Part 1-Border of the ancient kingdom of Shu
Part 4- South of the rainbow
Part 5- Road to the WestSource: CCTV
Monday, 29 October 2012
Revisiting the Southern Silk Road
Part 1-Border of the ancient kingdom of Shu
Part 4- South of the rainbow
Part 5- Road to the WestSource: CCTV
Han dynasty silk clothing unearthed
Source: CCTV 21.9.2012
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Now, let’s join a team of archaeologists in Shandong Province for their recently unearthed discovery. Archaeologists in Heze city found access to a secret mezzanine structure inside a Han Dynasty tomb, unveiling a silk robe.
The robe was sealed in a box made of bamboo, hidden in a concealed area in the tomb. Experts say it’s the first time ever that they have found a piece of clothing stored this way as a funeral item. Judging from the jade-ware decoration, they believe it’s a personal belonging of the tomb’s owner, the mother of West Han Dynasty’s Emperor Ai. The discovery has lent much support to the historical studies on the Han Dynasty.
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| silk robe unearthed |
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| a bronze mirror and silk robe |
Editor:Qin Xue |Source: CCTV.com
Silk artifacts display in Madrid attract local residents
28.10.2012
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Chinese silk products first arrived in Spain a thousand years ago, when the silk road linking China’s Xi’an to Western countries was thriving. But today, the silk art exhibition being held in Madrid is enabling local resident there to take a closer look at silk’s past and present.
Fifty-four sets of silk artifacts, on loan from Hangzhou’s Silk Museum range in eras from China’s Han dynasty some two thousand years ago, to the Qing dynasty, some hundreds of years ago, are on display at Spain’s National Decor Art Museum in Madrid.
Many of them are being displayed outside of China for the first time. A horse rider’s boot made of silk from the Liao dynasty in 10th century AD, and a silk product created for export during the Qing dynasty are popular items, that have aroused the interest of local residents.
The exhibition with Chinese silk as the center piece will last for two months.
Source: CCTV.com
La Ruta de la Seda pasa unos días por Madrid
A Benjamín de Tudela, un aventurero medieval navarro, podemos considerarlo como el pionero europeo en tierras de Asia oriental. Viajó por China entre 1160 y 1173, incluso antes que Marco Polo, que lo hizo a finales del siglo XIII. Este hecho, que trasciende a la simple anécdota, es el comienzo de una serie de viajes en los que el comercio y la aventura se mezclaban a partes iguales.
Occidente conoció China a través de la Ruta de la Seda y fue este español quien tuvo el honor de abrirla para España.
En realidad no hubo una sola Ruta de la Seda, sino varias, pero todas en esencia eran itinerarios por tierra o mar que empezaban en China (Chang'an, hoy Xian) y acababan en el Imperio Romano. Caravanas de camellos, caballos o mulas traían una gran cantidad de productos más o menos exóticos, desde la seda a la porcelana, pero sobre todo sirvieron para que Oriente y Occidente empezaran a conocerse, tarea que hoy todavía no ha acabado.
De entre todas las piezas que nos llegaban por esa vía la seda era la más exótica, la más preciada, la más enigmática. Ya los romanos se maravillaron con ese tejido misterioso, cuyo origen desconocían. Entonces (s. II a.C.) se creía que procedía de la savia de un árbol, o de sus hojas.
Y los chinos abonaron las teorías fantásticas con una serie de leyendas. Una dice que hacia el s. XVII a.C. Cuando la emperatriz Lei Zu, esposa del legendario emperador Huang Di, tomaba el té, un capullo de gusano cayó accidentalmente en su taza. Al sacarlo, aparecieron los hilos que, convenientemente tejidos, dieron una tela de gran belleza y resistencia. Desde entonces la fabricación de la seda fue uno de los secretos mejor guardados de China. Hasta que otra princesa (la Historia la escribían los aristócratas) sacó del imperio y llevó a Khotan (Turquestán Oriental) algunos huevos de gusanos escondidos en su peinado.
Sea como fuere, lo cierto es que se han encontrado en China restos de telas de seda con 4.700 años de antigüedad, y que a Occidente, concretamente a la corte del emperador bizantino Justiniano, unos monjes nestorianos llevaron huevos de gusanos de seda ocultos en sus cayados de bambú.
