China & Inner Asia: Table of Contents
Organizer: Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia
Chair and Discussant: Albert E. Dien, Stanford University
The ancient capital city of Chang’an experienced a particularly turbulent phase from the fourth through the sixth centuries. Because of its symbolic status and strategic location, Chang’an and the surrounding Guanzhong plain on both sides of the Wei River became a contested region for the nomadic and pastoral tribes who then dominated northern China. The region witnessed the rise and fall of numerous alien kingdoms, from that of the Xiongnu to the Tibetan groups and the Xianbei.
Notwithstanding the focus of some traditional historians upon the alien kingdoms’ instability and political failures, Chang’an and the Wei River region have furnished modern scholars with rich materials for case studies. Yet, due to the diverse pursuits of their fields, images of Chang’an tend to be fragmented. Part one of this panel aims to provide a forum for cross-disciplinary dialogue.
Religious historians have examined Chang’an’s fluorescence as a Buddhist center under the imperial support of the Former and Later Qin kingdoms. Eminent figures such as Daoan, Kumarajiva and the pilgrim Faxian graced the city, leaving behind an important legacy of Buddhist texts and travel diaries. Liu Shufen examines the state of Buddhism in Chang’an after the Qin kingdoms collapsed. The production of Buddhist art has been overshadowed by sites such as Dunhuang, Yungang, and Longmen, but Chang’an retained its own distinct character, and emerged as a major artistic center by the late sixth century. Stanley Abe outlines the art styles of Chang’an and other sites in Shaanxi, exploring the dynamics of metropolitan and regional styles. In contrast, Dorothy Wong’s study investigates the social and religious contexts of artistic patronage. The influx of numerous ethnic groups to the Guanzhong plain gives opportunity to examine processes of assimilation, as well as mutual impact upon cultures. Scott Pearce explores the social, institutional, and ideological forces that brought about the formation of the Chang’an community in the sixth century.
Liu Shufen, Academia Sinica
This paper explores the development of Buddhism in and around the medieval metropolis of Chang’an, during the fifth and sixth centuries. Beginning in the fourth century, Chang’an served as the capital of the Former and Later Qin kingdoms. Under the patronage of these kingdoms’ alien rulers, major translation projects of Buddhist texts were undertaken, which attracted members of the sangha from far and wide. The Northern Wei’s annexation of the area in the early part of the fifth century, however, marked Chang’an’s decline in political importance. The impact these events had on Buddhism in Chang’an and its environs has yet to be examined.
In studying this topic, I attempt to answer the following questions: (1) How did Buddhism evolve in and around Chang’an after the city ceased serving as a dynastic capital? (2) Did members of the sangha residing in and around the city continue to engage in translation projects, or did they organize and participate in other religious activities? (3) What kind of religious activities did lay Buddhists in the area (both Han and non-Han) take part in, and how did they interact with Buddhist priests? (4) To what extent did these activities shape the subsequent development of Buddhism in the Chang’an area during the Sui and Tang dynasties? I intend to research these issues by drawing on a variety of sources, including Buddhist statuary inscriptions, and accounts in Huijiao’s Biographies of Eminent Monks and Daoxuan’s Supplement to the Biographies of Eminent Monks.
Stanley K. Abe, Duke University
There is a wide range of stone and metal sculpture from Shaanxi province dating from the 420s to the end of the Northern Wei period. While many of these works are well-known, few scholars have attempted to delineate the various regional styles found in the province. In this paper, I will present an initial outline of research on Buddhist and Daoist sculpture from Chang’an as well as major centers of production in outlying areas such as Yaoxian, Fuxian, Changwu, and Lintong in addition to the southern part of the province which was under the control of the Southern dynasties. What is notable about the range of materials from Shaanxi is that numerous provincial styles are quite distinct and robust, while the metropolitan style of Chang’an is rather limited in influence. Local artistic centers appear to have developed strong visual preferences that were impervious to influence from the "higher" traditions of the city. This paper will thus attempt to test the assumption that provincial artistic production is inferior to that of the metropolitan center in its inability to duplicate the aesthetically more advanced works of Chang’an. The alternative that will be suggested is that different levels of patronage as well as multiple stylistic approaches, including antiquarianism, shaped the production of a body of sculpture in Shaanxi that reflected complex, interrelated artistic choices for patrons and makers alike.
Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia
The inscriptions recorded on religious statues and commemorative stelae provide a wealth of historical and social information that supplement dynastic histories. They tell a lot about the ethnic and social composition of local communities, the religious outlook of the patrons and the clergy, and the practices of social and religious institutions. Through a fine combing of such data, this paper examines the social and religious underpinnings of artistic patronage in Chang’an and its vicinities during the Northern dynasties.
Historical events specific to this region include Chang’an’s fate as a political and religious capital for some but not all alien kingdoms, and the influxes and settlement of mixed nomadic peoples to the Guanzhong plain. How did artistic practices respond to such events? Who were now the main patrons of artistic production? For what reasons did they make donations? How were they organized and presented on monuments? What roles did Buddhist and Daoist institutions serve amid the rapidly changing social fabric? To what extent were pre-existing religious and social practices preserved and in what ways did they adapt to newly imposed changes? Finally, how did the pattern of artistic patronage in the Chang’an and nearby area compare with other centers of artistic production of the period? This paper attempts to address some of these questions through detailed analysis of specific examples.
Scott Pearce, Western Washington University
Like most great oaks, the Tang empire sprang from an acorn, the regional regime that took shape at Chang’an in the sixth century, around the Yuwen lineage (Western Wei-Northern Zhou, 535–580). But the acorn was, itself, not a simple, singular entity. it was a complex community. And like most complex communities—like most states and societies—it was in some sense created, fabricated; it was an assemblage of disparate elements drawn together by a combination of carrot and stick. The paper offered for this panel will focus on two interrelated themes: first, what were the constituent elements of the emerging Chang’an community; and second, how were these drawn together into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
For the former, I will clarify the origins, activities and interrelations of various regional and ethno-linguistic sub-groups, including native Han Chinese and Tibetans, as well as the interlopers around whom the regime grew up, the small band of proto-Mongol Xianbei, led by the Yuwen, who had come to the Guanzhong plain in the early sixth century as refugees from their original homeland on the Inner Asian frontier. I will then examine how these groups were melded together into a potent military and political force. A multi-faceted process, this developed along several planes simultaneously. New institutions and forms of association appeared that stood above and beyond barriers. Propaganda was used to foster new, shared attitudes and ideals. And underlying and dove-tailing with such intentional policies, were much broader and more diffuse forms of cultural mingling and interaction.