CREDIT - The Dunhuang webpages are researched and contributed by Prof. Ning Qiang
Major Events in Recent Years (China)
Academic Study Begun (1982) Beginning in the late 1970s, the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics shifted its focus from making copies of the wall paintings and painted sculptures to systematic academic research. The institute published its first collected works of Dunhuang studies, Dunhuang yanjiu wenji, and the trying issue of its research journal, Dunhuang Yanjiu, in 1982. Two years later, this small institute was substantially enlarged, and its name was changed into Dunhuang Research Academy, the current name of this institution. The main goals of the Dunhuang Research Academy are scientific conservation, academic research and systematic publication of the Dunhuang caves and manuscripts.
The National Assembly: An Academic and Political Event (1983) The first national assembly of Dunhuang studies was hold in Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu, in 1983. Co-sponsored by the Dunhuang Institute of Cultural Relics and Lanzhou University, this conference attracted more than 200 scholars from almost every province of China and a few scholars from Hong Kong. This large scale academic gathering soon turned into a political event when the scholars and government officials heard that a "foreign" (Japanese) professor proudly declared that "Dunhuang is in China but Dunhuang studies are in Japan." This Japanese arrogance enraged many Chinese scholars and officials. Deng Liqun, minister of the Propaganda Ministry of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party, delivered a long political speech in the academic conference, calling for a patriotic "long march" of Dunhuang studies. When Deng Xiaoping visited the Dunhuang caves, he ensured a strong governmental support by providing 3 million to construct a new complex of buildings at the site.
First International Conference of Dunhuang Studies (1987) Well funded by the government, the Dunhuang Research Academy organized the first international conference of Dunhuang studies at the Mogao Caves. Many foreign scholars, particularly Japanese scholars, were invited but the majority of participants was Chinese. At the end of this international conference, Duan Wenjie, director of the Dunhuang Research Academy, proudly declared that the studies of Dunhuang returned to the "hometown" of the Dunhuang materials, the Mogao Caves.
The Second International Conference of Dunhuang Studies (1990) The Second International Conference of Dunhuang Studies was hold at the Mogao Caves in 1990. Participants were divided into small groups. Lectures and discussions became more focused. Political pressure and patriotic feelings were replaced by academic approaches. Again, Japanese scholars formed the majority of foreign scholars of this conference. Most papers presented at the conference were published by Liaoning meishu chubanshe in 1992.
The Third International Conference of Dunhuang Studies (1994) The third International Conference of Dunhuang Studies made a striking change in format. All participants, including art historians, archaeologists, and experts of local history, religion and literature, presented their papers in a large lecture hall. This significant change probably reflected the organizers' interests in interdisciplinary approaches. This time, more than thirty American scholars and graduate students went to Dunhuang and became the majority of foreign participants of the international Dunhuang conference, indicating an increasing interest in the Dunhuang materials in the United States.
Major Events in Recent Years (U.S.A.)
The leading scholars of Dunhuang studies in the United States, Professors Wu Hung (Dunhuang art, formerly Harvard University and Currently the University of Chicago), Victor Mair (Dunhuang literature, University of Pennsylvania), Stephen Teiser (Dunhuang religion, Princeton University), Albert Dien (Silkroad history, Stanford University), Marylin Rhie (Dunhuang art, Smith College) and Patricia Karetzky (Dunhuang art, Bard College), played important roles in promoting Dunhuang studies in this country. In particular, Professor Wu Hung organized two special Dunhuang art issues of the Orientations, and encouraged his graduate students to focus on the study of Dunhuang caves. Recently, a group of young scholars, including Stanley Abe, Sarah Fraser, Dorothy Wang, Yuejin Wang, Janet Baker and Ning Qiang, started to publish their works on the Dunhuang caves, indicating a possible flourishing of the field in the near future.
The special issue of Dunhuang art of the Orientations (1992) The first special Dunhuang art issue of the Orientations (May, 1992), organized by Professor Wu Hung with Ning Qiang's assistance, focuses on the introduction and study of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang. Three senior fellows of the Dunhuang Research Academy, including the director, contributed to this issue. Wu Hung's article concentrates on the religious function and art historical significance of the paradise paintings of the Tang caves. Ning Qiang's article focuses on the architecture, sculpture and paintings of the Northern Wei Dunhuang caves.
Duan Weijie's visit to the United States (1992) In order to stimulate the studies of Dunhuang art in the United States, Ning Qiang arranged an academic visit for Mr. Duan Wenjie, director of the Dunhuang Research Academy, to this country. Sponsored by the National Geographic Magazine, Mr. Duan delivered a series of lectures on the Dunhuang caves in varied institutions including the National Gallery in Washington D.C., China Institute in New York, Harvard University, Smith College, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, U.C. Berkeley and Stanford University. Mr. Duan's lectures introduced the Dunhuang caves to a very broad audience and encouraged American graduate students to study Dunhuang Buddhist art.