Dentro de las actividades celebradas con motivo del Año Europeo del Diálogo Intercultural UE-China, en el Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas de Madrid se ha inaugurado la exposición “Ruta de la Seda. Antiguos tejidos chinos”. Extraordinarias piezas procedentes del Museo Nacional de la Seda China de Hangzhou (institución que custodia los fondos museográficos más significativos de esta milenaria producción), 54 objetos de seda que van desde la dinastía Han (386-534) a la dinastía Qing (1644-1911). Objetos únicos nunca antes vistos en España, como tejidos planos, túnicas, calzados, tocados... muchos de ellos recuperados de yacimientos funerarios.
Por unos días, la Ruta de la Seda pasa por Madrid. Una forma interesante y barata de viajar.
En realidad no hubo una sola Ruta de la Seda, sino varias, pero todas en esencia eran itinerarios por tierra o mar que empezaban en China (Chang'an, hoy Xian) y acababan en el Imperio Romano. Caravanas de camellos, caballos o mulas traían una gran cantidad de productos más o menos exóticos, desde la seda a la porcelana, pero sobre todo sirvieron para que Oriente y Occidente empezaran a conocerse, tarea que hoy todavía no ha acabado.
De entre todas las piezas que nos llegaban por esa vía la seda era la más exótica, la más preciada, la más enigmática. Ya los romanos se maravillaron con ese tejido misterioso, cuyo origen desconocían. Entonces (s. II a.C.) se creía que procedía de la savia de un árbol, o de sus hojas.
Y los chinos abonaron las teorías fantásticas con una serie de leyendas. Una dice que hacia el s. XVII a.C. Cuando la emperatriz Lei Zu, esposa del legendario emperador Huang Di, tomaba el té, un capullo de gusano cayó accidentalmente en su taza. Al sacarlo, aparecieron los hilos que, convenientemente tejidos, dieron una tela de gran belleza y resistencia. Desde entonces la fabricación de la seda fue uno de los secretos mejor guardados de China. Hasta que otra princesa (la Historia la escribían los aristócratas) sacó del imperio y llevó a Khotan (Turquestán Oriental) algunos huevos de gusanos escondidos en su peinado.
Sea como fuere, lo cierto es que se han encontrado en China restos de telas de seda con 4.700 años de antigüedad, y que a Occidente, concretamente a la corte del emperador bizantino Justiniano, unos monjes nestorianos llevaron huevos de gusanos de seda ocultos en sus cayados de bambú.
Dentro de las actividades celebradas con motivo del Año Europeo del Diálogo Intercultural UE-China, en el Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas de Madrid se ha inaugurado la exposición “Ruta de la Seda. Antiguos tejidos chinos”. Extraordinarias piezas procedentes del Museo Nacional de la Seda China de Hangzhou (institución que custodia los fondos museográficos más significativos de esta milenaria producción), 54 objetos de seda que van desde la dinastía Han (386-534) a la dinastía Qing (1644-1911). Objetos únicos nunca antes vistos en España, como tejidos planos, túnicas, calzados, tocados... muchos de ellos recuperados de yacimientos funerarios.
Por unos días, la Ruta de la Seda pasa por Madrid. Una forma interesante y barata de viajar.
..............................
Exposición “Ruta de la Seda. Antiguos tejidos chinos”. Del 26 de octubre de 2012 al 23 de diciembre de 2012. Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, calle Montalbán 12, Madrid. Entrada gratuita.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Nazi buddha from space might be fake
Statue said to have been looted by Nazis may well be from space but expert says it was probably made in the 20th century
The statue may well be made from a meteorite but experts say it is a 20th-century fake. Photograph: Elmar Buchner/PA
The narrative was, perhaps, just a little too good to be true. When news broke last month of the so-called "buddha from space" – a swastika-emblazoned statue, apparently 1,000 years old, that had been carved out of a meteorite and looted by a Nazi ethnologist – the world was enthralled.
There were only, it turns out, a few slight catches. According to two experts who have since given their verdict on the mysterious Iron Man, it may have been a European counterfeit; it was probably made at some point in the 20th century; and it may well not have been looted by the Nazis. The bit about the meteorite, though, still stands.
According to Buddhism specialist Achim Bayer, the statue bears 13 features which are easily identifiable by experts as "pseudo-Tibetan" – and which sit uneasily with speculation by researchers last month that it was probably made in the 11th-century pre-Buddhist Bon culture.
