Atoms & Bits of Cultural Heritage Te Use of Dunhuang Collections in Knowledge Making, Nation Building, Museum Diplomacy, Cultural Tourism and Digital Economy SHUCHEN WANG SHUCHEN WANG has a DEA in museology of natural and human sciences from the MNHN, a MA in exhibition interpretation from the NTCA, and a BA in literature from the NTU. Her work focuses on culture politics and the arts market. Born in Taipei and having worked in New York, Paris and Beijing, her favourite place to do research is Helsinki, in her study room, with her pretty daughter and cat vying for attention. (ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8401-225X) Atoms & Bits of Cultural Heritage Te Use of Dunhuang Collections in Knowledge Making, Nation Building, Museum Diplomacy, Cultural Tourism and Digital Economy Atoms & Bits of Cultural Heritage Te Use of Dunhuang Collections in Knowledge Making, Nation Building, Museum Diplomacy, Cultural Tourism and Digital Economy S HUCHEN WANG Department of Art School of Arts, Design and Architecture Aalto University SUPERVISING PROFESSOR Kevin Tavin THESIS ADVISORS David Gill PRELIMINARY EXAMINERS Ian Bexter Kostas Arvanitis OPPONENT Kostas Arvanitis Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 150/2019 Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Department of Art Aalto ARTS Books Espoo, Finland shop.aalto.f © Shuchen Wang Graphic design: Päivi Kekäläinen Cover photos: The Trustees of the British Museum Materials: Scandia Natural 115 / 300 g ISBN 978-952-60-8684-2 (printed) ISBN 978-952-60-8685-9 (pdf) ISSN 1799-4934 ISSN 1799-4942 (electronic) Unigrafa Helsinki 2019 For my dear mother Lanshian ( ), my father Shoujun ( ), 蘭香 守均 my brother Vincent, my beloved daughter Lumi and her grandmother in Berlin, Ruth. Contents Figures 12 Note on Transliteration 14 Acknowledgements 16 1 Introduction 18 1.1 Entering the Inquiry 20 1.1.1 About the Subject Matter 21 1.1.2 Research Questions as Roadmap 23 1.2 Literature Review and Conceptual Framework 26 1.2.1 Dunhuang From Objects to Collections: Religion, Science, Politics 27 1.2.1.1 The Heritage Notion and Practice 28 1.2.1.2 Institutionalising Antiquarianism into Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History 30 1.2.1.3 Collection of Orientalism and (De-/Reverse-)Coloniality 32 1.2.2 Cultural Heritage and International Relations 35 1.2.2.1 Cultural Exchange (Diplomacy) 35 1.2.2.2 International Heritage Politics 37 1.2.2.3 Museum Diplomacy: Political Economy of Cultural Heritage 38 1.2.3 The Neoliberal Turn of Cultural Heritage 40 1.3 Methodology and the Design of Research 42 1.3.1 On Collections 43 1.3.1.1 The Making of the Dunhuang Collections 43 1.3.1.2 The Political Uses of Dunhuang Objects 44 1.3.2 On Exhibitions 45 1.3.2.1 Dunhuang Exhibitions and World Order 45 1.3.3 On Digitisation 46 1.3.3.1 The Economic Lives of Dunhuang Heritage 46 1.3.3.2 Dunhuang in a Digital Arena 46 1.4 Tesis Structure 48 1.4.1 Part I: Object, Knowledge, Politics 48 1.4.2 Part II: Displaying Power 49 1.4.3 Part III: Atoms and Bits of Dunhuang Economics 51 PART I. OBJECT, KNOWLEDGE, POLITICS 53 2 Te Making of the Dunhuang Collections 54 2.1 Te Many Discoveries of Dunhuang Objects 55 2.1.1 Miraculous Unearthing of Sacred Relics in 1900 55 2.1.2 Scientifc Finds of Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History 60 2.1.2.1 Western Expeditions of Orientalists, 1900-1930 60 2.1.2.2 Pilgrimage of Japanese Buddhist in 1902, 1908 and 1910 71 2.1.2.3 Military Espionage of Finland, the Grand Duchy of Russia, in 1906 73 2.1.3 Nationalistic Survey on Buddhist Art in 1940 75 2.2 Historic Background for the International Race of Antiquities 77 2.2.1 The Geopolitics of East Asia along the Silk Roads 77 2.2.2 Important Expeditions in the Chinese Turkestan 79 2.2.3 A Knowledge Network to Build Dunhuang Heritage 84 2.2.3.1 A Constellation of Great Minds 86 2.2.3.2 Imperialistic Powers behind the Scientifc Expeditions 87 2.2.3.3 The Scientifc Culture of ‘Scholarship Sans Frontières’ 89 2.3 Te (de-/re-) Contextualisation of Dunhuang Objects 95 2.3.1 Physical Displacements of Archaeological Finds 95 2.3.2 Question of Context for Cultural Objects 98 Sub-Conclusion: Te Birth Histories of the Dunhuang Collections 100 3 Te Political Use of the Past 101 3.1 Intercultural Contact Zone of Dunhuang Collections 102 3.1.1 China: Using Its Own Cultural Heritage for Nation-Building 102 3.1.2 The West: Taking Cultural Objects from the ‘Others’ for Empire-Making 106 3.2 (Dis)similar Traditions of Heritage Enterprise in the West and China 110 3.2.1 The West: Scientifc Culture, Antiquarianism and Archaeology 111 3.2.2 China: Confucianist Civil Service, Imperial Examination and Art Connoisseurship 115 3.2.2.1 Qing Literati’s Study (Cabinet of Antiquarianism) 115 3.2.2.2 A Han-Centric Cultural System and Heritage Making 120 3.2.2.3 The ‘Heart-Broken’ Chinese Dunhuangologists of the Republic 122 3.3 Whose Culture? Whose Heritage? 125 3.3.1 The 21st Century China Wants Its Lost Heritage Objects Back 125 3.3.1.1 Repatriation to the Countries of Origin in Europe 129 3.3.1.2 Universal Museums to the Rest of the World 134 3.3.2 Reality Talks: Guns and Wealth 137 3.3.2.1 Returning Colonial Collections to China after WWI and WWII 137 3.3.2.2 Buying Back Important Collections Lost during the Century of Humiliation 140 3.3.3 Debates in Law, Ethics and Morality 141 Sub-Conclusion: Te Political Lives of Dunhuang Collections 147 PART II. DISPLAYING POWER 149 4 Exhibiting Objects, Shaping Politics 150 4.1 Linking Subjectivity, Material Culture and Power 151 4.1.1 Phenomenology of Architecture: Temple, Museion, Agora 151 4.1.2 Visual Epistemology of Cultural Heritage 154 4.1.2.1 Exhibiting Power: the Politics of Gaze 154 4.1.2.2 The Grammar of Exhibition Communication, Mediation or Education 155 4.2 Dunhuang Collections in (Dis)play 158 4.2.1 Ways of Seeing the ‘Others’: Decolonizing Archaeology into (Fine) Art 158 4.2.1.1 From Ethnographic Exhibition to Art Exhibition 159 4.2.1.2 A Phenomenological Description on the White-Cube of ‘Salon Pelliot’ 166 4.2.2 Ways of Seeing ‘Self’: from National Wound to Soft Power 168 4.3 Te Cultural, Heritage and Museum Diplomacy of Dunhuang 174 4.3.1 The ROC’s National Treasures to Solicit Western Supports 1930s-1960s 175 4.3.1.1 International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London 1935 175 4.3.1.2 Exhibition of Chinese Art in Moscow and Leningrad 1940-1942 177 4.3.1.3 Tour Exhibition of Chinese Art Treasures in the USA 1961 179 4.3.2 The PROC’s Soft Diplomacy during the