The wind of Taihang｜The call of the hometown

History is profound. In the long river of history, everything is like a drop of water, difficult to be salvaged. But at some point in time, a historical opportunity arises, and that drop of water may turn into a dazzling pearl. And to hold up this pearl, is the responsibility, but also a strong sense of family and country. Xingtang County, Hebei Qingliang Temple in the three bodhisattvas mural copy, is in this responsibility and feelings, through the deep space-time tunnel, trekking through the soup of the river of time, to be able to return to their homeland.

The three bodhisattvas mural copy.

Historical chance

It was in the early 1990s, a Chinese diplomat visited the British Museum, in the Chinese Pavilion, suddenly saw the three bodhisattvas mural. The three bodhisattvas mural 4 meters high, 3.9 meters wide, magnificent momentum instantly enveloped people into a solemn atmosphere. Look up and see, but see the overall picture tone of gold and red, opulent, three bodhisattvas body graceful, gorgeous clothes, lifelike, works shaking people's souls, a powerful aura let a person sigh in China's ancient art of painting mastery.

The three bodhisattvas mural is the largest single mural in the British Museum collection, one of the highest mural works, is also the museum's treasure.

The diplomat was shocked, and even more so when he read the English introduction, which said that the painting came from China, from his hometown of Xingtang, China! He stood in front of the mural for a long time, feeling a lot of emotions, far away from the ocean, the hometown of the mural how to fall here? What kind of trials and tribulations did they go through? The three Bodhisattvas, set on the walls of this foreign country, are cold and lonely. Diplomat heart suddenly gave birth to infinite flavor, a culture only rooted in the local, in order to show its cultural characteristics and values, lost the root, the soul of the culture contained in the loss of vitality and vigor.

From then on, the diplomat's soul dreams are floating in the three bodhisattvas frescoes, he could not sleep or eat, an instinctive sense of responsibility, so that he put pen to paper to his hometown parents, Hsingtang County Party Secretary wrote a letter.

The letter carries the diplomat's hometown sentiments, across the ocean, delivery, and finally landed in the then secretary of the Hsingtang County Party Committee Li Zunying's desk.

On this day, Li Zunying just finished a day of official business, regardless of the body fatigue and then proceed to deal with the masses of letters. A special letter attracted his attention, the envelope is affixed with foreign stamps. Who sent him a letter from abroad? The first time I saw this, it was a very good idea for me to go back to the old days of my life.

The content of the letter y touched Li Zunying, he immediately proceeded to verify: Xingtang history does have a Qingliang Temple, the temple did have three bodhisattva frescoes, but the Qingliang Temple in the anti-Japanese war was razed to the ground, the three bodhisattva frescoes are nowhere to be found. Li Zunying understood the situation, adding regret, Hsingtang was a poor county, could not send people to visit the murals, and no financial resources to buy back.

Things are so put down, this matter has become the heart of Li Zunying a long time to worry about.

Time to 2002, Li Zunying has served as deputy secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Party Committee. In February of that year, he led a delegation to Europe to study. To London, England, the next day, he could not wait to rush to the British Museum. When he stood in front of the mural of the three bodhisattvas, as with diplomats, he felt instantly shaken!

Li Zunying excitedly pressed the shutter, took a picture of the three bodhisattvas mural. After returning to China, he selected the best one from it, and printed it and handed it over to the relevant departments in Xingtang. From then on, the three bodhisattvas mural photos will be hung in the Hsingtang County Government Guest House and other public **** place, has become a local cultural card.

Things to this point, if it is not diplomats and local parental responsibility, which will let the three bodhisattvas frescoes back into the public eye? These two chances seem to be coincidental, but actually reflects their love and responsibility for their hometown and national culture.

Three Bodhisattvas mural photos in the return to the Xingtang County 8 years later, and ushered in another "person of destiny", he is the Hebei Museum research librarian Hao Jianwen.