These include the 24cm-high statue's shoes, trousers and hand positioning, as well as the fact that the buddha has a full beard rather than the "rather thin" facial hair usually given to a deity in Tibetan and Mongolian art. In his report, Bayer says he believes the statue to be a European counterfeit made sometime between 1910 and 1970.
"I would like to briefly address readers from outside our field and clarify that there is not any controversy among experts about the authenticity of the statue, the 'lama wearing trousers', as I would like to call it," writes the University of Seoul academic. "Up to date, no acknowledged authority in the field of Tibetan or Mongolian art has publicly deemed the statue authentic and the issue has to be considered uncontroversial."
The statue's Asian provenance is not the only aspect of the story to have been questioned. In September, the man leading a team of German and Austrian researchers, University of Stuttgart geologist Elmar Buchner, said its previous owner had claimed it had been brought to Europe in the late 1930s by Ernst Schäfer, a Nazi ethnologist who led an SS expedition to Tibet.
But German historian Isrun Engelhardt, who has studied Schäfer's trip to Tibet in depth, has cast doubt on this suggestion, questioning the statue's absence on the long list of items brought back. "There is an extremely precise list of the purchased objects, including date, place and value," she told Spiegel.
Buchner says he had no reason to doubt the account of the previous owner, and stresses that his team was only looking into what the statue was made of – a rare form of iron with a high content of nickel – not where it had come from. While they felt able to say the material most likely came from the Chinga meteorite, which crashed to earth 15,000 years ago, the researchers admitted that "the ethnological and art historical details … as well as the time of sculpturing, currently remain speculative".
Moreover, Buchner's statements about the origins were qualified. He told the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science: "If we are right that it was made in the Bon culture in the 11th century, it is absolutely priceless and absolutely unique worldwide."
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
In search of Kublai Khan's fleet
Digging for what remains of Kublai Khan's fleet. Photo: Photo courtesy of the Bach Dang Battlefield Research Group
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sac-red river,
ran Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea…
So wrote the opium-addicted 18th-century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge after a dream about the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. A grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai's realm stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, covering a fifth of the known world. In 1279, he became the first non-Chinese emperor, establishing the Yuan Dynasty and ruling over China, present-day Mongolia, Korea and other Asian regions. But his ambition to occupy more lands led to one of his worst defeats when he sent his warships to invade Vietnam in 1288. Now, 725 years later, Australian archaeologists are helping excavate the site where the mighty Kublai Khan's invasion fleet of 400 was destroyed by the Vietnamese. They had lured the Mongols up the Bach Dang River just as the tide was starting to ebb. The Vietnam army had driven hundreds of sharpened wooden stakes into the bed of the river that were invisible at high tide; when the tide turned and began to ebb, the entire fleet was holed and sunk, captured or burnt by fire arrows. "The Bach Dang battlefield research project came about after Jun Kimura, one of my PhD students now at Murdoch University, was asked to go to Vietnam in 2008," says Dr Mark Staniforth, a senior researcher in archaeology at Monash University. "I had been looking for an opportunity to do some research there on the site where Kublai Khan's fleet was defeated and went with him initially to help record a couple of wooden ship's anchors found in the Red River. That gave me the chance to spend a few days in Bach Dang looking at the site and where we discovered the Vietnamese had been working since the 1950s. They were doing a good job but suffered a few problems — mainly not having much in the way of equipment or money." Since that first visit four years ago, Dr Staniforth, Dr Kimura and other international marine archaeologists have been assisting the Vietnamese, offering their expertise as well as funding raised from Monash, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the National Geographic Society and other sources. He says his aim all along had been to help the Vietnamese start preserving their underwater cultural heritage because so little had been done. "Their archaeologists do really good work on the land but underwater they have only used treasure hunters to dive on wrecks collecting and selling the most valuable items, mostly Chinese ceramics, leaving the rest to be held by local museums while in the process destroying the sites," he says. "The government decided 11 years ago this was not a good idea and legislated to stop the plunder. But while they know what not to do with shipwrecks and other marine archaeological sites, they don't know what to do: they don't have the trained people or equipment so they've been struggling." Dr Staniforth was a chief investigator on last April's excavation of the wreck of the Clarence, the earliest and best-preserved example of an Australian-built trading vessel yet located in Victoria. (See Cutting Edge theage.com.au/national/education/wreck-reveals-its-bounty-20120416-1x3az.html). It was one of Australia's largest underwater