【Author said】
Archaeology, stringing together a new "Shu"
——The writing angle of "The Book of Seeking Shu"
Author: Xiao Yi (Editor-in-Chief and Writer of Tianfu Guangji Magazine)
"Searching for Shu - Sichuan from Archaeology" by Xiao Yi, Guangxi Normal University Press
Editor's Note
After 35 years, the mysterious Sanxingdui archaeology has once again attracted the attention of the world. In the new round of excavations, the newly excavated cultural relics are extremely exquisite and unique in shape, including bronze sacred trees up to 3.95 meters high, oversized, complete gold masks, ivory, jade, gold leaf ware, etc. Thousands of cultural relics have successfully built up the height of the ancient Shu civilization, drawing a long-lost ancient Shu country back to our side, which has triggered people's curiosity and imagination of the ancient Shu civilization.
This issue of Guangming Yue Reading recommends a new book, The Quest for Shu, which is the nineteenth time that the author Xiao Yi traveled with China National Geographic. The author selects representative archaeological excavations in Sichuan in recent years and the sites of wilderness fields, spanning from the Neolithic period to the Qing Dynasty. The book not only has the familiar Sanxingdui and Jinsha ruins, but also many rare on-site witnesses. These cultural relics are connected to form a history that can be touched and visited, thus presenting Sichuan's profound humanistic history from an archaeological point of view.
The Dragon Brain Bridge built in the Ming Dynasty. Built on the Jiuqu River in Luxian County, the bridge is 54 meters long and is still impregnable today.
This year, the ancient Sanxingdui has brought surprises to the world, and a large number of ivory, gold masks, bronze statues, etc. have been unearthed from the newly discovered six sacrificial pits, which are self-contained cultural relics that were used by the ancient Shu people for sacrifice, recalling and worshipping famous ancestors and omnipotent gods in history, showing their fantastic fantasies to future generations. In addition to Sanxingdui, Sichuan can be described as the treasure of Chinese archaeology, the largest Han Que, cliff tombs, the most Buddhist grottoes, the self-contained Taoist grottoes, the most concentrated Song Dynasty stone chamber tombs... Numerous archaeological excavations have given me a new perspective on the history of Sichuan.
Most of the Chinese Han Que is in Sichuan
Speaking of "Que", Chinese may chant a few poems, "Leyouyuan Shangqing Autumn Festival, Xianyang Ancient Road sound dust." Sound and dust, the west wind is still shining, the Han family tomb que" "I don't know the heavenly palace que, what year is it now and before?" It is no wonder that the number of ancient poems written about "Que" in the Quan Tang Poems alone exceeds a thousand.
"Que", xu shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty interpreted it as "door view" in the "Explanation of Words", and the "Ancient and Modern Notes" of the Jin Dynasty Cui Bao said it more specifically: "Que, Guan Ye." The ancients looked at each gate tree twice in front of it, so the standard palace gate also. It can be inhabited on it, and it can be viewed from a distance. "Que" is a landmark building erected in ancient China in front of cities, palaces, ancestral halls, temples, and mausoleums, with different uses, and is naturally divided into city que, palace que, ancestral temple que, and mausoleum que.
The Han Dynasty was the heyday of "Que", from which the term "Han Que" got its name. At the beginning of the founding of the Han Dynasty, Xiao He built weiyang palace in Chang'an, and in addition to the front hall, arsenal, and Taicang, he also built the Eastern Que and the Northern Que. Han Gaozu believed that the world was undecided, and it was too luxurious to build such a magnificent palace. Xiao He replied: "Fu Tianzi takes the four seas as his home, and he is not magnificent and has no heavy prestige", in other words, the majestic And magnificent Eastern Que and Northern Que are the symbols of the prestige of the Han Empire.
The Han Que Khan in the poem is full of cattle, but the "Que" that has survived to this day is rare. There are 45 Hanques in China, including 24 in Sichuan Province, 11 in Shandong Province, 3 in Henan Province, 1 in Jiangsu Province, 6 in Chongqing Municipality, and 1 in Beijing Municipality, and Sichuan Province is the most concentrated, occupying half of China's Hanque. The Han Que in Sichuan, widely distributed in Mianyang, Ya'an, Zitong, Lushan, Deyang, Jiajiang, Quxian and other places, was built in the twelfth year (36 years) of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and is the oldest Han Que in China so far.
