On the afternoon of September 25, the second live broadcast of "Hu Tian Hanyue - Walking China: Silk Road" hosted by Humanities Tsinghua and Xinhuanet ended successfully. Zhang Guogang, historian, senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University, professor of history at the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University, and Zhang Xiaoqin, professor of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, led the group into the replica cave of Mogao Grottoes, explored the excavation of Dunhuang families and caves, learned the historical stories of Tibetan scripture caves and Dunhuang documents, understood the evolution of Buddhism into China, and deeply discussed the characteristics of Chinese civilization.
About 5 million viewers online followed Tsinghua to visit the Mogao Grottoes and feel the history and changes of the Mogao Grottoes.
Professor Zhang Guogang introduced the historical background of the excavation of the Mogao Grottoes, and pointed out that when the Mogao Grottoes were first excavated, it coincided with troubled times, and the Buddhist caves became a source of peach blossoms in troubled times because they provided people with spiritual stability. In the second year of the Former Qin Jianyuan (366) of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the monks of Le Shu created caves in the Mogao Grottoes, which went through the Northern Liang, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Uighur, Western Xia and Yuan dynasties for more than a thousand years, creating the glory of the Mogao Grottoes. Professor Zhang Guogang pointed out that the situation presented by the Buddhist caves is closely related to the historical situation of the times, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, because Dunhuang became the main commercial hub and important religious center of the Silk Road, the Mogao Grottoes entered a heyday, so the Mogao Grottoes were mostly Tang Dynasty grottoes, and the Northern Song, Western Xia and Yuan Dynasties Mogao Grottoes gradually declined.
Zhai Fengda's poem is a manuscript
When introducing the history of Cave 220 in the early Tang Dynasty, Professor Zhang Guogang showed the public a very vivid historical material - the manuscript of the homework of Zhai Fengda, the patron of the Zhai family of the Dunhuang clan who excavated Cave 220, when he was a student in Dunhuang, and this manuscript is preserved in the Dunhuang documents. Zhai Fengda's poem "The three ends are all the great husband, and the six arts hall are none in the world." Men don't learn to read poetry, just like the roots of fat vegetables are withered. "It shows that the values of education in the Dunhuang area are consistent with those in the Chang'an area, and it proves that the two are closely related in culture." This is also the first time that many members of the public have met the vivid Zhai Fengda through their own manuscripts.
Dunhuang is a model of the integration of civilizations, including the integration of religions and nationalities. Cave 285 during the Western Wei Dynasty was a fusion of Chinese Taoism, Indian Buddhism and other religious immortals, and was known as the Pantheon. The Sino-Tibetan wedding map of Cave 25 in Yulin reflects the Sinicization of ethnic minorities in the Dunhuang area. Chen Yinke believes that "race (ethnicity) and culture" is the key to the study of medieval Chinese history and culture, and the criterion for judging "race (ethnicity)" is "culture" rather than "blood". Professor Zhang Guogang pointed out: "So when we talk about Hu Tian Hanyue, we don't look at race but culture. The integration of civilizations is not contradictory in the unity of culture, the unity of Chinese culture does not hinder diversity, and everyone's values are closely related. ”
Professor Zhang Guogang also introduced the Dunhuang documents unearthed from the Tibetan scripture cave, which mainly include Buddhist scriptures, account books, government documents, letter books and multi-ethnic language materials, which Professor Zhang Guogang called "the treasure house of medieval social life". The Dunhuang documents fully demonstrate the continuity of Chinese civilization.
The process of sinicization of Buddhism is a typical case that embodies the characteristics of Chinese civilization. Professor Zhang Guogang introduced the process of Buddhism's entry into China based on the paintings of Buddhist historical sites in Caves 217 and 323. Buddhism's entry into China went through three stages: the period of indifference, the period of stalemate (with the help of Laozhuang and Confucian-Buddhist conflict) and the period of integration, and sought to be in line with Confucian ethical thought through adjustments to its own teachings, such as increasing the concept of filial piety.
The entry of Buddhism into China also brought great influence to Chinese culture. For example, the words "actual," "disturbing," "world," and "homework" that we are familiar with today are derived from Buddhism. There is also the influence on phonological rhyme and near-body poetry, although the four tones of flat, up, go, and into Chinese are original, but realizing their existence and clearly defining them as four tones is influenced by the Fanyei's method of reading the scriptures, and the near-body poems such as rhythm poems and quasi sentences in the Tang poems we are familiar with are the products of the development of phonology. Then there is the influence on Confucianism. Wang Yangming, a representative of Song Ming's theory, wanted to build his own Taoist system, absorbing the Buddhist way of thinking and argumentation. After colliding with Buddhism, Chinese Confucianism not only did not dissipate, but became stronger, richer, and deeper. This is an important example of mutual learning and exchange among civilizations.
Professor Zhang Guogang believes that an important reason for a civilization and culture to be durable and innovative is to be able to tolerate and absorb the strengths of other civilizations. For thousands of years, not only Buddhism, but also other religions such as Nestorianism, as well as various foreign civilizations, have collided with Chinese civilization, but the foundation and main civilization of Chinese civilization have not wavered, not because of its strong inclusiveness, has been eclectic, and then constantly innovated, so that it has endlessly.
Live Trailer
September 28, on the eve of mid-autumn,
Walk into the jade gate pass,
Appreciate the majesty of the Great Wall of Han in 2000,
Feel the long wind of the vast desert.
Restore the historical details of frontier governance in Han Jian and history books,
In the millennial evolution of the concept of "Western" in Sino-Western exchanges
Thinking about the "Belt and Road" in the new era,
In the ancient famous sentences of Li Bai, Wang Zhixiao, and Wang Han
Admire the bright moon of Yumen Pass,
Welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival together.
The forum was broadcast live online through Xinhua News Agency, Xinhuanet, CCTV, China News Network, China Education News Network, The Paper, Tencent News, Sohu Education, Phoenix.com, Baidu News, Douyin, Toutiao, Weibo, Station B, Channels, Kuaishou, iQiyi, Xiaohongshu and other media and platforms, thanks to the strong support of these media.
The "Tsinghua Humanities" Forum is a large-scale ideological dissemination activity initiated by Tsinghua University, promoting the construction of a more innovative, international and humanistic Tsinghua New Century. The forum regularly invites outstanding humanities scholars to give public speeches at the landmark New Tsinghua School, expounding on his classic theories, unique thoughts and major discoveries.