research projects, with a team of 60 scientists, students and volunteers involved in the month-long study of the Clarence's remains on the site in Port Phillip Bay where it disappeared more than 160 years ago. He says at least 8000 ships have been wrecked around Australia and more than 700 in Victorian waters, but laughs when asked about the likely number in Vietnam. With a 3600-kilometre coastline, in a country next door to China whose ships have been sailing along that coast for more than 3000 years, he says the number of wrecks would be incalculable. "Given the trade with Asian countries that China was involved with over the centuries, Vietnam had to be one of the big players. There is so much evidence early civilisations had to be connected by sea and not by land that the number of shipwrecks would be huge. But no one has gone looking: Vietnam was essentially closed to the outside world until 1992 and even after the war they closed their borders so no one had done much archaeological work until 20 years ago." Having helped locate more of the wooden stakes that sank Kublai Khan's fleet, the international team of archaeologists working on the Bach Dang battle project will next month start offering training programs aimed increasing awareness at local and national levels about the extent of Vietnam's underwater and maritime cultural heritage. "We're there to donate our time and our expertise to train people," Dr Staniforth says. "We've had up to 20 archaeologists involved at various times on the Bach Dang project, although three or four key players go each year. Next month we'll have six and we'll be running one-day and two-day courses at the end of our research for the Vietnamese. As well as an introduction to the basic principles of archaeology, we will also introduce the range of sites covered under the title 'nautical' or 'maritime' archaeology, not just shipwrecks and certainly not all underwater." He says the courses will be run at the Institute of Archaeology building in Hanoi but that the institute has also invited three of the visiting archaeologists to investigate the latest shipwreck to be found: a 14th-century trading vessel located in Quang Ngai and discovered last month by local fishermen who had stolen various objects from the wreck to sell. The ship contains ceramic wares made in China during the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as coins from the 12th and 13th centuries. "We'll have a look at the wreck and offer some recommendations; it's in shallow water just off shore but we don't know what the site is like or the water quality. Seeing the site will tell us a lot and we'll let the Vietnamese know what they are getting themselves into!" Dr Staniforth says. "Excavation projects in Australia cost tens of thousands of dollars — even at the cheap end of town — and to do that in Vietnam won't be a whole lot cheaper." He says the main challenge confronting Vietnamese archaeologists is that with few dive shops, there is little or no equipment to hire and no money to buy it. Shipping the weight of equipment that would be required from Australia would cost more money than the Vietnamese or Australians could afford. "The problems the Vietnamese face are tremendous, which is why we are taking it one step at a time and, until we get a lot more funding or support from somewhere, we'll run these training courses. Archaeology is taught at many universities in Vietnam and at the Institute of Archaeology, but not marine archaeology. After these introductory courses, the institute may be interested in teaching it at a higher level. But how that might be funded is still up for discussion." Five miles meander-ing with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean
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Wikipedia articles related to the Silk Road
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Ancient porcelain on display at Shanghai Museum
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Blue and White Porcelain holds a special place in Chinese history. The technique matured in the 14th century, during Yuan dynasty, so the pieces produced during that era are of rare quality. Unfortunately, though, few such pieces remain. So today an exhibition of just such pieces is a real treat.
Among the 80 pieces on show, a particular stellar example is on loan from Britain’s Percival David Foundation. Inscriptions on its neck indicate that the vase was created in 1352, the 11th year of the Zhizheng reign during Yuan dynasty. That particular period is believed by scholars to have produced ancient times’ best blue and white porcelains.
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| Ancient porcelain on display at Shanghai Museum |
Lu Minghua, Director of Porcelain Dept., Shanghai Museum, said, "This vase is significant also because it help experts determine the whereabouts of other wares with similar shapes and quality."
The pictures on this piece tell the ancient story of Gui Guzi coming down the mountain to save his disciple - the later strategist Sun Bin. It fetched 230 million yuan at UK’s Christie’s in 2005. And another item shaped like a Mongolian yurt is one of its kind... there’s really nothing else like it from the yuan dynasty. Their whites come from the porcelain itself, while the blue glaze is typically made from colbalt oxide - which holds its color well even after centuries. That’s the fact that has helped make such pieces so-prized by collectors world-over. And the items on show have been drawn from museums and foundations from all over the earth... The UK, Iran, of course China and others. Luckily, anybody interested in checking out the display will have plenty of time. The exhibition runs till next January.
