China News Service Taiyuan, June 28 (Xinhua) -- 51 years ago, why did former French President Pompidou visit the Yungang Grottoes?
——Interview with Hang Kan, President of Yungang Research Institute
China News Service reporter Hu Jian
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. In 1973, when the then French President Georges Pompidou visited China, his first stop after leaving Beijing was the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi, and he praised its gorgeous and exquisite statues.
There are many historical sites in China, why did Pompidou choose Yungang Grottoes to visit? How many elements of Eastern and Western culture are contained in the grottoes? What is its historical place in the world's grottoes? Hang Kan, president of the Yungang Research Institute, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East and West Questions" to answer the above questions.
The transcript of the interview is summarized below:
China News Service: Fifty-one years ago, then French President Georges Pompidou visited the Yungang Grottoes, which have many historical sites in China.
Hang Kan: In October 1907, the French sinologist Sha Wan came to the Yungang Grottoes to number and take pictures of the main caves. These precious photographs were later published in his Catalogue of Archaeology of Northern China, a total of 78 photographs.
Mr. Liang Sicheng, a famous Chinese architect, studied in the United States, visited ancient architecture in Europe, and taught the history of Chinese sculpture at Northeastern University after returning to China. Fortunately – or unfortunately, the major foreign art museums have a complete collection of mainland sculptures, which are classified on time and in an orderly manner, which is convenient for research. Famous scholars, such as Japan's Omura Nishiya, Tokiwa Daiding, Sekino Sada, France's Bo Xihe, Sha Wan, Sweden's Xi Longren, etc., have all written for my southern car. Among them, Sha Wan's work refers to the "Archaeological Catalogue of Northern China".
As the president of France, Georges Pompidou loved art and once said that "art is the sword of the supreme angel, which can pierce our hearts".
In the book Pompidou: Letters, Notes and Photographs, 1928-1974, Alain Pompidou, son of Georges Pompidou, recalls that his father and the French novelist André Malraux often discussed the topic of artistic creation and art history, and Malraux gave his book to Alain Pompidou with the inscription: "In the centuries of imperial succession, the importance of the forgotten sculptor is as strong as the importance of maternal love." ”
It was in this artistic atmosphere that on September 15, 1973, Georges Pompidou visited the Yungang Grottoes. Later, his wife, Claude Pompidou, explained, "The Yungang Grottoes are an artistic treasure of great cosmopolitan and national characteristics in Pompidou's mind. ”
On September 15, 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied the then French President Georges Pompidou to inspect the Yungang Grottoes. Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
China News Service: The Yungang Grottoes have absorbed the essence of Chinese and Western cultures, and in what ways do they have the most profound expression of Western culture? What role has it played in the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries?
Hang Kan: After 439 AD, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty unified northern China, and the Silk Road was once again unblocked. During this period, the eastern starting point of the Silk Road was in Pingcheng, the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty (now Datong, Shanxi), and in recent years, relics from foreign countries have been unearthed in the Datong area, which is the direct material evidence of the exchanges between the East and the West at that time. The Yungang Grottoes were also excavated under the background of frequent traffic between China and foreign countries and deep integration of nationalities.
It is recorded in the "Book of Wei Shi Lao Zhi": "At the beginning of Tai'an, there were five people, including the master of the country, Hu Shamen, who were evil and extravagant, and Futuo Nanti, who worshiped the Buddha statue and went to Kyoto. ......In addition, there is a record of "Shale Hushamen, who went to Beijing to give a Buddha bowl and a portrait of the Buddha".
"Shizi Country" is the ancient name of Sri Lanka, an island nation in present-day South Asia. From the historical data, it can be known that at the beginning of Tai'an in the Northern Wei Dynasty (about 455 to 459 AD), the monks of Shizi Kingdom carried Buddha statues through the countries of the Western Regions and arrived in Pingcheng.
The Yungang Grottoes were excavated in the first year of peace of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty (460 AD), and continued to be built for more than 60 years. During this period, extensive cultural exchanges and ethnic integration between China and foreign countries made the Yungang Grottoes a classic in world art.
In 1933, Liang Sicheng, Liu Dunzhen, Lin Huiyin and other members of the Chinese Construction Society investigated the Yungang Grottoes. In their later publication of "The Architecture of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Yungang Grottoes", they pointed out that the Yungang Grottoes "obviously have foreign influences, and they are scattered everywhere", including the Greco-Roman Ionic columns, the Persian double-beast head pillars, and the Indian ingots.
