Gold and jade found inside 2,000-year-old Chinese coffin

CCTV-America.com    December 21, 2015

Chinese archaeologists on Sunday opened the lid of the external coffin of a 2,000-year-old tomb, which they believe belonged to a nobleman of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD). 

They found a large number of gold and jade items and a piece of fine lacquerware decorated with gold foil in the space between the inner and external coffin.

The external plank is 11 feet (3.4 meters) long and just over 5 feet (1.6 meters) wide. They also discovered a painting of rosefinch on top of the inner coffin.

 

“We are glad to see the interior coffin is well preserved. There are lacquer paintings on its surface,” Xin Lixiang, who is in charge of the project, said.

Researchers believe the tomb belonged to Liu He, grandson of Emperor Wu, who held the title “Haihunhou,” or “Marquis of Haihun.” They hope to find his seal in the interior coffin, which would confirm the occupant’s identity.

The Haihunhou mausoleum near Nanchang city, capital of East China’s Jiangxi province, covers some 430,000 square miles (40,000 square meters) with eight tombs and a chariot burial site and walls that stretch almost 3,000 feet (900 meters).

China Daily

Tomb from Nomadic Tribal Princess found from the Tuyuhun Empire

Tomb of a nomadic tribal princess will help unravel China’s complicated ethnic history

Ancient Origins  by Mark Millar  19 December 2015

Chinese archaeologists have excavated the sixth century tomb of a nomadic tribal princess of the ancient Tuyuhun Kingdom in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. In the tomb they found two skeletons and 166 grave artifacts, including bronze ware, warrior and animal statues and inscriptions.

The political and ethnic scene was very complicated at the time, but nomadic tribes from the West settled in the eastern parts of Qinghai and established the Tuyuhun kingdom or dynasty. The princess’s tomb dates to around 557 to 581 AD. Scholars say the grave and its contents will help them learn about the history of ethnic groups of ancient China.

The archaeologists concluded that the tomb was of the Tuyuhun Huihua princess. News stories out of China do not further identify the princess but say her nomadic tribe was related to the Xianbei of the Qilian Mountains and the upper Yellow River valley. The stories also do not say who the second person in the grave may have been.

When the Xianbei kingdom disintegrated in the third century Khan Tuyuhun led his nomadic people to the pasture lands near Qinghai Lake. In 284 AD the Tuyuhun people subjugated about 100 loosely coordinated tribes of the area referred to as the Qiang people. This is considered the first year of the Tuyuhun Empire. Previously those tribes had not submitted to any outside authority.

The 60 sons of the first emperor, whose name was Murong Tuyuhun, expanded his empire by defeating the Xia and Western Qin kingdoms. The Xianbei then joined with the Tuyuhun. The Xianbei people were the most prominent citizens of the Tuyuhun Empire, and their population was about 3.3 million at the height of the realm’s power.

A statue of a loaded camel in the princess’s tomb may speak to the Tuyuhun’s development of the southern part of the Great Silk Road. (China News photo)

Tuyuhun/Xianbei forces made military forays west, reaching as far as Xinjiang and the eastern borders of Kashmir and Afghanistan. Eventually the empire encompassed most of Tibet, northern Sichuan, eastern Shaanxi and Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia. It reached 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from west to east and 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from south to north.

The Tuyuhun for the first time known unified inner Asia and helped construct and manage the southern part of the Great Silk Road. They promoted trade and cultural exchanges between the west and east and dominated the northwest of China until the Tibetans destroyed their empire after about 350 years.

When the kingdom disintegrated, in 672, the Tuyuhun people split into two groups, one going east of the Qilian Mountains into central China and the rest subjugated by the Tibetan Empire.

The ethnic Xianbei people were then scattered over a large territory from northwest into central and eastern China. Most of them settled near Mount Yin near Ordos. In 946, a Shatuo Turk killed Xianbei leader Bai Chengfu. He was so rich legend says his horses had silver mangers. The Turk, Liu Zhiyuan, used the stolen wealth to establish the Later Han Dynasty, which lasted only three years—China’s shortest-reigning dynasty.

The Tuyuhun Empire is considered separately from China by historians. The Tuyuhun practiced agriculture and also had a system of writing, and, as the grave goods of the princess testify, they had metallurgy.

Featured image: The inside of the princess’s large tomb, which contained 166 funerary items (China News photo)

Coffin lid of ancient Chinese tomb opened

Chinese archaeologists on Sunday opened the lid of the external coffin of a 2,000-year-old tomb, which they believe belong to a marquis of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD).

They found a large number of gold and jade items, a piece of fine lacquerware decorated with gold foil in the space between the inner and external coffin.

The external plank is 3.4 meters long and 1.6 meter wide. They also discovered a painting of rosefinch on top of the inner coffin.

"We are glad to see the interior coffin is well preserved. There are lacquer paintings on its surface," said Xin Lixiang, who is in charge of the project.

Researchers believe the tomb belongs to Liu He, grandson of Emperor Wu, who held the title "Haihunhou," or "Marquis of Haihun." They hope to find his seal in the interior coffin, which would confirm the occupant's identity.

The Haihunhou mausoleum near Nanchang city, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, covers some 40,000 square meters with eight tombs and a chariot burial site and walls that stretch almost 900 meters.

China.org.cn, December 21, 2015

Photo taken on Dec. 20, 2015 shows gilded trunks unearthed from the main coffin in the Haihunhou (Marquis of Haihun) cemetery, east China's Jiangxi Province. The outer lid of the main coffin in the Haihunhou cemetery was opened on Sunday. According to archaeologists working at the site, relics inside the main coffin in the 2,000-year-old tomb of Haihunhou will likely reveal the occupant's identity. The Haihunhou cemetery near Nanchang City, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, is the most complete known Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) cemetery. [Photo/Xinhua]

Owner of the 2,000-yr-old Chinese tomb to be revealed

Xinhua, December 15, 2015

Relics inside the main coffin in the 2,000-year-old tomb of Haihunhou (Marquis of Haihun) will likely reveal the occupant's identity, according to archaeologists working at the site.

The Haihunhou cemetery near Nanchang City, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, is the most complete known Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) cemetery.

It covers some 40,000 square meters with eight tombs and a chariot burial site, with walls that stretch for almost 900 meters.

Researchers are excavating the main tomb, which is thought to belong to Liu He, grandson of Emperor Wu.