In the spring of 2010, Hao Jianwen went to Xingtang County for cultural relics review, the night stayed in the county guest house. In the lobby of the guest house, he saw the three bodhisattvas color mural photos.

If others are shocked by the overall momentum of the mural, Hao Jianwen was shocked by the mural from a professional point of view. Heibei surviving ancient murals, but such a large single figure murals are extremely rare, within the territory of Hebei, Quyang Beiyue Temple and Laiyuan Court Temple murals can be compared with it. Beiyue temple frescoes can be observed, but the pavilion temple frescoes are covered by a thick layer of white ash, in the white ash off at only the frescoes in the character's legs exposed. So tall and well-preserved three bodhisattvas mural historical research value is inestimable!

Hao Jianwen heart surging, he looked and looked, can not move his feet. I thought if I could get a glimpse of the real face of how good ah, really can not be equal to the proportion of a copy of a good, so that Xingtang people, Hebei people and even the whole country know, Hebei had such exquisite mural works! Our history and culture is so deep and profound!

This idea is like a seed, buried deep in the heart of Hao Jianwen, waiting for the right opportunity to break ground and germinate. Like Li Zunying at the time, after the encounter in the heart of a certain place to keep a party blank, thinking about, attached to, and can no longer let go.

In 2017, Hao Jianwen went to Beijing to participate in an art training, during which he learned that, declared by the Jiangsu Polytechnic Institute of the National Art Fund project "Millennium Mural, a hundred years of vicissitudes of life - the ancient mural paintings and loss of overseas precious mural reproduction dissemination and display This is really a sudden surprise, he immediately introduced to the college of Mr. Wang Yansong Xingtang three bodhisattvas frescoes, the other party immediately said, this thing can be done, and hope to be handed over to Hao Jianwen to do, copying frescoes, to participate in the National Art Fund tour project.

The door of destiny opened, through the orange light. This is simply a special for Hao Jianwen, for the three bodhisattvas mural prepared for the chance ah!

The original picture of the Three Bodhisattva mural.

Exploring Qingliang Temple

Xingtang, located in the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, shallow hilly area and the North China Plain junction, from the air overlooking the entire map as if the vast expanse of land on an open scroll, low mountains, hills and plains in order, as the book on the line of a line neat chapter.

The history of this place is long, Yao Emperor created the name, Shihuang set up the county, the two ancient stagecoach road connecting Yan and Jin, so far there are more than 4,000 years of recorded history, more than 2,300 years of history of the establishment of the county. From the period of the North and South Dynasties, Buddhist culture emerged here, to the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the territory of the temple all over the incense, Xianming Temple, Fengchong Temple, Chongfu Temple; Temple of Literature, Chenghuang Temple, Liulimiao ...... to the Qing Dynasty, the territory of the recorded temples and shrines up to 54 temples, which each have their own styles, but without exception, conveying people's desire to The good wishes of the people's desire for a happy life.

An important reason for the flourishing of Buddhist culture in Xingtang is that it is adjacent to China's famous Buddhist mountain - Wutai Mountain. Northwestbound, out of the Tang more than a hundred kilometers to reach the Wutai Mountain, therefore, Xingtang has become the monks and good men and women from all over the northbound pilgrimage to the road, was called the "Wutai Mountain South Gate". In order to facilitate the pilgrims to rest in the middle of the pilgrimage, by the Wutai Mountain and other related parties to fund, in Xingtang built the "foot rest temple". Wutai Mountain top frozen all year round, cool and pleasant to live in high summer, is a summer resort, so it is also known as "Qingliang Mountain". In Xingtang built this "foot temple" is named "Qingliang Temple". Qingliang Temple was built to facilitate the travel of monks and believers to rest and stay, but also become the center of the connection between the north and south culture and trade. Southern silk, tea, porcelain and other products, through this road to Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Zhangjiakou and other places, and the northern agricultural and sideline specialties are also sold here, and was brought to all parts of the country. It can be imagined that the monks, merchants and businessmen, when the Qingliang Temple in the Buddhist temple, gathered up the prosperity of the people.