The "Paradise Conference" at Harvard (1994) Based on a survey of Buddhist art studies in the United States, I realized that this field was still underdeveloped. The connections among Buddhist art experts were loose; their publications were scattered in varied journals and difficult to find. I thought it would be very helpful to bring these scholars together, and in such a way, we could understand where we were and where should we go. The idea of organizing a conference on Buddhist art studies came into my mind in early 1993. Supported by the Li-Ching Cultural and Educational Foundation, the Department of Fine Arts and the Harvard University Museums, we formed an organizational team and hold the conference at Harvard in the fall of 1994. Attached are some details of this international symposium:
Localizing the Imaginary --A Symposium on the Paradise Representation in East Asian Art
October 20-21, 1995, Harvard University
To Promote the studies on Chinese art and culture, the Department of Fine Arts, the Li-Ching Foundation and the Harvard Art Museums plan to sponsor an international conference: Localizing the Imaginary--A Symposium on the Paradise Imagery in East Asian Art in October 20-21, 1995. This conference will be held at the Lecture Hall of the Sackler Museum of Harvard University, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Buddhist art of East Asia has produced dazzling visionary tableaux of paradise. These imaginary configurations in turn have generated curious speculations about their meaning and function in medieval East Asian life and mentality. Rather than seeking answers purely in a set of over-arching and esoteric Buddhist doctrines and abstract teachings, the symposium attempts to place the medieval representations of paradise in local contexts and consequently, turning the matters of religion into more pressing circumstantial concerns of political and social interests. The conference thus also provides a forum to test alternative approaches to Buddhist art. The two-day symposium is an occasion for the gathering of international scholars interested in both Buddhist art and East Asian medieval studies.
Friday, October 20, 1995
1:00 Opening Remarks Irene Winter, Professor and Chair, Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University
SESSION I
Wu Hung, University of Chicago The Emergence of Paradise as a Place in Early Chinese Art
Yen Chuan-Ying, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Early Pure Land Illustrations and the Hua-Yen Teaching: The Hsiao-nan-hai and Nan-hsiang-t'ang Caves.
Marilyn Gridley, University of Missouri-Kansas City Paintings from Shanxi of Tejaprabha's Paradise
3:15 PM SESSION II
Lanying Tseng, University of Chicago Ascending toward Heaven: On Ceiling Images in Three Painted Han Tombs
Patricia Karetzky, Bard College The Paradise of the Buddha of Infinite Life and its Western Origins
Lee Yu-Min, National Palace Museum, Taiwan The Welcoming Amitabha Paintings from Khara Khoto
Question and Discussion
Open Reception, Lobby, Sackler Museum
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1995
10:00 AM SESSION III
Donald F. Mccallum, University of California, Los Angeles Release from Hell and Rebirth in the Western Paradise: The Cult of the Zenkoji Amida
Ning Qiang, Harvard University Perception and Practice: A Functional Approach to the Western Paradise in Dunhuang Cave 220
Ann Morse, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Visualization of Paradise: Image Hall as Ritual Space
Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan, Yale University Pure Land Temples as Landscapes of Transformation and Defense in Medieval Japan
1:30 PM SESSION IV
Stanley Abe, Duke University Coming into Paradise: Earliest Images of Rebirth from Dunhuang
Eugene Yuejin Wang, Harvard University Whose Paradise Is It, Anyway? The Lotus Sutra Tableau in Cave 217 at Dunhuang Revisited
Ho Puay-Peng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Constructing Paradise: Heavenly Buildings in the Silk Paintings of Dunhuang
3:30 PM SESSION V
Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Boston University Embarking for the Pure Land at Kumano
Hu Tongqing, Dunhuang Research Academy, Dunhuang Paradise Scenes in Later Dunhuang Murals
Cherie A. Wendelken, Harvard University Constructing a Secular Paradise: The Temple Towns of the Shin Sect
CLOSING
John Rosenfield, Rockfeller Professor of East Asian Art, emeritus, Harvard University
This international conference at Harvard University brought East Asian Bu
ddhist art historians together and generated a stronger interest in the studies of the Dunhuang Caves in the United States.
The Second Special Dunhuang Art Issue of the Orientations (1996) Organized by Professor Wu Hung again, the second special issue of Dunhuang art appeared in November 1996. This issue of the Orientations features young Dunhuang scholars in the United States. The five articles published in this issue are the following:
WU Hung, "Rethinking Liu Sahe: The Creation of a Buddhist Saint and the Invention of a 'Miraculous Image.'" pp.32-43. Yuejin Wang, "Whose Paradise Is It, Anyway? The Lotus Sutra Tableau in Dunhuang's Cave 217 Revisited." pp.44-49. NING Qiang, "Buddhist-Daoist Conflict and Gender Transformation: Deciphering the Illustrations of the Vimalakirti-nirdesha in Mediaeval Chinese Art." pp.50-59. Sarah E. Fraser, "Regimes of Production: The Use of Pounces in Temple Construction." pp.60-69. FAN Jinshi & MEI Lin, "An Interpretation of the Maudgalyayana Murals in Cave 19 at Yulin." pp.70-75.
The Establishment of the Silkroad Foundation (1996) In response to the increasing interests in the cultural sites along the ancient Silkroad, the Silkroad Foundation was established in San Francisco, California, in 1996. This cultural foundation promote the preservation and study of the cultures and arts on the Silkroad, including the Dunhuang Caves. This Dunhuang webpage is sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation.