Cold War 181 4.3.2.1 International Dunhuang Exhibition in the 1950s 181 4.3.2.2 Alternative ‘National Treasure’ for Public Diplomacy 183 4.3.3 Post-confict Heritage Diplomacy between the West and China 185 4.3.3.1 Silk Roads to Approach China and Dunhuang to Connect Taiwan 185 4.3.3.2 Taiwan’s ‘National Treasures’ Travelled to the West Again 187 4.3.3.3 Universal Museums’ Diplomacy with China and Business with Taiwan 189 4.3.3.4 Dunhuang on the Belt and Road Initiative of Sharp Power 191 Sub-Conclusion: Te Diplomatic Lives of Dunhuang Collections 195 PART III. ATOMS AND BITS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE 197 5 Economics of Dunhuang Heritage 198 5.1 Te Neoliberal Turn of Cultural Heritage 199 5.1.1 International Cultural Politics and Heritage Mechanism of UNESCO 199 5.1.2 Fragmented Studies of Heritage Economics 203 5.2 Te Political Economy of Dunhuang 207 5.2.1 Value Creation of Dunhuang Objects 207 5.2.2 The Myth of Cultural Capital 210 5.3 Market and Industry of Dunhuang Heritage 213 5.3.1 Museum Economy 214 5.3.1.1 From State Controlled to Non-State Controlled Museum Economics 214 5.3.1.2 Dunhuang Heritage under ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ 217 5.3.2 Destination Dunhuang 220 5.3.2.1 The Magic Wand: Cultural Tourism of World Heritage 220 5.3.2.2 Environmental Concern and Heritage Development 223 Sub-Conclusion: Te Economic Lives of Dunhuang Collections 226 6 Dunhuang in the Digital Land 227 6.1 Towards a Digital Dunhuangology 228 6.1.1 Cataloguing and Digitisation 228 6.1.1.1 Cataloguing the Dunhuang Collections 228 6.1.1.2 Dunhuang Collections Online 232 6.1.2 Systems of Communication in the Milieu of Exhibition 235 6.1.2.1 The Art and Craft of Early Dunhuang Preservation and Exhibition 235 6.1.2.2 Digital Media Technology for Immersive Virtual Reality of Dunhuang 237 6.1.3 Museum Without Walls in the Mobile and Web Environment 239 6.1.3.1 Virtual Museums for Dunhuang Objects 239 6.1.3.2 Mobile Interpretation of Dunhuang Collections 241 6.2 Cultural Commons and Digital Repatriation (or Digital Plundering?) 243 6.2.1 Who Owns Digital Cultural Heritage? 244 6.2.1.1 The IPR (Copyright) of Digitized Antiquities 244 6.2.1.2 Conficting Nature of Museum and the Web in the Commons 248 6.2.2 Digital Divides of Cultural Heritage 251 6.2.3 Digital and Creative Economy of Heritage Enterprise 254 6.3 Futuristic Perspectives: (De-)Linking the Past to the Future 259 6.3.1 Inclusive Heritage 259 6.3.1.1 The Digital Trends for Museums 259 6.3.1.2 Musée Imaginaire: A Participatory Virtual Universal Museum of Dunhuang 263 6.3.2 The Atoms and Bits of Cultural Heritage 266 6.3.2.1 The Aura of Authentic Object 266 6.3.2.2 The Dunhuang Simulacrum in Black-Box 268 6.3.2.3 Post-Humanism in Digital Humanities 269 Sub-Conclusion: Te Digital Lives of Dunhuang Collections 272 7 Discussion and Conclusion 273 7.1 About the Journey 274 7.2 On the Findings 276 7.3 Epilogue and Future Directions 278 7.3.1 Transculturation through Cultural Heritage 278 7.3.1.1 China: The Present Oriental in Orientalism 279 7.3.1.2 Sinology, Chinese Art and Buddhism in the West 280 7.3.2 Utopia and Dystopia of World Heritage 282 7.3.2.1 Soft Power of Culture for New World Order 282 7.3.2.2 Museum Praxis and Heritage Enterprise vs.