The Han Que in Sichuan, the most common tomb que, they are some ceremonial buildings, standing on both sides of the tomb passage of the tombs of the emperors and generals, wen and wu hundred officials, which are symbols of the identity and status of the tomb owners, and ordinary people cannot use "que". In the Han Dynasty, the solid homes of Shu land mostly chose to be buried in cliff tombs, the so-called cliff tombs, that is, chiseled caves on the rock walls to build rooms, and imitated the life of the tomb owner, divided into many spaces such as halls, burial chambers, washrooms, and kitchens. In the Han Dynasty, the cliff tombs were at their peak in the Sichuan Basin, densely distributed like a honeycomb on the Rock Walls of the Yangtze River, Fujiang River, Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, Jialing River, Yijiang River and its tributaries, like a sky full of stars and buckets all over the hilly mountains of Sichuan, becoming the habitat of the Soul of the Han People. As Tao Yuanming sang in the "Elegy": "Death is the way to die, to the body of the mountain." ”
The paintings in the cliff tombs, the portrait bricks unearthed, and the carvings on the sarcophagus opened a window to understand the life of the Han Dynasty: in the high-level mansion, the tomb owner and the guests sat on the floor, raised a glass and drank, and with the accompaniment of bells, chimes, drums, pipes, sheng, ser and other instruments, the dancers waved long sleeves and danced, performing the "long-sleeved dance" popular in the Han Dynasty...
In the eyes of the Han Chinese, death is not the end of life, but the beginning of another form of life. As a result, many cliff tombs often repeat such scenes: the tomb owner crossed the Heavenly Gate and came to Kunlun Mountain to meet the West Queen Mother; the West Queen Mother sat on the Dragon and Tiger Seat, and the immortal medicine that the world dreamed of was made by lively jade rabbits and toads, and the three-legged crow and the nine-tailed fox shuttled back and forth; the immortals with wings, long ears, and naked bodies roamed freely... During the two Han Dynasties, the worship of the Western Queen Mother reached its peak, and the central government even set up special officials to be responsible for the sacrifice of the Western Queen Mother, and the Han people all fantasized that after death, they could ascend to the fairyland, travel to the Kunlun Mountains, and ask the Western Queen Mother for immortal medicine.
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple unearthed a small niche with a back screen in the south and is now in the Sichuan Provincial Museum.
The second half of Chinese grotto art
The Han Que of "The Remnants of the West Wind" and the cliff tomb of "Seeing Death as Life" engrave the history of Shu land in the Han Dynasty. The Shu land of the Tang Dynasty was also engraved on stone, and the grottoes that spread over the mountains wrote the stories and prayers of the Tang people.
On March 28 of the second year of Tang Guangming (881), In The Five Counties of Lingzhou (late Tang Dynasty jurisdiction over Renshou, Guiping, Shijian, Jingyan, and Zhixian Counties, the seat of government was located in Renshou County), Renshou County, Tonglin Township, Chongxian Li, the villager Luo Jing walked out of his home and came to the monastery, and the spring of Shudi was red and peachy, which was the best situation of the year. A few months ago, he took out his savings, found craftsmen, and chiseled a niche for the jade of children, and today it has been completed. The bodhisattva wears a crown on his head, a treasure draped over his shoulders, a full face, a heavenly robe, a covered body, and a good toddler sits on a double-decked square seat.
I don't know if Luo Jing had heard that two months ago, when Emperor Tang fled to Chengdu, the Huangchao rebels burned the city in Chang'an, plundered property, and killed officials and royalty, and Chang'an City was like water and fire. In the late Tang Dynasty, the world was chaotic, the situation was turbulent, the fate of the common people was like a flat leaf boat bumping in the wild current, and living a stable and prolonged life became their desire in the chaotic world. After the completion of the grotto, Luo Jing asked the craftsmen to add two inscriptions: "Honoring the Longevity Bodhisattva Yi Gong Yong for Offerings" "Tonglin Township Chongxian Li... Jing disciple for male jade... Extend the manufacturing, because the fast has been celebrated... On the 28th day of March of the second year of Guangming Dynasty, the disciple Luo Jing offered (raised)."
Radiant Thousand Buddha Cliff is located in Shunlong Village, Renshou County, there are 37 large and small niches, most of which are damaged, there are several unburned incense candles in the barren grass, and the villagers work in the mountains, often bringing incense in front of the grottoes, and the Buddha statues in the wilderness usher in the long-lost incense. Shunlong Village is only an hour's drive from Chengdu, and I didn't expect it, it was here that I found a new subject of the Bashu Grottoes, and the Bodhisattva of Longevity had only found paintings and silk paintings in Tuyugou and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Xinjiang.
