The return ceremony of the Buddha's head in the Tianlongshan Grottoes was held today in Taiyuan, Shanxi

Source: CCTV news client

Excavated from the late Northern Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Tianlongshan Grottoes in Taiyuan, Shanxi, are treasures in the history of the development of grotto sculpture in China, reflecting the vibrant historical features of that period, but they were excavated on a large scale in the 1920s and 1930s. After investigation and recourse by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, this morning (24th), the Tianlongshan Grottoes finally ushered in the first return of cultural relics.

After a tortuous process of recourse, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, together with relevant departments, promoted the return of the Head of the Buddha in the Tianlongshan Grottoes to the motherland and to its original territory, and this morning, the ceremony of the return of the Buddha's head was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi, and the Tianlongshan Grottoes, which had been lost overseas for nearly a century, finally returned to their homeland and officially entered the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum.

In order to welcome the return of the Buddha's head, the cultural relics department specially launched the Tianlongshan Grottoes Return to the Buddha's First Special Exhibition, which not only brings together the vicissitudes of the Tianlongshan Grottoes in the past hundred years, but also uses digital means to copy part of the landscape of the 8th Cave where the Buddha's head was originally located into the exhibition hall, bringing the audience an immersive look of "immersion". After seeing this Buddha head, the audience can also feel its original location in Cave 8 and what the original environment was like. The Sui Dynasty was an important transitional period for the gradual localization of Buddhist grottoes in China. It is a very important transition period from the statue style of Northern Qi "Zhang Deqi's flesh" to the fullness and roundness of the Tang Dynasty.

The north wall of cave 8, where the Buddha head was originally located, is close to the cliff body, and the cracks in the cliff body are more serious, and if the Buddha head is placed in place, it will inevitably have a certain degree of weathering. Therefore, the buddha's head will be permanently exhibited in the museum. The specially designed lighting and ultra-low reflectivity display cabinets in the exhibition hall perfectly present the attractive contour lines of the Buddha's head.

Yu Hao, director of the Tianlongshan Grotto Museum of Taiyuan Cultural Relics Conservation Research Institute, introduced: His face is relatively red and round, and his eyebrows are curved, his eyes are slightly closed, the corners of his mouth are slightly raised, there is a very peaceful, calm smile, this is a more typical statue style in the Sui Dynasty. I think that from this kind of statue, we can show an aesthetic feature of our Sui Dynasty Buddhist statues, as well as a superb carving skill of craftsmen.

Through years of investigation, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanxi Cultural Relics Department found that more than 240 statues in the Tianlongshan Grottoes were stolen and excavated in the 1920s and 1930s, and 157 were clearly located, distributed in 11 countries around the world, 31 museums and some private collectors. The return of the 8th Cave Buddha's head took only three months from discovery to recourse to return to China.

On September 14, 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage monitored and found that an auction house in Japan planned to auction a stone carved Buddha head of Tianlongshan in Tokyo, which was suspected to be a lost cultural relic from the Tianlongshan Grottoes in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage quickly organized an appraisal and judged that it was indeed the stolen Buddha head of the Buddha statue of the lord of the North Wall of the Eighth Cave of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, dating from the Sui Dynasty, which was stolen and chiseled and illegally transported out of the country around 1924. On October 15, 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage sent a letter to the auction house, asking it to terminate the auction and publicity and display activities related to the Buddha's head. On October 16, the auction house made a decision to withdraw the auction, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage contacted Zhang Rong, chairman of the auction house and an overseas Chinese in Japan, to encourage him to promote the return of cultural relics. On October 31, Zhang Rong negotiated with the holders of Japanese cultural relics to complete the purchase, and after full communication with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, decided to donate the Buddha's head to the Chinese government. On November 17, the head of the Buddha was handed over to the Chinese Embassy in Japan for safekeeping. On December 12, 2020, the Buddha's head was safely transported to Beijing, and it was handed over to the warehouse on the same day and returned to the embrace of the motherland.

Today, the head of the Buddha is officially entered into the Tianlongshan Grotto Museum. Li Qun, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, stressed that the lost cultural relics are an important part of China's cultural heritage, and the Chinese government reserves the right to recover cultural relics that have been stolen and illegally exported in history, including the lost cultural relics of the Cave Temple. The Chinese government resolutely supports the return of lost cultural relics to the countries of origin, and is willing to work with the international community to explore the establishment of institutionalized arrangements for properly resolving the problem of the return of historically lost cultural relics, and work together to build a more fair and just international order for the recovery and return of cultural relics.

It is reported that the special exhibition "The Return of National Treasures on the Road to Rejuvenation" with the theme of returning to the Buddha's head takes the return of the Buddha's head on Tianlong Mountain as the main line, and is divided into two units: the death of the prosperous world and the return of the prosperous world, telling the heartache process of the theft of the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes and the historical significance of the return of the Buddha's head on the road of rejuvenation. (CCTV reporter Tian Yunhua Yan Hong)