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Cultural Treasure for the World 20 | Tuesday, November 12, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE DUNHUANG Cultural treasure for the world Historic Silk Road hub set to continue playing a leading role in global learning and exchange, Alexis Hooi reports. he mural depicts a robe­ clad figure flanked by envoy­like emblems, seem­ China, UK ingly prostrate before an Taugust figure on horseback with a royal retinue. team up to Scholars have since attributed the scene to that of Zhang Qian bidding farewell to the Western Han Dynas­ preserve ty’s (206 BC­AD 24) Emperor Wu, who had sent his imperial emissary on a trailblazing diplomatic mission Mogao art to the western regions. Zhang’s expeditions, as many Chi­ By BO LEUNG in London nese people know, paved the way to [email protected] what later became the Silk Road, the historic trading network linking The murals and wall paintings East and West, with world­binding inside the caves of Dunhuang, influences expanding to the cultur­ Gansu province, have been the al, social and other spheres that con­ subject of many studies, from art tinue to be felt today. history to architecture, religion, The Tang Dynasty (618­907) culture and beyond. mural itself comes from Cave 323 of Due to the fragile nature of the the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, site, efforts between the Dunhu­ Northwest China’s Gansu province, ang Academy and British institu­ which boasts one of the finest repos­ tions continue to play a pivotal itories of Buddhist art in the world. role in the conservation of the The major paintings, sculptures caves. One such collaboration and writings in about 500 caves of between Nottingham Trent Uni­ the UNESCO World Heritage Site on versity and the academy involves the outskirts of the oasis date back using noninvasive analysis and to the fourth century, spanning the automated remote imaging of golden ages of the Tang and other the murals. seminal dynasties. The importance The UK university’s Imaging of the relics goes beyond their reli­ A researcher from the Dunhuang Academy works on a replica of the mural in Cave 254. SUN ZHIJUN / FOR CHINA DAILY and Sensing for Archaeology, Art gious significance to encompass History and Conservation Lab Dunhuang’s unique position as a has been researching advanced cultural hub bringing together the Chinese scholars have since on reflected a pluralism embodying places as far afield as East China’s optical instruments with heri­ world’s great civilizations. branched out to places including the cultural elements of India, Cen­ Zhejiang provincial capital tage sites in mind. During his inspection tour of the India, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, tral Asia and Western Asia, and even Hangzhou, to the Indonesian island The collaboration was initiat­ site in August, President Xi Jinping Through the art of “going out and opening more doors Greece and Rome. of Bali and Russia’s capital Moscow, ed in 2011 by Haida Liang, a pro­ stressed the need to step up support Dunhuang, we take to cultural interaction, sharing our From architectural Doric col­ making lasting impressions on fessor who heads the lab, in carrying forward and promoting knowledge that traces back to Dun­ umns and siren­like Buddhist viewers through virtual reality and following a workshop set up by the culture of Dunhuang to preserve on the role of cultural huang’s place on the Silk Road”, Kalavinka mythical creatures, to 3D technology that help comple­ the Research Council UK. “our quintessence”. diplomacy.” Zhang says. sacred items and writings of the ment the experience of visiting the A UK Engineering and Physi­ Zhao Shengliang, director of the Foreign researchers also continue ancient religions of Nestorianism, caves, Wu says. cal Sciences Research Council Dunhuang Academy, which mana­ Zhao Shengliang, to be drawn to Dunhuang. Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism, “These major exhibitions, which project led to the development of ges and studies the caves, says Dun­ director, Dunhuang Dr Joshua Hill from the London­ the “pluralism and inclusiveness involve large­scale cave renditions, a portable remote multispectral Academy huang is well­poised to tap the based Courtauld Institute of Art’s embodied in the art of Dunhuang offer viewers a competitive experi­ and hyperspectral imaging sys­ successful preservation and promo­ Conservation of Wall Painting also resonated among the peoples of ence that is very close to the real tem that allows high­resolution tion of its cultural treasure trove, to Department has spent time this different cultural and religious thing,” academy director Zhao says. color and spectral imaging of firmly take its place as a hub of inter­ in hosting events and collaborating summer at Mogao, working with backgrounds” who settled in the “So, for our academy, after going wall paintings, in both visible national exchange. with the academy, Zhao says. mural restorers such as Yang Tao to area, according to Zhang Yuanlin. through these generations, our role and near­infrared light, to be “Through the art of Dunhuang, At another level, the academy is unveil the secrets behind the relics. Academy director Zhao says that has not changed, namely to protect, conducted from ground level. we take on the role of cultural diplo­ forging ties abroad through aca­ Hill, who is trained in chemistry Dunhuang now needs to fully pro­ research and expand, and to suc­ The project enabled a closer macy. We can allow more people, demic exchanges and the transfer of and whose organization researches mote its treasures of the past in the cessfully promote our cultural heri­ look at the wall paintings of Cave allow more countries, to understand its relics conservation expertise to the history and conservation of art modern age, most notably through a tage,” he says. 465, and the scientific analysis of Dunhuang art,” Zhao says. other heritage sites such as Cambo­ and architecture, says that the oppor­ major digitization drive to preserve “In ancient times, China had the the painting materials and tech­ “Dunhuang is about East­West dia’s Angkor Wat, areas in countries tunity to get up close to the murals — and archive the murals and relics Silk Road. From the Silk Road, Chi­ niques has helped to date the cultural exchange. When Western­ under the China­proposed Belt and with their traces of gold and other through imagery. na and the West experienced many cave. ers see Dunhuang art, they may not Road Initiative global development minerals that shed light not only on The academy, via crucial collabo­ cultural exchanges. The exchanges “This noninvasive and in situ find it alien or foreign or distant. drive. art production techniques but also rations with foreign art and cultural brought about progress. Through analysis of the large­scale murals They can feel the links with the West The academy’s deputy director, the rich cultural practices and tradi­ institutions stretching back two this mutual interaction, culture is even possible in unreachable from the past.” Zhang Xiantang, whose work focus­ tions of Chinese antiquity — stretch­ decades, have since digitally record­ prospered,” Zhao says. “Looking locations such as the high ceilings In recent years, exhibitions show­ es on Buddhist history, says Dunhu­ es across disciplines and has proved ed the artwork in more than 220 back at this, we can really feel and of the caves,” says Liang. “Cave casing Dunhuang’s relics to Western ang’s relics “illuminate the historical invaluable. caves, says Wu Jian, director of the experience the sort of openness and 465 is very unique in its Tibetan audiences such as those in Califor­ and cultural interactions among the Zhang Yuanlin, chief librarian and academy’s cultural relics digitiza­ exchange. That’s very important.” Buddhist style and not normally nia have been extremely well­re­ world’s civilizations. They were cre­ director of the center for research on tion institute. open to the public. Discussions ceived, with more foreign ated amid some of the most open the Silk Road and Dunhuang, high­ The images have been displayed Contact the writer at on when the cave was construct­ institutions expressing an interest periods in Chinese history”. lights how the cave art had very early at exhibitions and related events in [email protected] ed has been heavily debated.” By using the technology, researchers can study painting techniques, including imaging underdrawings and revealing faded writings, as well as identi­ fying pigments. “The history of the Dunhuang area is very complex and depend­ ing on the cultural influence and trade routes that were open at the time, there would have been dif­ ferent access points for the pig­ ments and materials used. So this Chang Shana’s copy of Conversion of the 500 Robbers, a fresco dating back to the Western Wei Dynasty (535­556). PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY study will give us some clues about the periods in which they were painted,” Liang says. Other British institutions have also partnered with the Dunhu­ Caves: At the center of a designer’s life ang Academy in preserving the caves. The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts has From page 18 impressed by Chang Shana’s talent, of Peace drawn by Pablo Picasso (the the artistic spirit from her father been assisting conservation and offered her an assistant’s job at emblem of the First International and other researchers and artists,” work in China to revive the trea­ Chang Shana knew that her Tsinghua University’s architecture Peace Conference in Paris in 1949). says Wu Weishan, director of the sures of the Mogao Caves. father hoped she would revive Dun­ department where Lin and her hus­ She suggested I add doves between National Art Museum of China. This included an exchange pro­ huang’s legacy in a modern way to band, Liang Sicheng, then taught.
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