Three jade sword ornaments were found, entwined with gold, on the coffin. "The swords may be the last thing to put into the tomb, as a ritual, when they buried the dead," said Xu Changqing, director of Jiangxi cultural relics institute.

Yang Jun, leader of the excavation team, believes that the swords may have been worn by the owner when he paid respects to the emperor.

Archaeologists claim that there are many well-preserved relics inside the main coffin and are considering moving the coffin into the laboratory for further research. The work will be conducted in hypoxic conditions with archaeologists using oxygen equipment, Yang told Xinhua.

The excavation process is estimated to take more than ten days. "We are waiting for instructions from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage," said archaeologist Xin Lixiang.

Since 2011 when excavation began, more than 20,000 artifacts have been unearthed, including a portrait of Confucius, nearly 3,000 wooden tablets and bamboo slips and a large number of bronze, gold and jade items. 

Lifting the anchor of a Song Dynasty ship

The race for Hong Kong's oldest maritime treasure: days remain to retrieve Song dynasty artefact

South China Morning Post by Sarah Karacs     2 November 2015

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Underwater Heritage Group members Bill Jeffery, Tammy Chan, Marco Li, Lydia Ho and Rick Chan. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Plans to recover what is likely to be Hong Kong's oldest maritime artefact were scuttled by bad weather yesterday.

The archaeological diving team will have to wait until early next year to lift the anchor stock which they believe to be a thousand-year-old relic from the Song dynasty.

The plan had been to lift the object - the top part of an anchor - from the Sai Kung seabed and submit it for further study to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

"I am of course a bit annoyed," said Australian archaeologist Bill Jeffery, who is licensed to retrieve the anchor but is only in Hong Kong for a week.

"But the weather plays a crucial role in this work and you just have to accept that the safety of your divers comes first," he said.

Is this what lies on the ocean floor in Hong Kong's waters? A Song dynasty warship. Image courtesy: 'Fighting Ships of the Far East Part I' stephenturbull.com

Four members of the Hong Kong Underwater Heritage Group first discovered the granite object weighing 80kg on a diving mission in June last year while searching for ceramics.

"It's an unnatural shape so it really stood out - it's a significant find," said Jeffery, adding that being long and rectangular though tapered towards the end, the object resembled other Song dynasty anchors he had seen in mainland museums.

Similar anchors were found with the wreck of a vessel called Nanhai No1 in 2007. It was lifted from the mouth of the Pearl River estuary on the maritime silk road.

The ship contained hundreds of porcelain objects from the Song dynasty and is on display in a museum in Yangjiang , Guangdong.

Hong Kong's waters could potentially be home to its own Nanhai No1.

However, the city has yet to launch a marine survey of its waters, despite mounting international interest in shipwrecks off south China.

Guangdong and Hong Kong could potentially have countless sea wrecks, owing to the trade routes bringing ships from Europe and the Middle East.

China is stepping up its efforts to retrieve wrecks, having developed its own programme in the late 1990s to offset the loss of national heritage to foreign treasure hunters.

The Underwater Heritage Group has submitted a proposal to conduct two year-long underwater archeological searches of local waters, and hopes the Song dynasty find might help persuade the SAR's antiquities authority to give maritime archaeology greater prominence.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Bad weather scuttles plan to lift ancient anchor

To understand the dynamics of the Golden Horde, we need to disregard national borders

Should historians serve the nation?

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Mary Favereau in Geschiedenis

If we want to understand the dynamics of the Golden Horde, we need to disregard national borders.

To disregard contemporary borders is the only way to understand the relations that integrated peoples in the past. Until today, the perception of peoples’ history remains complex when it calls into question too often assumed notions of border and nation.

It is essential to remember that borders were not always where we see them today. State frontiers are never inherently natural; they are the manifestations of politics. One of the major commitments of historians is to write the histories of fluid spaces of exchange which only recently have been cut into strictly bordered spaces.

One such history is that of the Golden Horde which succeeded the Mongolian empire founded by Genghis Khan. Originating in the thirteenth century, it lasted for three hundred years. It was multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. As nomadic elites converted to Islam, the Horde became a major hub of the Islamic world. During this flourishing epoch, cities and villages burgeoned on the banks of the Volga, attracting wandering scholars and craftsmen from Anatolia, Central-Asia and Egypt.

“Horde” comes from the Mongol orda, a dual term signifying both the place and the people of the nomadic encampment. Yellow was the colour of imperial power, recalling the gold leaf that covered the throne of the ruler and his magnificent tent. The Horde encompassed the steppes where the nomads managed huge herds of cattle, camels and horses. It was also a very active commercial centre where the sedentary subjects and neighbours came to trade. The scope of the Horde’s influence went far beyond its frontiers. It is thus not by chance that the term permeated Russian, Arabic, Persian and all European languages from the time of Genghis Khan’s conquests.

On maps depicting the medieval era, the Golden Horde stretches from Lake Balkhash to the Black Sea, a region that nowadays has no political consistency as it is currently split between Russia (including Tatarstan and Crimea), Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

None of these modern nation-states can singularly claim the Horde’s territorial legacy without overflowing into the territories of neighboring nations. This fact makes the Horde improbable to fit the history of the Golden Horde with national teleologies, and much less manageable for scholarly circles grounded by modern national borders. This explains why it has been ill-studied for so long or simply erased from school text books.

National historiographies are inclined to distort history, to create and disseminate self-serving clichés. The first task of historians is to debunk such tropes, and to avoid inaccurate terminology such as “the Tatar Yoke”, in order to encourage inquiries into more important questions: how to deal with the notion of a collective history when it crosses the borders of modern nations? What then is the legacy of such an entity as the Golden Horde?

The modern Tatars and other Muslim peoples now living in the Russian Federation consider the Golden Horde a key formative period in their history. Their narratives of origin go back to the time when the Horde’s rulers converted to Islam. Indeed, the islamization of the Eurasian steppes, Crimea and Eastern Europe is one of the Golden Horde’s most important legacies. It meant that diverse communities accepted rules, practices, and social rituals that allowed them to live together. It was a unifying force and a vehicle of social integration.

The Golden Horde is thus constituent of the collective past of the Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, and others, when they were once under the administration of Genghis Khan’s descendants.

