Eastern Han Dynasty relics found in Anhui tombs

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More than 50 ancient and rare relics have been uncovered in a tomb excavation in Guxian County, of Anhui Province. The 53-tomb complex is thought to have been constructed over many periods as far back as the Eastern Han Dynasty, nearly 2,000 years ago.

The huge tomb complex was discovered accidentally on a construction site.

It contains over 50 brick tombs from the Eastern Han, Tang and Song dynasties.

Experts have been able to identify the type of people who were buried in some of the tombs.

Zhao Lanhui, deputy researcher of Bengbu Cultural Relics Institute, said, "Lying south to north would perhaps be people of four generations. Because of its size, we know the tomb is from the Song Dynasty. It's small and fairly simple in style. These tombs sometimes have quite a unique character, and have been known to be built in the shape of an animal."

More than 50 ancient and rare relics have been uncovered in a tomb excavation in Guxian County, of Anhui Province. The 53-tomb complex is thought to have been constructed over many periods as far back as the Eastern Han Dynasty, nearly 2,000 years ago.

Though some tombs have been plundered over the years, precious relics have emerged, such as bronze mirrors, gold and silver garments, and pottery boxes.

Most of the people buried here were thought to have been common people, until the discovery of one special, delicate and well preserved mirror.

Zhou Chongwen, archaeologist, said, "It's a relatively large bronze mirror, which means the owner had a certain social status."

The study is continuing into the tomb's history and the kind of people who lived here.

It's generating a great deal of interest in the area's heritage and cultural identity.

More than 50 ancient and rare relics have been uncovered in a tomb excavation in Guxian County, of Anhui Province. The 53-tomb complex is thought to have been constructed over many periods as far back as the Eastern Han Dynasty, nearly 2,000 years ago.

Source: CNTV.CN

The man who discovered the lost Great Wall

BEIJING, Mar. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Recently, an Englishman who is possibly the world's most prominent Great Wall enthusiast has made headlines in over 40 countries around the world. His story regarding the "lost Great Wall" has been the most read story on National Geographic's website. He recently spoke at Beijing's Trends Lounge, where he shared stories and insights. In 1987, William Lindesay came to China to trek the wall's entire 2470 km length, where he was arrested nine times, and deported once. At the time, it was very difficult for foreigners to gain entry to China, and Lindesay knew that his goal of hiking the wall was technically forbidden. "I had to come to terms that if I wanted to succeed on my mission I had to have a philosophy of trespass I call it. Because I'm a very law-abiding citizen. Trespass is a crime, I suppose." Armed with a negligible grasp of Chinese and a small rucksack, he began hiking the wall. He also had a notebook in which he had a message written in Chinese, asking for the essentials for survival. "I just hoped that they'd give me the water, food and shelter that I needed. And they did. Day after day after day. Actually… my journey in '87 was 78 days and I stayed with more than 60 farming families, and they were all incredibly warm-hearted." The message also asked his hosts to write their names and village name for him. Incredibly, 20 years later Lindesay used his notebook to pay a surprise second visit to the families who had helped him before. They were amazed that the strange visitor hadn't forgotten them. Not only did Lindesay meet with families, he also was reunited with the police officers who had arrested and deported him. But this time, he wasn't a trespasser: he was a hero. He met the mayor and the party secretary, and was made an honorary citizen for his esteemed work preserving the Great Wall. Photos he'd taken on his first trip were exhibited in the Yulin cultural square. Lindesay's story was now a symbol for China's opening up, as Beijing Evening News ran a feature called "From Trespasser to Honorary Citizen in Yulin."

William Lindesay's research on the great wall was greatly influenced by another William: William Geil. Lindesay was amazed to receive a book by William Geil, which contained photos of the Great Wall taken in 1905. The book was passed on to him by Geil's widow, who knew that Lindesay could appreciate it. Not only did Lindesay appreciate it; it became the basis for his next research project. Lindesay knew that re-shooting Geil's photos of the Great Wall would concretely prove how well the wall was surviving, or how badly it was crumbling. Lindesay appreciated how he and Geil not only shared their given names and a propensity for Indiana-Jones-style hats; they also shared a love for China's Great Wall, often having photographed identical pictures of its curves and towers. Lindesay's appreciation for Geil called him to find Geil's relatives in the states. Lindesay knew Geil must have had journal writings, notes, and a large collection of photos. Lindesay combed the internet, called hospitals and funeral homes, but to no avail. He resigned himself to just one way to find Geil. "I thought the more stories I get out about William Geil, the more chance there is of someone realizing that this man is very important in China, [that] this man is very important for the conservation of the wall. And I hoped they would contact me." Incredibly, he was indeed later contacted by a historian at Doylestown historical society who informed him that he had just been given a collection of Geil's boxes. A quick Google search revealed to the historian that Lindesay was extremely interested in Geil. Lindesay was deservingly given full access to Geil's work, and was also given the privilege of informing Geil's family about the importance of their grandfather, who had been all but forgotten.

Recently, Lindesay has again been making headlines, having discovered a section of the Great Wall outside of China, in Mongolia. He'd been pondering the possibility of its existence in the late 90s since he knew that sections of the wall approached the China-Mongolia border. Lindesay explained, "This has become a quest to ascertain whether these are ancient dynastic Great Walls of China marooned in inner Mongolia, or to take on board what the Mongolians say about these walls, a particularly interesting story about a wall being constructed to stop the gazelle from migrating off the steppe. Because as you know, during the time of Genghis Khan these were a great food and clothing resource, and the horn was used for weapons and decorative objects." With the aid of his Atlas of Genghis Kahn and Google Earth, Lindesay located a faint line in the desert which appeared to be a wall in Mongolia. Lindesay had to go there in person in order to make comparisons with the wall in China. Lindesay was exulted to find that the wall indeed looked like a wall, up to 2.75 metres in place. "It was a mash of mud and sticks. And the sticks were a very unusual drought resistant desert shrub called saxaul… so that was a great discovery and surprise." This wall stretched up to the peak of an extinct volcano, a single peak in a sea of flatness. The view from the top was panoramic, enabling viewers to see approaching enemies or to follow the movements of gazelle.

Having seen the wall firsthand, Lindesay was particularly pleased that he'd gotten his hands on some wood samples from the wall, which would be able to be radiocarbon dated. He expected the samples to be 2100 years old, but he was amazed when the samples only turned out to be only 900 years old. "It kind of put the spanner in the works. Immediately I wondered, is this Han wall? From 2100 years ago? Then I thought because of the jigsaw theory, it matches up with the wall in China… so I'm adamant that it's Han dynasty Great Wall, but what I think the radiocarbon dating proves is that the wall was reused at some stage later." Lindesay proposed that the Western Xia dynasty rebuilt the wall in preparation against the Mongols. But this theory was not without its problems. There's no record of the western Xia dynasty building a Great Wall, so Lindesay argued that as Genghis Kahn's legacy included annihilating those who opposed him and everything that they built, it would be unsurprising to find a lack of evidence. If the western Xia dynasty's history was obliterated, Lindesay is well aware of the problems that would result from the damaged historical record. The existing history of the western Xia was written over a century later by Chinese historians employed by Mongol conquerors of China. "I think there must be a lot of questions about the accuracy, the comprehensiveness and authenticity of the records," Lindesay conceded. Undoubtedly, some of the questions around this section of the "lost" Great Wall may ultimately be unanswerable. But perhaps in Lindesay's case, the questions may be more important than the answers. "I like to either go out and prove history right or prove it wrong and dig up some questions, and this present trip from China to Outer Mongolia has been a classic case of that."

  Source: Xinhuanet.com

Buddha Images from the Western Xia Dynasty-黑城

13世纪哈拉浩特（黑城---西夏王朝）佛画

2012年02月20日 16:00

Vajrasana Buddha, 大日如来

Khara Khoto, Central Asia

Before 1227

Tangut Dynasty

Hermitage Museum

Maha-Asta Caitya ，
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Bhaisajyaguru,药师佛
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Kurukulla,咕噜咕列佛母，作明佛母
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum

Sahaja (2-armed) Chakrasamvara ，两臂胜乐金刚
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Amitabha，阿弥陀佛
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum

Amitabha，阿弥陀佛
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Avalokitesvara，观世音菩萨
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum

Vaisravana，多闻天王
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Portrait of a Monk ，僧
Khara Khoto, Central Asia
Before 1227
Tangut Dynasty
Hermitage Museum 

Large find of Buddhist statues (3)

From CCTV the video about this recent find of large Buddhist statues:

                                 发掘现场。

                        

For more information about this sensational find:

Sensational large find of Buddhist statues

Large find of Buddhist statues (2)

A Dynasty Without the Hereafter ?

From The Wall Street Journal  March 7, 2012

By LEE LAWRENCE

New York

In the jigsaw puzzle of China's rulers and ethnic groups, the 12th-century Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115-1234) is one of the least known, particularly outside China. Sweeping down from the steppes of Manchuria, these "people of the forest" carved out a kingdom that has in many history books been upstaged by the Northern Song (960-1127), who preceded them, and the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368), who defeated them. A small but rich show at the China Institute Gallery, "Theater, Life, and the After Life," aims to correct that with a selection of 80 pieces culled from 11 tombs excavated in southern Shanxi—an area some 500 miles southwest of Beijing.

Theater, Life,

And the Afterlife: Tomb Décor of the Jin Dynasty From Shanxi

China Institute

Through June 17

On loan from the Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan, almost all are reliefs on brick slabs in a variety of sizes and styles, chosen to illustrate the range of popular motifs. As a result, the exhibition unfolds across the gallery's two rooms like a 3-D catalog of funerary décor, complete with demonstration tomb.

We see reliefs of musicians blowing into flutes or beating drums, dancers caught midstride, and a wonderful series of scenes plucked from folk performances in which actors used horses and other props made of bamboo and paper. On a more sober note, there are vignettes from Confucian stories of filial piety, depictions of Taoist deities known as the Eight Immortals, and a motif in tomb art that became popular under the Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220): a set of double doors with one slightly ajar revealing a woman who stands half-in, half-out. Although there is some argument about just what this signifies, the most commonly accepted interpretation is that the woman symbolizes the threshold between life and death.

Shanxi Museum

Figure of a musician playing a waist drum, from the Jin dyansty.

Though the labeling does not explain how the works are made, some reliefs appear to be molded, others incised, then painted by applying pigment directly onto the clay or on a base coat of lime or other material. Some are therefore more labor-intensive than others, just as the workmanship in some is of higher quality. The Eight Immortals, for example, are almost crude compared with some of the musicians or with a scene from daily life showing a muscular horse pulling on its tether. It seems safe to assume that the Immortals might have hailed from a less expensive workshop, a reminder that one's choice of tomb décor was as much a function of one's pocketbook as an expression of one's preferences.

By Chinese standards, Jin tombs were modest. Almost all of the 100 or so tombs unearthed to date are single chambers, often small, always made of brick. On the outside, they are plain; inside, the wall decorations emulate architectural features of Shanxi houses and display the deceased's choice of motifs. We see this in a tomb excavated in 2009 and reassembled in the gallery where, ingeniously, director Willow Weilan Hai Chang repositioned the south wall to allow visitors inside the space. It is about 48 square feet, enough for a funerary bed and a few household objects (removed for the show) with little room to spare.

The far wall features carved doors, this time tightly shut and flanked by deeply carved reliefs of a man and woman. These stand-ins for the tomb's occupants look on without expression, hands clasped. Opposite them, four other figures look back. They sport hats and clothes that identify them as the principal characters in a popular form of Jin theater: the leading man; the foil or straight man, here wearing an orange robe with white polka dots; the jester; and the court official. Along the side walls, bricks are carved to resemble lattice windows, beneath which peonies bloom in pots, auspicious lions prance and guardians who look like miniature Sumo wrestlers keep watch.

What comes through loud and clear is that the Jin adopted Chinese beliefs and customs and that they loved their entertainment. But at least one scholar finds it puzzling that, for all this emphasis on theater, the actors never seem to be enacting a particular play. The effigies of actors placed in the tomb appear stiff and generic. Did the deceased avoid one set script because they wanted the actors to vary their repertoire throughout eternity?

"Maybe," says Nancy S. Steinhardt, a professor of East Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania and contributor to the show's catalog. "Or," she speculates, "maybe they don't really believe there is an afterlife," in which case they include actors as a nod to their love of theater, not because they believe they will need entertaining. This would also explain the scaled-down tombs and the lack, so far, of any sign that the Jin tried to preserve corpses. There are no jade suits, no embalming, no wire-metal encasements as are found at other times and places. This is a theory Ms. Steinhardt is still testing. If it pans out, then Jin tombs could point to a significant shift in thinking in 12th-century China and provide one more reason to pay attention to this little-known dynasty.

Ms. Lawrence is a writer in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Photo's from Old China

From: Ralphrepo in Random Pics from Old China


"Pics in this set are those that were taken from the Pre Deng XiaoPing period (that is, any pic taken in China or of the Chinese diaspora, before the death of Mao). All pictures are restored, meaning that they were digitally corrected to either enhance viewing ability, or to correct defects from historic damage. In no instance were any alterations performed to change the perception of political or social history that the image would otherwise convey. These photographs are posted purely to stimulate and educate the public, and to further knowledge, interest and discussion of Chinese history. All images in this collection were found on the internet; either in public, private or commercial web pages or galleries. I have also tried, to the best of my ability, to provide working links to the original non restored image sources so that viewers have a point of comparison should they so desire. To the best of my knowledge and research, the images themselves are either out of copyright (in the United States) or collected and posted under fair use rules for strictly non commercial purposes".  Ralphrepo