Source: CCTV.com
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Ancient bronze coins found near old Silk Road
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More than a dozen copper coins are unearthed in Xiji county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, once the northeast part of Silk Road, Oct 10, 2012. The coins were made of bronze, with animal images and hieroglyphic symbols on each side. Each one weighs about 2.4-3.7 grams and is 1.2-1.5 centimeters in diameter, and 0.25 centimeters in thickness. They were found to be handed down from the the Kushan Empire (AD30-375), an ancient central Asia dynasty and later based near Kabul, Afghanistan. The Kushan coin had great historic value along the ancient Silk Road and was generally made in the Greek style and of gold, silver and bronze materials. [Photo/Xinhua]
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An expert looks into an unearthed "Kushan" coin at an ancient coin museum in Xiji county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Oct 10, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]
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‘Maritime Silk Road’ cultural relics exhibition opens in Fuzhou
 Over the Sea - A Joint Exhibition of Cultural Relics from Eight "Maritime Silk Road" Cities opened in Fuzhou on Sept 28. The 150 precious exhibits on display represent the unique cultural traits of eight cities along the “Maritime Silk Road”, Penglai, Yangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Guangzhou and Beihai. The exhibition also represents the charming culture of the “Maritime Silk Road” and its contribution to world civilization. The Research Center of Chinese Marine Silk Road, established in Ningbo in May 2011, initiated the joint exhibition. The exhibition will last three months in Fuzhou free of charge. It will take place in Quanzhou (its third stop) and Zhangzhou in January 2013 and January 2014, respectively. |
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China recovers thousand-year-old Buddha heads from thieves
Police on Monday said they have recovered a pair of priceless 1,400-year-old stone Buddha heads from relics thieves in east China's Shandong Province.
The heads were removed from Buddha statues in a mountain cave in the city of Jinan on Sept. 18. Police arrested two suspects and found the stolen relics in the Shandong home of one of the suspects in October, local officials said.
Police also busted three tomb raiding gangs, arresting 13 people suspected of stealing relics, during the investigation.
China, with a 5,000-year civilization, holds abundant cultural relics. But the government's protection of them has been under increasing public scrutiny in recent years, especially after the Palace Museum in Beijing suffered a string of incidents involving the theft and damage of relics.
Earlier this year, a man was sentenced to 13 years in jail and fined 2,000 U.S. dollars for breaking into the heavily guarded Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City -- the former imperial court -- and stealing nine pieces of art made of gold and jewels in May 2011.
The heads were removed from Buddha statues in a mountain cave in the city of Jinan on Sept. 18. Police arrested two suspects and found the stolen relics in the Shandong home of one of the suspects in October, local officials said.
Police also busted three tomb raiding gangs, arresting 13 people suspected of stealing relics, during the investigation.
Earlier this year, a man was sentenced to 13 years in jail and fined 2,000 U.S. dollars for breaking into the heavily guarded Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City -- the former imperial court -- and stealing nine pieces of art made of gold and jewels in May 2011.
Great Wall documentary starts shooting
CNTV.com 10-19-2012
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Hailed as the eighth wonder of the world, the Great Wall is a symbol of Chinese civilization and a source of National pride. The huge dragon shaped defence work has been shrouded in mystery for so long because it was such an impossible task for Chinese ancestors to build two thousand years ago. And it has witnessed so many wars and events over the course of Chinese history. To shed more light on the Chinese wonder, a documentary about the history and legends of the wall has just begun shooting.
The documentary feature produced by CCTV, called "Great Wall, China’s Story" has started shooting at Shanhaiguan, the east end of the ancient defence work. The production aims at discussing the Great Wall, from both the spacial and historical sphere. With the help of up-to-date video technology, and the latest results in academic research, a more real and thorough account of the Wall is expected to be presented to the audience. The documentary series is planned to have 12 episodes each with 50 minutes. It’s expected to be aired in 2014.
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| the Great Wall |
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| the Great Wall |
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| the Great Wall |
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| Shanhaiguan |
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| Shanhaiguan |
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