The Crimean Tatars are a case in point. During the Soviet Union, they had to fight to exist despite forced migrations and the interdiction of all forms of political expression. When they were allowed to go back to Crimea in 1989, after decades of exile and silence, the new generations discovered a land that was completely different. Cemeteries were emptied and mosques were erased, making it impossible for them to identify the places to which their families had once belonged. They knew their heritage only through the narratives of their parents.

The task of returning a past to those who have lost theirs rests upon the shoulders of archaeologists and historians, unearthing remains and delving through texts, to elucidate and disseminate knowledge of the cultural past of these areas in which various peoples lived. In doing so, religions are phenomena of great significance for historians as they typically transcend borders

The Golden Horde is only one example among others. The Xiongnu, the Khazars, the Mamluks, or the Comanche, deserve the same interest. Universities have a crucial role to play in expanding and furthering fields of research beyond nationalist agendas. They need to facilitate more international exchanges, especially during periods of diplomatic tensions, if only because historical research is a collective undertaking that crosses borders.

Marie Favereau is member of the research project: Nomadic Empires: A World-Historical Perspective (2014-19).

Marie Favereau

Marie Favereau, Research associate at the University of Oxford

Marie Favereau obtained her Ph.D. in History from the University of La Sorbonne-Paris IV and the Università degli Studi di San Marino. She was a member of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (Cairo, 2005-2009) and a Fulbright visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, 2009-2010). In 2011-2014 she held a post-doctoral position at Leiden University. She is currently research associate at the University of Oxford and member of the major research project: Nomadic Empires: A World-Historical Perspective (2014-19).

Marie Favereau’s research investigates the connections between Europe, the Middle East and Asia from the 13th to the 16th centuries. She specializes in the history of the ‘Golden Horde’ – the western part of the Mongol Empire which stretched from the Ural Mountains to the Black Sea. Her last publications reflect her interest in alternative forms of historical writing and in social and political implications of historical discourses.

Selected Publications

• La Horde d’Or. Les héritiers de Gengis Khan. Text: Marie Favereau/ Photos: Jacques Raymond. Editions de la Flandonnière. 2014, 240 p.
• Gengis Khan. Collection: Ils ont fait l’Histoire. With Denis-Pierre Filippi and Manuel Garcia. Paris: Fayard-Glénat. 2014, 56 p.
• “De la mise en scène diplomatique au rituel dynastique : retour sur la nature des liens entre la Pologne-Lituanie et le khanat de Crimée: à propos du livre de Dariusz Kolodziejczyk”, Turcica 44 (2013), 335-347.
• “Pervoe pis’mo khana Berke sultanu Bejbarsu po mamljukskim istochnikam (661/ 1263g.)”, Zolotoordynskaya Civilizaciya 4 (2011), 101-113.
• “Il Khanato dell’Orda d’oro” in Encyclomedia – Il Medioevo”, ed. Umberto Eco, Milano: Motta Editore, 2009, 337-347.
• “1391 : première incursion ennemie au cœur de la Horde d’Or. Guerre et diplomatie chez les khans mongols" in Histoire du monde au XVe siècle, ed. Patrick Boucheron, Paris: Fayard, 2009, 285-290.
• Les conventions diplomatiques dans le monde musulman. L’umma en partage (1258-1517). Annales islamologiques 41., ed. Marie Favereau, Cairo: Ifao, 2008.

Humboldt - Forum in Berlin: This castle gets a real divine dome

Berliner Kurier, 9 August 2015 von Gerhard Lehrke

Berlin -Über Ihnen dreht sich sacht der wolkenlose Sternenhimmel der Wüste. Es ist windstill, eine Pforte lockt Sie in eine Höhle. Männer mit Schwertern treten Ihnen im Dämmerlicht entgegen. Doch ein Buddha lächelt beruhigend. In welche Zeit und wohin hat es Sie verschlagen? Ins Jahr 2020, unter die Kuppel des Humboldt-Forums, in die Welt der „Seidenstraße“.

Der Raum unter der Kuppel des Schlosses - entworfen von den Ausstellungsmachern Ralph Appelbaum Associates / malsyteufel – wird einen der großen Berliner Museumsschätze beherbergen: Wandgemälde und Skulpturen aus Höhlen und Tempeln am Fuß des Himmelsgebirges, am Rand der höllischen Wüste Taklamakan. Sie wurden im ersten Jahrtausend nach Christus geschaffen, entlang eines Arms der „Seidenstraße“, die etwa zwischen dem ersten vorchristlichen Jahrhundert und bis ins 15. Jahrhundert ein viel benutzter Handelsweg zwischen China und dem Mittelmeerraum war.

Buddhistische Mönche lebten hier, brachten ihren Glauben nach China: Er war aus Indien über beschwerliche Handelsrouten über Pamir und Hindukusch nordwärts an die Seidenstraße gelangt, breitete sich anschließend ostwärts aus. Die Indologin Dr. Caren Dreyer vom Museum für Asiatische Kunst: „Die Seidenstraße war wie ein Band der Zivilisation, an dem Klöster und Mönche ein Auskommen fanden.“ Und Machthaber, die an Neuem aus dem Westen interessiert waren.

Diese örtlichen Fürsten bezahlten Künstler, die auf Lehmputz Buddhas, Fürsten, Krieger oder Dämonen malten, aus Sand und Erde Skulpturen formten. Daneben gibt es Werke der christlichen Ostkirche und Kunst einer untergegangenen Offenbarungs-Religion, dem Manichäismus. Besonders häufig wurden die Werke in Höhlen gefunden, die in Felsabhänge geschlagen wurden.

Um das zu erklären, muss man gut 100 Jahre zurückgehen: Nach Entdeckern des 19. Jahrhunderts machten sich Forscher aus verschiedenen Staaten auf den Weg nach „Ost-Turkistan“: Russen, Schweden, Japaner, Briten, Amerikaner. Im ersten Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhundert kamen die Deutschen: Zwischen 1902 und Anfang 1914 unternahmen die Berliner Wissenschaftler Albert Grünwedel und Albert von Le Coq vier Expeditionen – jeder leitete zwei.

Im heutigen Xinjiang, dem abgelegenen Nordwesten Chinas, machten sie sich mit russischer, britischer und chinesischer Unterstützung auf die Suche – bei den ersten drei Expeditionen geschützt durch chinesische Pässe, bewaffnet und unter abenteuerlichen Umständen. Sie heißen Turfan-Expeditionen, weil erstes Ziel die Oase Turfan war.