Yungang Grottoes Cave 9 colonnade. Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
The Chinese decorative patterns have undergone great changes in the Northern Wei Dynasty. "The Northern Wei Dynasty Architecture Represented in the Yungang Grottoes" records: "There are many kinds of decorative patterns in the Yungang stone carvings, and eight or nine out of ten are the motifs and expressions imported from abroad. The ornamental patterns shown are all of Greek origin, imported via Persia and Gandhara, especially the folded curly grass, which is the backbone of the Western pattern and is not found in the Chinese Zhou and Han ornaments. But since then, it has become the most common of Chinese patterns, and although it has undergone some changes, its principle of main left and right branch rotation has always been fixed. ”
As scholars of architectural history, Liang Sicheng and others mainly observe the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries embodied in the Yungang Grottoes from the perspective of architecture and decoration. In terms of plastic arts, it can also be seen that the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have deepened. For example, a disciple statue on the east side of the main Buddha in Cave 18 has typical Europa characteristics, with precise modeling and exquisite carving skills, even if it is placed in the group portraits carved by Renaissance masters, it is not inferior.
The King Kong Lux on the east side of the door of the 5th cave of Yungang Grottoes presents typical exotic elements. Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
China News Service: Looking at the major grottoes around the world, what is the historical status of the Yungang Grottoes in the world?
Hang Kan: The Yungang Grottoes are a national project built by the Northern Wei Dynasty with the concentration of manpower, material and financial resources from all over the country, and the Yungang model it created has a wide range of tension. Mr. Su Bai, the founder of Chinese Buddhist archaeology and a professor at Peking University, proposed in "The Concentration of Pingcheng Strength and the Formation and Development of the "Yungang Model"" that "the new model it created and continuously developed has naturally become a typical reference for the construction of grottoes in the field of Wei State", and believes that "from the Wanfotang Grottoes in Yixian County, Liaoning Province in the east, to the Northern Wei Grottoes in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo in the west, there are traces of the Yungang model, and even the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang in the distance in the Hexi Corridor and the history of opening the caves earlier than Yungang are no exception."
The formation process of the Yungang model is in line with the sinicization policy of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which opened the process of large-scale sinicization of grotto art, and it can be said that the Yungang Grottoes are a key stop for the localization of Buddhist art that originated in India and spread to China through Central Asia. In terms of artistic expression, the grottoes in Xinjiang and the Hexi Corridor mainly present Buddhist plastic art in the form of statues and murals, while the Yungang Grottoes present three-dimensional plastic art on a large scale in the form of carving, which has a far-reaching influence on China's later grotto art.
Cave 20 of Yungang Grottoes. Photo by Wu Junjie
China News Service: In recent years, the Yungang Grottoes have achieved remarkable results in digital protection, how can the Yungang Grottoes be better protected in the future?
Hang Kan: There are 45 main caves in Yungang Grottoes, more than 59,000 statues, and different cultural landscapes in different historical periods. In view of its important position, the two excavations of the pre-cave site and the cave roof site of Yungang Grottoes have won the honor of "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China". However, the volume of cultural relics unearthed from the ruins in front of the cave and the site at the top of the cave is relatively small, and it is difficult to reflect the "true appearance and grandeur" of the Yungang Grottoes.
With the continuous use of digital technology, Yungang Grottoes has collected two-thirds of the cave information. These data can not only realize the "immortality" of Yungang Grottoes, but also add a new way of communication of Yungang art. Now, not only can the cave be replicated in equal proportions through 3D printing technology to achieve off-site exhibitions, but also virtual reality, augmented reality and other technologies can be used to combine the unearthed cultural relics to let the public better feel the artistic charm of Yungang Grottoes. It is hoped that in the near future, Yungang grotto art can "walk" the world. (ENDS)
The staff of Yungang Research Institute conducts digital information collection. Photo courtesy of Yungang Research Institute
Interviewee Profile:
Kan Hang, President of Yungang Research Institute. He used to be the deputy director of the Shanghai History Museum, and the vice president and dean of the School of Archaeology, Culture and Museums of Peking University. His main research interests are Buddhist archaeology, Song and Yuan archaeology, and cultural heritage. He has published more than 40 papers, such as "The Time of the Collapse of the West Wall of Yungang Cave 20 and the Initial Layout of Yungang Five Caves", "Several Problems of the Unearthed Net Bottle at the Two Taji Bases in Dingxian County, Hebei", "The Local City Site of the Song and Yuan Dynasties", and "Re-study of the Qingming Shanghe Map". He has participated in and organized the compilation of more than 20 large-scale exhibitions and catalogues. He has been selected into the "New Century Excellent Talent Support Program" of the Ministry of Education of China, won the top ten teachers of Peking University, and won the second prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award.
(Editor in charge: Wang Qi)