According to the Qing dynasty Qianlong years, "Xingtang County" records, Qingliang Temple in the Jin Dading (1161 AD - 1189 AD) years of construction, covering an area of 13.7 acres, around the jurisdiction of the land 164 acres. About 200 meters south of the temple, there are two exquisite small stone pagodas, which correspond with the Qingliang Temple, constituting an elegant pattern of a Buddhist holy place. There are three large halls built in the temple, sitting north to south, which are divided into the front hall, the middle hall and the back hall. The front left bell tower, right drum tower. Inside the hall is splendid, the cultural relics are delicate and realistic, and every piece is a treasure. The main painting of the three Bodhisattvas is painted on the north wall of the back hall, and the two sides are filled with secondary paintings.

After its construction was completed, Qingliang Temple received the attention of successive dynasties, and was repaired and even rebuilt by many dynasties, making this thousand-year-old temple last for a long time. There are more than 30 stone tablets in the temple, which record the process of construction, reconstruction and rebuilding of the temple, one of the major rebuild in the spring of the year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty.

In the morning bell and the evening drum, more than seven hundred years have passed, and Qingliang Temple is enjoying the quietness and peace in the incense and candles curling up.

The history of the footsteps of a plodding. 1926, is a year of crisis in the history of China. This year, the Japanese imperialist warships sailed into the mouth of the Dagu, attacking Tianjin, Chiang Kai-shek in the south launched a shocking "Zhongshan incident", Zhang Zuolin in the north declared the independence of the three provinces, Feng Yuxiang's national army and the direct line warlords, Jin warlords, the full outbreak of the Northern Expeditionary War ... ...The country was at a time of life and death.

The temple is just a temple, but it's not a temple. Qingliang Temple is just a temple ah, she became dilapidated and desolate, the former glory is empty. It was in this year that the murals of the three bodhisattvas were divided into 12 pieces, each of which was sandwiched between the front and back of the window panels used by the locals to build their houses, and were shipped to England, where Englishman Collins bought them.

Later, the Three Bodhisattvas frescoes were purchased by the collector George Eumovpalus and donated to the British Museum in 1927. From then on, the national treasures were displaced, and the Qingliang Temple was razed to the ground in the artillery fire soon afterward, destroying all the relics in the temple.

This event, in the British Museum former researcher Mr. Binyan book mentioned in the Collins notes have been corroborated, he wrote: at the time of the Qingliang Temple has three halls, has been deserted. The first hall contained large, dilapidated wooden statues of Buddha, surrounded by smaller statues. The second hall has a large sculpture of the seated Buddha, behind a horseshoe-shaped back screen much taller than the Buddha, behind the back screen there is another larger wooden frame, carrying the three bodhisattvas frescoes, which were removed from the original wooden frame, divided into 12 pieces and shipped back to London.

It is recorded that the Three Bodhisattvas fresco was created by monks from Wutai Mountain, painted in 1424, and supplemented in 1437 and 1468. If calculated according to this time, Qingliang Temple in the construction of the temple more than two hundred years later, Wutai Mountain monks began to paint on the wall. Why didn't they paint as soon as the temple was built? Had the wall remained blank during the time there were no murals? What made them think of painting on the wall more than two hundred years later? Could there be a possibility that the records are wrong and the three bodhisattvas mural was painted earlier? Local folklore has it that the mural was painted by Wu Daozi in the Tang Dynasty. Legends can not be used as a basis, but everything is worthy of historians to study, test, which may be a long and meaningful subject.

History is complex, this may be the three bodhisattvas mural in the artistic value outside of the deeper reflection left us. When the country and the nation in crisis, not to mention the cultural relics, even human life is like grass. Yesterday has gone, we have reason to believe that now, when our country stood up, strong, the mistakes of history will not be repeated, we have the ability to protect our people, as well as the people of everything.

Hao Jianwen in copying.

Tough to copy

Mural painting, one of the oldest forms of painting. She covers almost all areas of Chinese culture and has become an organic component of traditional Chinese culture.

China's mural painting history has a long history. Since the Zhou Dynasty, successive palaces and even tombs have been decorated with murals. To the Sui and Tang dynasties, cave murals reached the peak of the art, such as Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes murals, Kizil Grottoes murals and so on, have been the world's attention. The other most widely used is the temple mural, painted on the walls of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples, the content of the Buddha and Taoist statues, legends and stories, patterns and decorations. Temple frescoes in the Han and Jin dynasties, flourishing in the Tang and Song dynasties, decline in the Ming and Qing dynasties, is a precious treasure in the history of China's national art.

Mural research is a cold career, bitter, tired or secondary, in this fast-paced background, life and mural combined with the loneliness may be the biggest test of people.

In Hao Jianwen's heart, but the hard work and lonely and poor career as sweet.

Hao Jianwen 17 years old embarked on the road to work on the cultural heritage, 22 years old began to contact the mural copying, so far has been on this road for more than 30 years. For him, each copy, will leave countless unforgettable stories, and this time on the Qingliang Temple three bodhisattvas mural copy, let him feel extraordinarily much.

From Hao Jianwen and Mr. Wang Yansong of Jiangsu Polytechnic Institute to determine the copy of the three bodhisattvas mural in Qingliang Temple, to the mural exhibition in the country, the time is only a few months. Hao Jianwen in the unit there is a lot of daily work, rely on spare time, just a few months can not complete such a huge project, he decided to form a creative team.

Sang Lei and Tai Haoran, teachers at the Jilin College of Art, Tian Hongyan, a teacher at Hebei Normal University, and Wang Yaxin, a professional painter in Tangshan, are all friends of Hao Jianwen. Hao Jianwen told them, we all gladly said: "We create together, but also do our best to create good!" Soon, these backbone plus their respective students, *** 26 people formed a copy of the creative team.

No project funding, no pay, print pictures, do the board, buy mineral pigments and paper ...... these have to pay out of their own pockets. Who does not know what will be painted in the future, and who does not want to think about what the end result is, the creative team with the "national treasure" responsibility, love of the cause, fully committed to it.

The difficulties were more than expected. First of all, the copying team members in three places, there is no financial resources and venues for them to focus on the creation of the mural can only be "divided" into three, each place to paint a bodhisattva, are painted in Shijiazhuang after the centralized adjustment.

To draw, the second problem came again. Copying ancient murals is best done according to the original, but the copying team members who have not seen the original murals. Commissioned a friend to take photos are not particularly clear. Many parts of the frescoes are far from being understood and portrayed by experience alone. Do not solve this problem, blindly painted, it is difficult to meet the "restoration copy" of the artistic standards.

In order to get a copy of the high-definition pictures, Hao Jianwen great trouble. He first let his daughter to help find online, and asked the Central Academy of Fine Arts teachers and friends to help, but nothing. He asked his friends for help, Hebei Museum volunteer Bai Xiaohong heard, please in the UK friends to go to the British Museum to take pictures, video. Enthusiastic friends went to shoot a trip and a trip, but all because of the equipment and shooting environment, the film clarity is still not enough.

Hao Jianwen and WeChat circle of friends for help, a friend saw the initiative to contact him, said his daughter is studying at the Royal College of Art, can let his daughter to help shoot. Hao Jianwen exceptionally excited, he added the girl WeChat, through WeChat to guide the girl with the form of blind shooting to shoot, shoot some more. The girl did as he said. The next day the photos came over, Hao Jianwen look, into the! This time the clarity of the film is enough, basically dry!

At this point, it is May 2018, less than three months from the delivery time. Changchun, Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, three places in the studio, began to race against the clock to create, painting to the key place sleepless. Everyone was wearing dark circles under their eyes, their faces and bodies were covered with paint and sweat stains, and they themselves became colorful paintings.

Soon, three mural facsimiles were completed and brought together in Shijiazhuang. Have not had time to rejoice, Hao Jianwen found a problem: due to different personal understanding, the facsimile of the color between the obvious differences, the degree of depth of the carving is also different, put together is not the case at all. Big adjustments than repainting is not easy. Some have to be washed out and redrawn, some have to find the shape again. Time and time again, in-depth carving, repeated comparisons, until the final and the original mural is no different.

Finally, in the specified time, they completed the mural! Three bodhisattvas mural facsimile presented in front of the eyes: the statue of Buddha in a serene manner, eyes flow, as if in the nodding smile, that smile has long been aware of the world, waiting for the historical moments of the reappearance!

In September 2018, the "Millennium Mural, Hundred Years of Changes - Ancient Mural Paintings and Lost Overseas Valuable Mural Reproduction Dissemination and Display" has been on tour in Chengdu, Taiyuan and Beijing, etc., and the three bodhisattvas of Qingliang Temple, Xingtang, Hebei Province, have the highest scale of the works in the tour exhibition. The works in the tour exhibition of the three bodhisattvas in Xingliang Temple of Hebei Province are the highest in size! Everywhere he went, he was admired and revered!

The end of the tour, the copying team members deliberated, the three bodhisattvas murals come from Xingtang, but also to let her return to Xingtang. So, they made a decision: this mural facsimile gratuitous donation to the Xingtang County cultural relics department!

Condensed with each of them countless works of blood so donated? How is it possible? Many people feel incomprehensible, but this is their decision!

Yang Lizhong, then secretary of the Hsingtang County Party Committee, learned that this group of unknown young people for the Hsingtang to do a big thing, touched, but also feel that this is the best opportunity to shine the county's cultural business card.

In July 2019, Hsingtang County Commission, the county government in the Shijiazhuang Art Museum organized the "Buddha edge craftsmanship ancient county chapter - Hsingtang County Qingliang Temple three bodhisattva mural facsimile and history and culture exhibition" and donation ceremony. At the ceremony, Yang Lizhong personally to the 26 creators each issued a bright red certificate of donation.

Where to place such a large mural? Yang Lizhong center has a blueprint.

Xingtang has many cultural relics and monuments, there are 279 immovable cultural relics points, Xingtang also found the site of the old county, after expert archaeological exploration and excavation, the site has the late Spring and Autumn to the middle of the Warring States period (5th century BC - 3rd century BC) with the characteristics of the northern ethnic groups of the aristocrats graveyard, residential sites and the Eastern Zhou city site. Thousands of pieces (groups) of copper, gold, jade, pottery, mussels and bone horns have been excavated from the site.

In the old county site to build a Xingtang Museum, the three bodhisattvas mural facsimiles and site artifacts, as well as the existing treasures of calligraphy and painting, party history and other historical documents displayed in the museum, not lost for the good planning of its place!

2021, a total floor area of more than six thousand square meters of Hebei Shijiazhuang Xingtang Museum main project is completed. Just waiting for the complete acceptance, into the collection of collections.

This may be the best ending to the story at this stage! But many cultural relics, including the three bodhisattvas mural is still adrift overseas, the hometown of the people are trying to find ways to let them go home, although the road back is long, but the dawn has been in the front. The three bodhisattvas mural facsimile of the exhibition and collection, in a sense for such lost overseas Chinese cultural relics how to continue to nourish the people, feeding the homeland, to provide a program, the significance is extraordinary! The return of lost overseas cultural relics, perhaps it is difficult, but can be explored to try to make more lost cultural relics in a variety of ways to return to the homeland in advance, nourishing the people. (Yang Huisu)