Mithilfe des aufs Land zurückgekehrten Kapitäns Theodor Bartus als Techniker und einheimischen Helfern erforschten sie Bauten und Höhlen am Rand der Taklamakan: Grünwedel zeichnete und notierte wie besessen. Er ließ Hunderte von großflächigen Fotos anfertigen, ließ Bartus Wandgemälde herausschneiden.

Bei dieser Arbeit wurde er von Le Coq noch übertroffen: Kisten über Kisten schickte der nach Deutschland. Daneben sammelten die Forscher uralte Manuskripte in vielen Schriften und Sprachen, die noch heute in Berlin erforscht und übersetzt werden. Botschaften von untergegangenen Völkern wie den Tocharern, verwirrend, weil indische, persische, sogar hebräische Schriften gefunden wurden, die aber nicht unbedingt die dazugehörige Sprache wiedergeben.

Es war Arbeit unter Gefahr. In Kyzil entging Le Coq bei der dritten Expedition knapp dem Tod: In einer Höhle fiel Putz herab, und dann „schwang sich plötzlich ein ungeheuerer Steinblock vollkommen aus der Wand heraus und stellte sich wuchtig unmittelbar vor die Spitze meines rechten Fußes.“

Aber Le Coq war hart im Nehmen: „Die Verpflegung war außerordentlich einfach, es gab Reis mit Hammelfett oder Hammelfett mit Reis.“ Bei irrer Hitze von 55 Grad ist eine Diät so wenig erfreulich wie die Kakerlaken, die er beim Aufwachen auf der Nase vorfand.

Sehr gütig fand sich Le Coq, weil er „nur einmal“ einen „Eingeborenen“ auspeitschte: Der Mann, sein Quartiergeber, hatte von Leuten Eintritt genommen, die bei den deutschen „Doktoren“ Hilfe suchten, weil sie sie für Ärzte hielten. Le Coq teilte dann tatsächlich Medizin aus. 

Die vierte Expedition war ein teilweiser Misserfolg: Die Chinesen, die sich zuvor nicht für die fremden Kulturen an der Seidenstraße interessiert hatten, wollten nach der Revolution 1911 nicht mehr, dass Kulturgüter ihr Land verlassen. Le Coq und Bartus, ohne Visum eingereist, wurden mit Schikanen und dann Druck zur Umkehr genötigt. 

Mit Genehmigung des Gouverneurs von Kaschgar kamen sie allerdings bis Kutscha „und nahmen von dort mit, was sie bekommen konnten“, sagt Caren Dreyer, „denn Le Coq fürchtete, dass diese wissenschaftlichen Schätze sonst dem Untergang geweiht seien.“ Die Zeiten waren unsicher, und Einwohner fürchteten sich oft vor den Ruinen und Kunstobjekten, was gegen ihre Erhaltung sprach.

Im Museum werden die Werke jetzt auf den Umzug ins Humboldt-Forum vorbereitet: Restauratoren setzen Wandbilder zusammen, füllen Risse mit Lehm, decken Farbe darüber. Gerade sind vier Männer aus der „Höhle der 16 Schwertträger“ dran, die im Humboldt-Forum nachgebaut wird. Chefrestaurator Toralf Gabsch: „Wenn man die Bilder aus einiger Distanz betrachtet, sollen sie eine Einheit bilden, aber die Restaurierung erkennen, wenn man herantritt.“

Für diese Technik interessiert sich auch China. Seit 2011, als ein Vertrag zwischen dem Museum und der Kucha Forschungsakademie geschlossen wurde, hat sich ein reger Austausch entwickelt. Die Berliner sehen diese Kooperation mit chinesischen Forschern als sehr wichtig an. Kuratorin Dr. Lilla Russell-Smith, im Museum für die Seidenstraßenfunde verantwortlich: „Diese Menschen haben aus Sand und Erde wunderbare Sachen gemacht.“ 

Wegen der Empfindlichkeit ist sie zwar besorgt vor dem Umzug nach Mitte – und dennoch euphorisch: „Es wird ein Ort der Begegnung mit den Kulturen Zentralasiens und ihren Menschen: Wir werden 50 Statuen-Köpfe verschiedener Völkerschaften präsentieren, die Grünwedel und Le Coq im Schutt fanden: Im Humboldt-Forum werden sie den Besuchern ins Auge sehen.“

Exhibitions incl Silk Road in Berlin Dahlem Museum will close on 11th Jan 2016 due to move to Humboldt Forum

Der Tagesspiegel  1 December 2015

by Rüdiger Schaper

Abschied auf Raten: Die Sammlungen von zwei der drei Staatlichen Museen in Dahlem müssen bis 2018 im Humboldt-Forum sein. Im Januar beginnt der große Umzug. 

Bild vergrößern

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Blick auf die drei Museen in Dahlem. - FOTO: SMB / ACHIM KLEUKER

Die Boote sind das Schwierigste. An Ort und Stelle in Dahlem müssen sie zerlegt, gelagert, untersucht und restauriert werden, eine langwierige und komplizierte Prozedur. 2018 müssen sie im Humboldt-Forum sein, dann können dort die Mauern geschlossen werden. Die Seefahrerei passt durch keine Tür, kein Tor.
Und so schließt die Südsee im Ethnologischen Museum am Abend des 10. Januar 2016. Dahlem als Ort der Weltschau und globalen Erfahrung nimmt Abschied auf Raten. Die Zukunft liegt in Mitte, im Neubau des Stadtschlosses. Dessen Innenleben wird als Humboldt- Forum zum außereuropäischen Gegenstück der Museumsinsel. Geplante Eröffnung: September 2019.

