Province since the new century" by many people in the press circles. This photograph was taken at an impromptu press conference after the excavation of the underground palace, and it was a testimonial occasion at that time.
Iron Letters
After the excavation of the underground palace, Leifeng Pagoda was like the powerful Monkey King, turning into a popular star, and there was "news" in every detail. And the opening of the relic iron letter has become the biggest suspense of Leifeng Pagoda, just like the Monkey King suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain, and people are looking forward to his liberation. Everyone is looking forward to it, what cultural relics are in the iron letter?
In consideration of the safety of the cultural relics, the location of the opening of the iron letter was set at the cave warehouse of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, at 7 p.m. on March 14, 2001. During the work process, reporters were not allowed to be interviewed, and various reporters waited all night at the gate of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
At that time, I also wrote a working notebook of "Opening Letters", which was published in the Qianjiang Evening News (March 15, 2011), and the title was changed to "I Opened the Iron Letter with My Own Hands". It's a bit of a "title party", but you can use this to understand the whole process of the opening of the iron letter. With minor modifications as usual, the transcription is as follows:
……
At three o'clock in the afternoon of March 14, my mobile phone rang, and it was the voice of Director Cao Jinyan, telling me to rest well and work overtime at night. As for work, give short notice. I was ordered to lean back on the couch once, and then a series of ringing telephones woke me up and urged me to go immediately. I looked at my watch, six o'clock in the evening.
Our car entered the provincial museum from the main entrance and went straight to the cave warehouse, where cultural protection experts and security cadres were already at the gate, and everyone greeted warmly. Not far away, there are many reporters waiting. Those eager reporters should have been waiting all day.
In a small, stuffy space, the work of opening the iron letter began at 7 p.m.
I was reluctant to record the process of opening the letter in the form of a running book, because it was boring, but my friend told me that as long as it was related to Leifeng Pagoda, the account book could also publish news, so I had to bite the bullet and write down everything I could remember:
We first moved the dispensable items in the warehouse to the outside, untied the ropes on the iron letter, removed the rust on the iron pimples, and then Mr. Zhao Feng (the author's note, then deputy director of the China National Silk Museum) began to clean the silk fabric stuck to the bottom. When everything is ready, prepare the letter. At 19:42, under the coordination and command of Director Cao Jinyan, Li Yuxin, Shen Yueming, Sun Guoping and I held their breath, lifted the lid on the iron letter plate vertically up, and moved it to the side. The process went smoothly and there were no difficulties at all as people imagined.
The iron letter that was shouted for thousands of times opened, and I saw a golden pagoda entering. The underground palace must have been flooded in the early years, because the bottom of the stupa was rusty, and the upper body was shining and intact, which should be what Qian Li saw back then. How beautiful!
After the excavation of the underground palace, the biggest suspense is the opening of the relic iron letter. The moment the iron letter was opened, I saw a gold-painted tower standing majestically, with rusty bottoms and a radiant upper body, just like a new building.
Staring at the pagoda in a daze was not always the solution, so we began to examine and clean every detail inside the iron letter. The cultural relics stood in front of them, not moving, only the nameless insects living at the bottom of the letter, afraid that they were frightened and panicked. A silver box was pressed under the stupa, probably to save space or to allow the gold-coated tower to stand firmly, and the lid was buckled on the box. At first, we thought it was a strangely shaped incense burner stacked with a plate, until we turned the lid upside down. There was also a puddle of muddy water in the box, and the underground palace was flooded in the early years, and it became an iron case. The box is surrounded by a leather belt. Organic matter cultural relics are the most difficult to clean up, and it took Zhao Feng a long time to take them out; On the other hand, conservation experts also carefully wipe two freshly baked silverware with clean water. Under their dexterous hands, the pagoda and box took on a new look, but the pitiful basin of clear water became a chaotic world.
Halfway through, I ran outside to dump the dirty water, only to see reporters waiting in the distance. Sorry, I forgot to look at the time at the time.
With the above national treasures, it is reasonable to say that they should also be satisfied. Unexpectedly, after the belt was cleaned, a copper mirror was also stacked, and a ribbon was wrapped around the mirror button. Zhao Feng, an expert on silk cultural relics, repeatedly affirmed that she could not hurt her delicately, and her loving eyes were like a loving mother staring at a baby in her arms.
At this point, the pure silver Ashoka Pagoda, gilt silver box, perforated gilt silver pad, gilt silver belt, copper mirror, copper coin, glass bottle, silk fabric and other offerings contained in the iron letter have all reappeared in the world. Finally, we took photography and video of all cultural relics, and the iron letter opened successfully. Time, 11 o'clock sharp. My journal ends here.
When Qian Li was the king of Wuyue, he imitated the story of Ashoka building 84,000 pagodas, casting 84,000 gold-coated pagodas, promulgating them in the territory, and even spreading them to Japan, and many of them were handed down in kind. The sterling silver Ashoka Pagoda enshrined in the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda contains Buddha screw hair. This was Qian Li's purpose in building the Leifeng Pagoda back then
On April 28, 2001, the cultural relics unearthed in the underground palace and the iron letter were fully exhibited in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. Hangzhou citizens and tourists from all over the country rushed to visit, and the grandeur was unprecedented.
postscript
In 2001, I was not yet a member of the excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda. Probably back then, my pen was faster and my writing was lively. Therefore, Director Cao Jinyan arranged for me to participate in the work and write some personal notes of the excavation work to cooperate with the news publicity of the excavation of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda, and I jokingly called myself a "news hype worker" at that time. Because of the huge influence of Leifeng Pagoda itself, several of my clumsy work notes have caused a great sensation in Hangzhou, which is certainly not because my article is good - friends from the newspaper complimented me that even if no one mentioned the archaeology of the underground palace of Leifeng Pagoda after that, this "Long Day" can still be passed down. Of course, this is not the case, the huge social impact of the archaeological excavation and reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda still exists today, and my words have been "decayed" for many years. Today, as a witness, it is even more inappropriate for me to pretend to be a white-headed palace maid who gossips about the old affairs of Tianbao.
In the cultural events of the ruins of Leifeng Pagoda and the excavation of the underground palace, the leader Li Yuxin and director Cao Jinyan paid the most and contributed the most, and all the archaeological team members, including me, were honored to participate in the grand event, and they were deeply honored and honored.