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. the patterns of the caissons, and that “In Dunhuang, Chang Shuhong gram where five artists from the reach out to more people. The architect couple believed that I better use doves in the Dunhuang discovered the nobility of traditional school were sent to Dunhuang to Chang Shuhong is remembered as people should find novel ways to murals. art, while Chang Shana discovered share their expertise in the use of the “patron saint of Dunhuang”, integrate the essence of classical “I remembered Galina Ulanova, a the dynamics of these decorative pigments with the research team while Chang Shana is acknowledged Chinese art into industrial designs. great Russian ballerina, after receiv motifs that had survived hundreds there, with the aim of restoring as the person most committed to “Lin was sick and often bedrid ing the scarf, saying, ‘It’s the best gift of years. She has guided generations and replicating the murals. deciphering the mysticism of Dun den, and we assistant teachers nor presented (to me) by New China.’” of designers to pass on the spirit of In August, the school partici huang. As she studied and catego mally joined her at home at 10 am to Chang Shana was one of the earli Dunhuang.” pated in the From London to rized the various types of imagery begin the research work,” Chang est domestic scholars to carry out Chang Shana says the pictorial Dunhuang: Traditional Skills on that appear in Dunhuang murals, Shana recalls. research and lecture about the elements of Dunhuang are so the Silk Road 2019 International such as flowers, jewelry and the hand In 1952, Chang Shana was commis vocabulary of the patterns seen at diverse that they can be used in mod Forum held in Dunhuang. gestures of deities, she endeavored to sioned to design gifts to be presented Dunhuang. She has compiled sever ern objects. The team from the school was use the elements in her designs. to international guests attending the al catalogs about the outfits and dec “It’s fine that we learn from other given unprecedented access to the A critical figure in her career as a Asia and Pacific Rim Peace Confer orative motifs in the murals. She has countries to develop our creative caves, which allowed researchers designer was Lin Huiyin (190455), ence in Beijing. Following Lin’s gui A cloisonne enameled held exhibitions of her mural copies industries,” she says. “But ultimately, to climb scaffolding to get a closer an architect and scholar. After see dance, she designed a silk scarf plate designed by and muralinspired designs. we should go back to our origins. We look at the details of the brush ing an exhibition of mural copies by featuring the patterns on the caisson Chang Shana features “Chang Shana endured many need to allow the core of our cultural work as well as the effects of time, Chang Shuhong and Chang Shana ceilings of Dunhuang’s grottoes. Dunhuang’s mural hardships during her residence in traditions to thrive, and Dunhuang chemical changes and general in Beijing in the early 1950s, Lin was “Lin asked if I had seen the Dove patterns. Dunhuang. She learned to keep up is one such important source.” deterioration.