Für die chinesische Kizil-Höhle müssen Wände aufgebrochen werden

Das sind im Maßstab eines Großmuseums, das nach Jahrzehnten umgesiedelt und neu organisiert wird, sehr kurze Zeitspannen. Und wenn die Traumschiffe von den pazifischen Inseln Umzugsprobleme schaffen, dann gilt das ebenso für die chinesische Kizil-Höhle mit ihren reichlich tausend Jahre alten Wandmalereien im Museum für Asiatische Kunst. Um das mächtige Objekt auf den Weg ins Humboldt-Forum zu bringen, werden in Dahlem Innen- und Außenwände aufgebrochen. Auch hier ist der 10. Januar der Stichtag. Im Museum für Asiatische Kunst wird an diesem Tag das Erdgeschoss geschlossen, also auch die indische Abteilung. Michael Eissenhauer, der Generaldirektor der Staatlichen Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, drückt es so aus: „Die Umzugsvorbereitungen laufen schon längst. Aber jetzt wird es für das Publikum sichtbar.“
Auch in der Mesoamerika-Halle: Der vordere Teil mit den hohen Stelen aus Guatemala bleibt 2016 noch offen für Besucher, im hinteren Drittel beginnen auch für diesen Teil der Welt, der Alexander von Humboldt besonders am Herzen lag, die Reisevorbereitungen. Sichten, sortieren, reinigen, packen. Insgesamt 17 500 Stücke in Dahlem. Ein jedes wird von den Kuratoren, Restauratoren und Depotverwaltern in die Hand genommen. Und später im Humboldt-Forum wieder ausgepackt und vorbereitet für die neue Präsentation. Dafür wird viel Geld gebraucht, etliche Arbeitsplätze für Spezialisten werden geschaffen. Man rechnet in den kommenden vier Jahren mit 32 Millionen Euro umzugsbedingte Kosten.

Archaeologists unearth 1,000-year-old sphinx statue in ancient Chinese tomb

- Relic was discovered in Ningxia, north China, along the ancient Silk Road

• - This popular route was used for trading between the East and the West
• - Sphinx had features considered rare for Chinese tombs during that period
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Georgia Newsday  By Chloe Lyme 

16 December 2015

Excavators in Ningxia, northwest China, have unearthed what they believe to be a Chinese sphinx in a tomb that dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD).

The burial chamber is located along the ancient Silk Road, thought to be established during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). It's a network of routes that run through a large portion of Asia, connecting western and eastern cultures for trading.

A total 29 tombs have been excavated in the area so far this year to make way for a local water plant, reports The People's Daily Online.

This tiny delicate statue of a Chinese sphinx was discovered in China by Archaeologists in Ningxia

Historians believe the original half-human, half-lion sphinx was built by the Egyptians around 5,000 years ago

The tomb with the Sphinx reportedly belonged to Chinese scholar Liu Jun and his wife. 

More than 150 funeral items were found in the different burial chambers along with the sphinx, including pottery and other items made out of bronze, iron and jade stone.

There were also nine carvings found made of white marble, which is hard to find in this part of China, suggesting the statues had come from elsewhere. 

Speaking to reporters, Fan Jun, head of the excavation team working on the project said: 

'The style of the carvings had features from the west and are considered rare for ancient Chinese tombs during that period, the white marble material was also rarely seen in north China.' 

A rare well-preserved marble sphinx carving has been unearthed dating back more than 1,000 years

The well-preserved marble sphinx which is delicately carved is 14 inches tall with a base that's eight inches long and five inches wide.

According to the report, Historians believe the original half-human, half-lion sphinx was built by the Egyptians around 5,000 years ago.

The rare Chinese Sphinx that's more than 1,000-years-old was excavated in November but widely reported in Chinese media today because of its rarity and size.

Scientists hope to get a better understanding of how objects were transported along the Silk Road from the recent excavations in Ningxia. 

The sphinx was excavated from a tomb in Ningxia, north China, along the route of the ancient Silk Road

New Evidence on Cultural Exchange between the Roman and Indic Worlds

From the site of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Osmund Bopearachchi, Director of Research, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, delivers the Annual Lecture on South and Southeast Asian Art.

His lecture, "New Evidence on Cultural Exchange between the Roman and Indic Worlds: The Discovery of the Second-Century BCE shipwreck at Godavaya, Sri Lanka," focuses on a recently found shipwreck that has revolutionized the current understanding of maritime trade history and the circulation of luxury goods in South Asia, particularly between India and Sri Lanka.

Christopher Lightfoot, Curator, Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, delivers a response to the lecture.

Recorded March 15, 2013

Dance at Dunhuang: Part One and Two

Dance at Dunhuang: Part One

By Joseph Houseal

Buddhistdoor Global | 13 November 2015 

The Mogao Caves, on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Photo by Neville Agnew. Image courtesy of UNESCO World Heritage

Over the course of several days in 2009, I had the great fortune to visit the Buddhist cave temples surrounding the oasis town of Dunhuang in northwest China with Robert Y. C. Ho and a small group of conservators. Dunhuang was a caravansary along the ancient Silk Roads, via which Buddhism was disseminated, and the 492 painted and sculpted Buddhist caves of Mogao are masterpieces of their own variously and highly stylized painting traditions.

Although Buddhism does not enjoy a reputation for being a dancing religion, it does in fact boast many dance forms, and Buddhism’s relationship with dance is ebullient in the murals of the Mogao Caves. These dance depictions were created from the 4th until the 14th century, a process outlasting a thousand years of political upheavals in both China and Central Asia. 

Map of the Silk Roads meeting at Dunhuang. By Xuan Jiao. Creative commons license

Before our trip to Dunhuang, Wang Xudong, the associate director of the Dunhuang Academy, asked each of us in the small party which of the 492 caves we wished to see. I immediately contacted Mme Wang Kefen, the foremost authority on the dance imagery in the Dunhuang caves, where she had conducted research for many years, and she gave me a list of relevant caves. As nobody else submitted a list, in addition to seeing many important caves that are significant in their own right, we received a comprehensive review of the dance imagery at Dunhuang. No Western dance scholar has studied the dance imagery of the Mogao Caves in as much depth as I was allowed to do, for which I am grateful to Robert Ho, Wang Xudong, and Wang Kefen.

Chinese dance historian Wang Kefen with Joseph Houseal. Photo by
Wang Yuxing, 2010. From Core of Culture

Now aged 90, Wang Kefen is the author of four books on dance at Dunhuang and a fellow of the Dunhuang Academy. She is also the author of respected and much-translated histories of Chinese dance. She began studying art history in 1956, and through that study and her own determination, established the field of dance history in modern China. The year after the study trip, I had the good fortune to be able to meet with her in person, in Beijing.

Communication with Mme Wang was in part intuitive, as it is with dancers, based on gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and visual aids. Not only is Mme Wang an encyclopedia in herself, a “library on fire” as the Indonesians say, but she had an actual library of dance imagery in Chinese fine art laid out for me. Both of us being dancers, neither hesitated to demonstrate an arm or body movement. What follows is an edited version of our conversation.

Wang Kefen: Dance is an art of morphology—it defies the written word—hence artistic depictions become valuable. Dance activities have been present in every aspect of existence since primitive times, but it is only in China that the history of dance has been continuously recorded, both in words and in images. One of the challenges of translating my books is that they are full of ancient quotations, difficult even for Chinese to understand. The dance paintings at Dunhuang reveal a fixed pattern in terms of aesthetics, although they differ in costume, style, and gesture. There is inevitably at least one [painted] Buddha image in every cave, usually placed in [the midst of] a scene with adoring crowds, and a stage that is based on an emperor’s stage. I have seen this type of stage in Japan—it might have been used for Bugaku dance.*

Court scene (detail of dancing musician and stage), Mogao Cave 112,
Dunhuang. Tang dynasty (618–907). Image courtesy of Wang Kefen.
From Core of Culture

Bugaku stage at Istukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan. Copyright
Hatsukaichi City Department of Environment and Industries. From
Core of Culture

Joseph Houseal: I have seen inside the Forbidden City, the World Monument Fund’s restoration of the Qianlong emperor’s [r. 1735–96] private stage for an audience of One. That two-part stage was nearly identical to the depictions in the caves, and indeed to any number of Japanese Buddhist temple stages, which designs are Chinese in origin. In fact, the same Japanese ruler, Shotoku Taishi, in the 7th century was responsible for importing Buddhism, Bugaku, and architectural styles into Japan from China. 

The Qianlong emperor’s private stage, Forbidden City, Beijing. 1771–77. Image courtesy of World Monuments Fund and Palace Museum. 2008. From Core of Culture

WK: There is a recurring image of the Western Paradise at Dunhuang in which an elevated Buddha is attended by holy courtiers, entertainers, musicians, and dancers, painted lower down. Right at the top, “sky spirits” called feitian fly, doubtless in imitation of old dance forms. These dancing images are found not only at Dunhuang, they are all over China in many cave sites. I have traveled and studied the Indian Buddhist cave sites at Ellora and Ajanta—no flying feitian! The movement of these airborne devas and their invention originate in Central China.

Feitian, flying spirits of the air, Mogao Cave 286, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (534–57). Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Foundation. From Core of Culture

JH: Could the feitian in general possibly be related to archaic Daoism and the traditions of the Daoyin tu** energetic gymnastics? Those exercises were certainly practiced in court by the time of the Northern Wei dynasty [386–535], when there were already feitian at Dunhuang. There were Chinese Buddhist aristocrats in the 3rd century who were well versed in the Daoist physical arts, and Daoist visualization methods attained a refined articulation with the Shangqing school of Daoism in the 4th century, emphasizing a visualized microcosm and an inhabited mystical heaven with visualized characters moving about within it. Some of the feitian movements are strikingly similar to Daoyin tu gymnastics. 

Daoyin tu diagram of energetic exercises. Excavated in 1972 from Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province. Western Han dynasty, c. 168 BCE. Creative commons license

WK: Interesting idea. No one really knows the precise origin of the feitian movements. For many decades now, the idea in China has been that “folk dances” represent the ordinary people, and so they should be done “only by the best” and have been adapted into a professionally trained culture of “folk dances” for the stage, with dancers trained at dance academies. This is what the Chinese people know as folk dance. But attitudes toward the minority nationalities in China are really changing, and nowadays the emphasis is on giving the dance back to the people and bringing forward real village level transmission of old dances.

JH: Do you think there is a connection between China’s minority nationalities and the dances depicted at Dunhuang?

WK: Everything you see in the Dunhuang caves has been shown to be based on real life examples. All the instruments have been carefully reconstructed and shown to be real. I believe the dances are real, too.

JH: There seems to be at least two, maybe three, basic categories of dance depictions: the early Wei dynasty depictions, the Tang dynasty [618–907] heavenly court scenes, and scenes that look like village people dancing. Was there some kind of actual aristocratic dance assimilated from folk dance and other practices? That, after all, is how classical ballet came about in the West. 

Court scene (detail of Central Asian dancer), Cave 25, Yulin, showing
standardized style of painting dance. Tang dynasty, 781–847. Image
courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. From Core of Culture

WK: It’s complicated. The Chinese have been performing collections of dances since the ancient Shao dance written about by Confucius, so assimilation of different dances generally is an issue and one that is based, primarily, on people’s taste and desire to see new dances. The celestial dances at Dunhuang are both Buddhist and aristocratic assimilations. Did you see one scene where a nomadic dancer spins on a small circular carpet off to the side and below the Buddha? And another, “the brown family,” where a family is dancing? There is no audience, so that is a real life dance. Folk dance doesn’t have an audience, it just has “folk.” The audience is key. From ancient times, the emperor had his own dancers—lots of them. Aristocrats had their own dancers—lots of them. Even well-off poets and gentlemen had their own dancers. The dancers were mostly, but rarely entirely, of the same ethnicity as their owner. 

“The Brown Family,” dancers and musicians, Mogao Cave 297, Dunhuang. Northern Zhou dynasty (557–80). Image courtesy of Wang Kefen. After The Complete Collection of Dunhuang Grottoes, Vol. 17, Paintings of Dance, The Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 59

Line drawing of “The Brown Family,” Mogao Cave 297, Dunhuang. Northern Zhou dynasty (557–80). Image courtesy of Wang Kefen. From Core of Culture

JH: Owner?

WK: The Wei and Tang were slave societies, and the dancers were slaves. They did the dances their owners wanted, whatever their origin. In some of the Tang paintings you will see an audience, a courtly one and a celestial one. The courtly audience looks down, just as in a court. Each patron likely used their own dancers as models, part of the overall flavor of an individual cave. It was not until the 9th century that the stage was elevated and the courtly audience looked up. 

Mural, Cave 25, Yulin, showing standardized placement of Buddha, courts, stages, and artists. Tang dynasty, 781–847. Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. From Core of Culture

JH: So why do the Tang celestial court dancers look so much more standardized than the Wei dynasty images, which also coincides with slave society?

WK: The Wei dynasty images are not slaves; they are real Silk Road dancers. The Wei painters introduced the architectural placement of dancers with flying feitian at the top, in heaven; praising, deified dancers in the middle, on earth; and people at the bottom, in “low-earth.” I say “deified” in the sense that the entire scene is deified [by the presence of the Buddha]; gestures themselves become deified. These early paintings reveal a mutual influence. Central Asian depictions of Chinese feitianappear, and newly refined Chinese-inspired depictions of nomadic dancers. These express the first shock meeting of Chinese and Silk Road dance influences. The nomads, including the Mongolians, did not have a stable court life or culture. It is fair to say that a new Buddhist style was created when the nomadic dancers gave inner expression and a kind of realism, while the Chinese dancers gave refinement.  

Silk Road dancer, Mogao Cave 435,
Dunhuang. Northern Wei dynasty, 485–534.
Freedom of movement is matched by
freedom of expression in one of many
choreographically intriguing dance images
from the Wei dynasties. Image courtesy of
Wang Kefen. After The Complete Collection
of Dunhuang Grottoes, Vol. 17, Paintings of
Dance, The Commercial Press, Hong Kong,
2001, p. 27

*Repertoire of dances of the Japanese imperial court, derived from traditional dance forms imported from China

** Daoyin tu literally means “Diagram of Guiding and Pulling”; daoyin is a traditional type of Chinese breathing and energetic exercises, with the earliest forms being codified during the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). The Daoyin tu was discovered among the burial objects at Mawangdui, near Changsha in Hunan Province, and dates to around 168 BCE.

Dance at Dunhuang: Part Two – The Case for the Feitian

By Joseph Houseal

Buddhistdoor Global | 2015-12-11 

From: Buddhist Door Global by Joseph Houseal       11 December 2015

Feitian (“sky spirits”) on a ceiling wall along with mythological creatures and archaic deities, Mogao Cave 285, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (535–57), mural painting. Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. From Core of Culture

More dance styles are depicted in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes than at any other archaeological site on earth. Dance imagery animates nearly every cave. The wall paintings—a veritable encyclopedia of movement traditions spanning eight centuries—convey a native Chinese genius for dance that absorbed influences and choreography from bordering Central Asian cultures as well as from cultures far away. The Great Wall of China kept people out; Dunhuang let people in. This stream of growing cosmopolitanism matched the spread of Buddhism. 

Siddhartha crossing over the palace wall at night, with feitian, mythological creatures, and archaic deities, Mogao Cave 329, Dunhuang. Early Tang dynasty (618–704), mural painting. Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. From Core of Culture

Dance has its own history and evolution within the growth of Buddhism, and the cave paintings at the Mogao Grottoes provide more details to complement what any official dance history could provide. Like martial arts and meditation, dance is a transmitted art, person to person, and has its own way of remembering. Music, dance, meditation, martial arts, and ritual etiquette are all intended in the classical Chinese sense of a movement tradition. The great records of ancient Chinese dance are called “Books of Music.” Many depicted dancers in caves surrounding Dunhuang are playing instruments.

Feitian playing a flute, Mogao Cave 249, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (535–57), mural painting. Image courtesy of Wang Kefen. After The Complete Collection of Dunhuang Grottoes, Vol. 17, Paintings of Dance, The Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 15

It helps to forgo some of our habitual understandings of what dance is, and does, in order to see how it functions in Buddhism, for that itself absorbed and involved a range of very different ideas. The Dunhuang grottoes are a Rosetta Stone of ancient dances, dance being the oldest language, the pre-language. Since most Central Asian cultures had no written language until the 7th century, Dunhuang’s depictions of performing arts from distant areas are invaluable for cultural understanding. The painted murals portray real clothes, weapons, and instruments, and the dances, too, are taken from life. It has been suggested that the dancer paintings were modeled on the patrons’ own dancers. Many actual historical incidents are recorded in the murals and also many religious stories such as the Jataka Tales, the Life of the Buddha, and those told in the Buddhist sutras.

Story of the 500 bandits who converted to Buddhism, Mogao Cave 285, Dunhuang, with large feitian and archaic deities at the top, monks meditating in caves in the mountains, smaller feitian flying above the spiritual event, and the story itself at the bottom. Western Wei dynasty (535–57), mural painting. Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. From Core of Culture

The spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road into China, from the days Dunhuang became a Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) garrison town after Emperor Wu’s (r. 141–87 BCE) expedition to the western regions in 118 BCE, to its flowering as a center of the refined, exotic culture of the Tang dynasty (618–907) centuries later, has left the world a touchstone of one of the most diverse cultural exchanges in world history; a period when Buddhism and cosmopolitanism grew together. Depictions of dance in the caves around Dunhuang are an unbroken, if overlooked, chronicle of this.

The Tang capital, Chang’an, was the largest, most cosmopolitan city in the world at the time. It was peopled by traders, entertainers, and religious practitioners, both lay and ordained, from places as far-flung as Syria, Oman, Iran, Japan, Korea, Sogdiana, Khotan, Tibet, Turkestan, Champa, India, and yet more. Religions coexisted and inspired one another. There were Muslims, Jews, Manicheans, Zoroastrians, and Nestorian Christians. Daoism, the indigenous religion of China, was always practiced and respected. 

Ceiling showing the archaic deity servant of the King of the East, Mogao Cave 249, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (535–57), mural painting. Image courtesy of Wang Kefen. After The Complete Collection of Dunhuang Grottoes, Vol. 17, Paintings of Dance, The Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 16

There were as well many Buddhist monasteries of all schools, some of which were great centers of scholarship; some were Theravada Buddhist, whose puritanical practices rejected dance as suitable activity for monks, while in others the monks themselves danced with perfect canonical propriety. Because Theravada Buddhist monks did not dance, it was left to lay people and developed as an offering akin to incense and flowers, and so the sky was the limit as to how exotic these dances could be. To this day, Buddhist Kandyan dancers from Sri Lanka do back flips in the air as part of their rhythmic approach to the altar. The dances depicted in the Dunhuang caves reflect the various forms of Buddhism. 

Pyramidal ceiling, Mogao Cave 329, Dunhuang. From the outside edges of “thousand buddhas” pattern moving inward and upward: feitian flying, holding offerings, and playing instruments; Central Asian motif pattern; feitianenciricling a mandala of highest heaven. Early Tang dynasty (618–704), mural painting. After Fan Jinshi and Zhao Shenglian, The Art of the Mogao Grottoes, Homa and Sekey Books, Princeton, NJ, 2004, p. 157

The making of the caves and the styles of the early art depicted in them came from the Silk Road, originating in the Kushan Empire wherein Greco-Roman influence met Persian, Afghan, and Central Asian motifs. This included oasis kingdoms like Khotan, Turfan, and other cities where Buddhist monuments and painted caves existed. This was a meeting of styles and customs, where the Silk Road and Chinese cultures came together to produce the syncretic style unique to the caves around Dunhuang.