In Renshou County, there are Tang Dynasty grottoes such as Tan shen rock, Niujiao village, Zhakou rock, Thousand Buddha Temple, Killing Trough, Liangcha River, and Nengren Temple. In Sichuan, almost every city and county has a large number of Tang Dynasty grottoes, such as Guangyuan, Bazhong, Mianyang, Jiajiang, Anyue, Danling and so on. Whether it is the distribution point or the number, the number of grottoes in Sichuan is the largest in China, rewriting the Qing people's thesis of "Tang Sheng and Song Decline", and extending the history of grottoes for hundreds of years. If the north and the central plains have written the history of the first half of China's grottoes, Bashu is the lower half.
In the process of inspecting the grottoes, the statue of the Jade Emperor in a niche on Shimen Mountain in Dazu District, Chongqing City, caught my attention. It has willow eyebrows and apricot eyes, a dignified appearance, a long whisker under its jaw, a crown on its head, and a round-necked robe, as majestic as an ancient emperor; the protector of the shrine mouth Clairvoyant, the tailwind ear open teeth and claws, and the green tendons are exposed. In the Three Emperors Cave of Shimen Mountain, I saw the canopy marshal again, it is the well-known Pig Eight Precepts, when I was a child, I read "Journey to the West", and I thought about what this canopy marshal should look like before the mortal dust. I didn't expect to meet it here unexpectedly. The inscription shows that Shimen Mountain is a work after the southern crossing of the Song Dynasty, which was excavated around the time of Shaoxing (1131-1162).
Although "Journey to the West" is a story written by Tang monks and apprentices, I am afraid that what will impress readers more deeply is the Heavenly Court dominated by the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother," as well as their vast and complex Taoist gods such as the Grand Marshal of the Canopy, the Taibai Venus, the Liuding Liujia, and the Duke of land. Shimen Mountain gave me an enlightenment, rooted in the taoist religion of china, and also to dig grottoes, although this is somewhat contrary to the ancient precepts of "the Tao is invisible" and "the Tao is hidden, and the shapeless is also".
The number of Taoist grottoes, only about one percent of the Buddhist grottoes, with Sichuan Province and Chongqing City being the largest number and the most concentrated, here is called Bashu in ancient times, is the birthplace of Tianshi Dao, has a deep Taoist origin. According to the chronology, I divide the Chinese Taoist grottoes into seven periods: the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui, the Tang, the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing, except for the Yuan Dynasty, the Taoist statues of other periods have been found in Bashu. The grottoes with different styles and varied themes outline the rise and fall of Taoism in the spring and autumn of the dynasties, opening a door into Taoism, which is also the "most Chinese" grotto.
QuXian Shenfu Junque (坦克阙, 府君) is the Han Dynasty's honorific title for county minister and Taishou.
Luzhou Song carving, waiters wear crossed feet and heads, holding plum bottles.
Recreating Tokyo Dream
In the Song Dynasty, along with the southward shift of China's economic center, Luzhou on the Yangtze River, as the junction of Yi and Han, was elevated to the seat of the Tongchuan fu road pacification envoy in the sixth year of Qiandao (1170), and the endless stream of migrants, either because of officials, or because of returning to their hometowns, or because of trade, or because of joining the army came to Luzhou, through several generations of painstaking management, and finally established a foothold in this land. In 120 years, the population of Luzhou soared nearly tenfold.
Interestingly, Luzhou is also one of the most concentrated areas of stone chamber tombs in the Song Dynasty in China, and there are a large number of Song tombs in Lu County and Hejiang County in the territory. Every summer, the Song tomb hidden in the mountain bag is washed out by the rain. Luopan Mountain in Luxian County is located in Hongguang Village, Qifeng Town, is a horseshoe-shaped mountain bag, the mountainside distribution of 4 Song tombs, the first and second tombs are joint burial tombs, the same cave and different rooms, shared tombs. On the beam of Tomb No. 1 is a brief epitaph:
Song Dynasty Chen Gong Zhen Ding, Zi Guo Zhen, died at the age of sixty-one, the official to Chengfeng Lang, Shi Chun Xi Bing Noon December 13, both da Xiang Wei Ji buried, inscription: conceal its virtue and show its subtle and prominent, repair its body and suppress and Yang, but also have a sub-class of clothes, whining and worshiping its immortality.
