Book Report Dunhuang: Precious Cultural Heritage of Humanity
In his newly-built, well-furnished residence, Toksu has kept a notebook in which he has recorded his family’s journey out of poverty.
An illness that brought Toksu down in 2012 plunged the family of five into poverty. The next year they were added to the poverty registration database, and state aid began to stream in. “We received subsidies for farming and subsistence allowances, more subsidies for the construction of our house, a sheepfold, and cowshed, as well as cows, sheep, and chickens to start an animal husbandry business. We climbed out of poverty in 2017,” he recalled while flipping through his notebook.
Xinjiang began to promote the “courtyard economy” among local farmers and herders in 2015, and the benefits are obvious.
“With the per capita income above RMB 17,000, our life is much better.” Toksu went on to give the reporter a breakdown: RMB 21,000 from the land lease, RMB 10,000 from raising livestock, and RMB 40,000 from his son’s wages. “These are in addition to state subsidies for the critical illness insurance program, cooperative medical care system, industrial activities, and pension,” he added.
During the interview, Guo Huiqing, an official of the town government in charge of poverty alleviation, paid a visit. Toksu introduced him to the reporter as his brother, “He visits me from time to time, and has helped in building this house and the sheepfold and cowshed. Today he has come to help with sawing logs,” he said.
Guo’s name has appeared in Toksu’s notebook since 2014. He visits the family almost every week. “The elder couple cannot handle certain kinds of intensive labor alone while their children are working out of town. Our help can make their life easier,” Guo said.
“I plan to grow some vegetables this year for personal consumption and for sale as well,” Toksu said. The couple are full of hope and energy every day, getting up at 8 o’clock every morning to feed the cattle and sheep, prepare the soil, and fertilize the plots. “Having received so much assistance from the state, we must do our part to build a better life.” C
DUNHUANG is a city located at the westernmost region of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. In ancient history, the geographical location of Dunhuang played the crucial role in the communication between China and the West. In today’s world, it is also the birthplace of international Dunhuang studies. The exquisitely designed book
expounds on the history of Dunhuang and its cultural and artistic achievements.
The book was co-authored by two experts in Dunhuangology – Chai Jianhong and Liu Jinbao, both of whom not only provided much fascinating historical information, but also presented it in an easy-to-understand writing style. The book is divided into eight chapters which elaborate on the origin of the name “Dunhuang,” the construction of Mogao Caves, Library Cave, and Dunhuang Manuscripts, as well as the loss of Dunhuang treasures and murals, and painted sculptures. More than 1,650 years of history has been narrated in a simple and readable way, including 91 precious historical photos and highdefinition pictures about murals and painted sculptures, accompanied with a list of institutions
with the collection of Dunhuang documents.
The binding design of the little book shows originality. With raw edges and bare spine, all elements and colors match Dunhuang murals. Ochre is chosen as the background color for the book jacket, embellished with azurite. As readers open the cover that shows a part of a mural, they easily feel like they are exploring the Dunhuang treasures.
Dunhuang culture and art is of world significance today because of the historical and cultural artifacts discovered in the Mogao Caves. These mainly include grotto art (i.e. painted sculptures, murals, and cave architecture), documents, paintings on silk, and other archeological artifacts unearthed from the Library Cave, and other surrounding cultural sites (temples, pagodas, and steles).
The Mogao Caves are located 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang City at the eastern base of the Singing Sands Mountain. The construction of the caves started during the fourth century and continued until the 14th century. Among over 800 grottos in Dunhuang, 735 have survived to date.
Since the Mogao Caves were cut into the side of sandstone mountains, the sand was loose and unsuitable for accurate carving, causing the builders to make clay models before they painted them, together with colorful murals. In the caves, there is over 45,000 square meters of mural paintings. No wonder French scholars called the site a “Library on Walls.”
After the discovery of the Library Cave in 1900, the British, French, Russian, Japanese, and other foreign “explorers” stole a large quantity of the artifacts. The great majority of them are scattered all over the world now on display in a dozen museums and libraries as well as in the hands of some individuals. Among all these places, Beijing, London, Paris, and St. Petersburg are known as the four collection centers of Dunhuang literature.
Dunhuang once served as the cultural center and relay station of trade between the East and the West where multi-ethnic cultures blended together. Since the opening of th e Silk Road in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), the culture of the Central Plains spread to Dunhuang, took root there, and flourished. Meanwhile, Buddhism was introduced to Dunhuang from India early on. In the trail of Indian Buddhist culture followed Western and Central Asian cultures, allowing different cultures to meet, collide, and mix here. As the late professor Ji Xianlin (19112009), the first president of China Dunhuang and Turpan Society, pointed out, “There are four cultures in the world that boast long history, are influential, and enjoy a powerful independent system: Chinese, Indian, Greek, and Islamic. All of these four cultural systems met in Dunhuang and Xinjiang in China.”
As a consequence of agricultural prosperity, the commodity economy in Dunhuang flourished and the market was filled with silk and porcelain from the Central Plains, jade and jewelry from the Western Regions, textiles, camels, and horses from the north, areca nuts and other tropical products as well as local handicrafts. These exchanges are also reflected in the documents of the Library Cave, as well as the Dunhuang murals and painted sculptures.
In 1979, Dunhuang was listed by the State Council among the first group of open cities of China. And the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang were inscribed by UNESCO in 1987 on the World Heritage List. Today, the beautiful landscape of Dunhuang, both natural and cultural, is attracting visitors from all over the world.
The book points out that the internationalism of Dunhuang studies is firstly reflected in the internationalism of Dunhuang cultural artifacts per se. The caves in Dunhuang are the essence of Buddhist art. They give an expression to the charm of multi-ethnic and multi-religious cultures in their coexistence, mutual tolerance, reconciliation, and development. They are also the fruit of cultural communication between China and other countries. Secondly, the internationalism of Dunhuang studies is reflected in the internationalism of the collection of Dunhuang documents. Most of them have been published in pictorial form, and the number of corresponding digitalized versions and databases is increasing every year, making it convenient for users to access them. Dunhuang attracts the attention of scholars across the globe, while the internationalism of the collection of Dunhuang documents promotes its systemization, research, and international exchange. C