Lintel of a sculptural niche on the south face of square central pillar, Mogao Cave 7, Dunhuang, showing Buddha flanked by two kings, with feitian flying, holding offerings, and playing music. Tang dynasty, 628, mural painting. Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Research Academy. From Core of Culture

One compelling, and often seemingly otherworldly, being that is depicted in the Buddhist murals throughout the 800 years is the feitian (in Chinese), or “sky spirit.” The feitian does not seem to come from the western regions, but makes its appearance at Dunhuang early on. The world expert in Dunhuang dance depictions, Mme Wang Kefen, has determined that feitian are Chinese in origin and are not apsara (Sanskrit), as feitian is usually translated into English. In fact, the Dunhuang Academy has adopted the use of apsara, and so here I humbly make a case for the feitian being its own being and representative of a spiritual dimension between levels of existence. The feitian may in fact be a symbol of Buddhism’s ability to absorb the ancient religions it encountered rather than annihilating them. I agree with Mme Wang and add my thoughts here. Apsara is in general use as a catch-all term. 

Apsara taking flight, Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia. 9th
century, stone. Creative commons license

It may be the case that the feitian slowly evolved into more apsara-like beings by the time of the Tang dynasty. Apsara are beautiful flying women, known to seduce; they are associated with watery things: ocean, rain, clouds. Apsara derive from Hinduism and Theravada Buddhist cultures. These were cultures, such as in Cambodia, Burma, Ceylon, and Siam, where kings kept large groups of dancing girls—one king was reputed to have had 30,000. As Buddhism came to be the adopted religion of these places, it was easy enough for the court dancing girls to wear small wings and instantly become heavenly maidens, retaining all their sex appeal and coy ways. This could not be farther from the expression of dance performed by ordained monk-dancers. Apsara are derived from these dancing girls.

Feitian, by contrast, are of both sexes, and are not as interested in this world as being a bridge to another one. Their aesthetic evolution over many centuries is a study in freedom, beauty, and power. This topic allows me to share a number of amazing images of feitian from the Mogao Caves. Their origin is murky Chinese ancient belief, and their movements are related to ancient forms of mythology, dance, exercise, and breath control. We can see, in a Han dynasty casket of a nobleman unearthed at Mawangdui in 1972, swirling patterns and gravity-defying deities cavorting within them, dancing, fighting, running. These Han figures are strikingly similar to feitian. Feitian come from archaic Chinese movement traditions.

Nobleman’s casket, showing archaic Daoist deities cavorting in a primordial swirling pattern. Excavated in 1972 from Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province. Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). After Fu Juyou, Cheng Songchang (Zhou Shiyi, Chen Kefeng, trans.), The Cultural Relics Unearthed from the Han Tombs at Mawangdui, Hunan Publishing House, Changsha, Hunan Province, 1980, p. 6

Detail of casket from Mawangdui showing archaic Daoist deities and mythological creatures dancing, playing music, fighting, and frolicing. After Fu Juyou, Cheng Songchang (Zhou Shiyi, Chen Kefeng, trans.), The Cultural Relics Unearthed from the Han Tombs at Mawangdui, Hunan Publishing House, Changsha, Hunan Province, 1980, p. 10

Feitian serve many functions, for all their mystery. They are the nameless “Greek chorus” to nearly every event. Their ability to move their bodies in acrobatic ways allows them to be ideal for design development: they can be made to fit in any space. Being always seen with billowing silk, Chinese dance historians look to feitian for evidence of the development of their ancient silk scarf dance. The Chinese invented the production of silk.

In Dunhuang art, feitian inhabit their own level of reality, making a distinct division between other areas of the mural: they are at the top, in the air, in images where hierarchies of divine beings are presented surrounding a central Buddha. They are not the bodhisattvas attending the Buddha, nor are they the humans often seen at the bottom, on the earth. Feitian symbolize the most rarefied level of being. They are often seen painted among archaic Daoist deities, such as the similar-looking gods of thunder and lightning. They come in different sizes even in the same mural. Some feitian appear as archaic deities themselves. 

Pyramidal ceiling wall showing archaic god of
thunder and mythological beast, Mogao Cave
249, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (535–57),
mural painting. Image courtesy of Wang Kefen.
From Core of Culture

Nothing dances or moves like a feitian. They can do anything. At times their aerial behavior is reminiscent of Giotto’s expressive angels. At other times they seem indifferent, symbols of a level of being untouched by human emotions and worldly powers like gravity, silent reminders that there is a larger reality at play. 

The Mourning of Christ, detail from Scenes from the Life of Christ by Giotto (1266/7–1337), Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy, showing angels lamenting in the sky. 1304–6, fresco painting. From www.wga.hu

Most significant, though, is where the feitian are placed architecturally. They serve as quantum dividers: a border between historical events and sublime higher realities. Or again, they appear as the personification of the highest reality, swirling above the central Buddha in an ascending pyramidal ceiling, distinct from the behavior and understanding of the humans below. 

Buddha and bodhisattvas in front of a “thousand Buddhas” patterned mural, above which is a pyramidal ceiling with flying feitian and patterned design, inside which are more feitian dancing around a central mandala, Mogao Cave 305, Dunhuang. Sui dynasty (581–618). Image courtesy of the Dunhuang Research Academy. From Core of Culture

The cave murals depict activities occurring within them, such as monks meditating in hewn-out cubicles. The first small caves at Mogao were for monks in meditation. Later, assembly caves were made, enabling rituals and teaching and circumambulation to take place. Walls covered with the “thousand buddhas” design are thought by some to be visual representations of the repeated chanting of sutras and mantras.

A teacher could tell a story by referring to a mural. A monk could lead a sutra recitation by following the patterns on the wall. In Buddhist caves, among historical stories, religious stories, human devotional practices, and abodes of the Buddha, this is where the divine acrobats, the sky dancing warriors, the heavenly musicians, the feitian, are found, where they soar in their own distinct dimension.

Buddha and bodhisattvas, with feitian flying in the sky above, set within “thousand Buddhas” design, Mogao Cave 249, Dunhuang. Western Wei dynasty (535–57), mural painting. Photo by Clarkson Lee. Used with permission