The tomb owner, Chen Ding, was once a Chengfeng Lang before his death, and the Song Shi Zhi Guan Zhi records that Chengfeng Lang was from the Eight Pins, ranking the twenty-fourth rank of civil officials, and the officials were weak. In the winter of Song Chunxi(1186), the sixty-one-year-old Chen Ding died at home and was buried at LuopanShan in December of the same year.
When I was young, I watched "Water Margin", and many chapters were still vividly remembered. In the thirteenth "Pioneer Dongguo Zhenggong Blue-faced Beast Beijing Douwu", Suo Chao and Yang Zhi competed in the Beijing Division, Suo Chao "wore a cooked steel lion helmet on his head, a red ribbon on the back of his head, a pair of iron leaves saved into armor, a gilded beast face belt around his waist, two bronze heart goggles on the front and back; a collar of crimson flower robes, two green velvet jaw belts hanging from it; and a gold dipped axe in his hand." The samurai on the right side of Chen Ding's tomb is wearing a tiger-headed helmet, wearing armor, a belt around the waist, a chest mask, round goggles, a robe, and a large axe in his hand, which is quite similar to Suo Chao's outfit.
Although "Water Margin" is a story of the Northern Song Dynasty, the military equipment of the Northern Song and Southern Song Dynasties is actually not much different, that is to say, these lifelike warriors are, to some extent, the reproduction of the good men of Liangshan, like a "Water Margin" carved in stone.
In recent years, the Luxian Cultural Management Office has collected many stone carvings from the people, and in the warehouse of the Cultural Management Office, rows of samurai and maids are leaning on the walls, and green dragons and white tigers are covered with the ground, and there is no place to even get down. Stroll through it, as if walking through the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. One of the carvings, on a curved balustrade, is composed of six women or blowing pipes, or drums, or playing flutes, or dancing—this is the tile fence.
There are many fences in the capital city, and the streets and alleys of the East Corner Building are the most concentrated, and the "Tokyo Dream Record" writes:
The street south of Sangjia tiles, near the north is the middle tile, the second riba, of which there are more than fifty large and small hook bars. The inner tile lotus shed, peony shed, rivazi night fork shed and elephant shed are the largest, which can accommodate thousands of people.
There are three tiles in the capital, there are more than fifty hook bars, the large one can accommodate thousands of people, selling medicine, selling gua, gambling, eating and drinking everything, people linger. Judging from the hook fence unearthed from the Song Tomb in Luxian County, in the counties and villages of the Southern Song Dynasty, the tile fence is still popular, and those beautiful little songs and miscellaneous dramas are still staged day after day.
A thousand years ago, the Song Dynasty left a prosperous atmosphere in the "Qingming River Map", with merchants gathering and a hundred miscellaneous things; it also left a beautiful memory in the "Tokyo Dream Hualu" and "Dream Liang Record". Thousands of years later, with the discovery of Song tombs, we see the Song people burning incense, feasting, flower arrangement, music and dance, and even their hearts and minds.
After the Song Dynasty, Sichuan still has many important discoveries, Jiangkou Shenyin is China's largest Ming Dynasty archaeological discovery after dingling, the site unearthed tens of thousands of gold hairpins, silver rings, silver hairpins, silver earrings, from countless simple Ming Dynasty families, the day the city was destroyed, their owners were forced to hand over their lifelong treasures, and then in the endless war and chaos, the incense disappeared jade, from one side to illustrate the brutality of Zhang Xianzhong's tushu. In addition, Bao'en Temple in Pingwu County, Mianyang, is the most complete Ming Dynasty temple in China; there are 154 Ming and Qing Dragon Bridges in Lu County, which is the most concentrated group of Dragon Bridges in China.
The history of Shudi that we are familiar with is often the way of writing general history. Archaeological excavations provide a new perspective, and the cultural relics unearthed at many sites are not only a reproduction of the style of Shudi, but also the historical figures and families behind them, especially the fate of many small people, which also bring our perspective into historical details and microscopic profiles. From this point of view, archaeological excavations have connected a new "Shu", which can be touched and felt in addition to traditional history books.
The pictures in this article are all selected from "Searching for Shu - Looking at Sichuan from Archaeology"
Guangming Daily (2021-09-30 11th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily