Perhaps for professional reasons, I have a strong interest in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges and Japanese language, culture and customs. Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges have a long history, and it is naturally difficult to explain them clearly for a while. There have been many frictions and wars between China and Japan in this long history. Far from it, the looting of Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty was once crazy, and the southeast coast of China suffered greatly. During World War II, Japan's atrocities against China and the Nanjing Massacre, a crime that China people will never forget, vividly accused Japan of irreparable harm to our people. However, these obvious contradictions and "national enmity" between the two countries still cannot deny many positive exchanges and civilized communication in history and their important influence on future generations of the two countries.

In this long exchange from ancient times to the present, I want to talk about my understanding and thinking about the cultural exchange between China and Japan during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. On the communication between China and Japan from the two major events: the prevalence of Buddhist art and the "credentials incident"

Buddhism originated in India and was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty, and then to Japan through the Korean Peninsula. This foreign religion, which was regarded as "fascinated by God" at that time, took root and sprouted in the soil of ancient Japanese culture in the collision and integration with Japan's original "national god" belief. As we all know, accepting foreign religions is undoubtedly a denial of the gods we believe in and is in danger of destroying the old ruling system. However, even in the case of sharp opposition between the two factions, Buddhism still gained a firm foothold in the upper class of the Japanese ruling group and quickly penetrated into Japanese society. What is the reason for it

I think it is the following reasons: First, the power of Buddhism. It is recorded in an ancient book: "It is the law, which is the most unique and difficult to enter. Duke Zhou and Confucius can't know it yet. This method can produce endless blessings and even become the supreme bodhi. For example, people are pregnant with random treasures, and they must exhaust their feelings one by one. " Therefore, the benefits of believing in Buddhism and infinite magic are almost obvious. China people show the ultimate attitude of worshipping this divine power. In addition, the huge cultural gap between Japan and the mainland, the rich spiritual connotation of Buddhism itself and the material extension as the carrier of advanced civilization have irresistible temptation to the ancient Japanese nation at the beginning of ignorance. Therefore, with the passage of time, the number of Buddhist believers in the royal nobility has gradually increased. Secondly, the power of worshipping Buddha is powerful. Su, a Buddhist believer in the royal family, wiped out the anti-Buddhist forces with absolute military superiority and enabled Buddhism to spread rapidly. When Shoto Kutaishi was in power, he was "deeply respecting the three treasures" and personally promoted Buddhism. On the one hand, he sent people (sister Xiao Ye) to the mainland to pray for Buddha, on the other hand, he allocated human and financial resources to build temples in China. Third, the outstanding contribution of Jian Zhen monks. He is an outstanding figure in the history of ancient Sino-Japanese exchanges, and almost everyone knows him. In addition to spreading Buddhism, he also brought temple architecture, sculpture and painting art and medical knowledge to Japan, and made outstanding contributions to Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges. Today, Horyuji and his national treasures, such as Jade Bug Boiling, Qin Wang Broken Array Music, Ye Wan Collection, Folding Fan, Flower Arrangement and other architectural paintings, music and dance literature and art, are remarkable manifestations of the profound influence of China culture on Japanese culture. In any case, the prevalence of Buddhism in Japan is closely related to China, and this similarity in ideological field makes it possible for China and Japan to have more in-depth exchanges in other aspects.

The communication between any two countries will not be completely mutually beneficial, equal and fair. Naturally, the communication between China and Japan can't be completely smooth sailing. Let's say the "credentials incident". In 607 AD, Japan sent sister Ono (it is worth mentioning that he is a man. ) I took a group of Buddhist monks to study Buddhism in Sui Dynasty and presented my credentials to Emperor Yang Di. The beginning of the letter is "the sun source makes the book day safe." But in the tributary system of ancient East Asia, only the emperor of China could be called "the son of heaven". Therefore, the Japanese called the supreme ruler of the country "the son of heaven" in the letter, which greatly displeased Emperor Yang Di, and ordered "no more rude words in barbarian books". Then, an interesting thing happened. When Sister Xiao Ye returned to China to report to the Emperor, she said that the credentials given by Emperor Yang Di to the Japanese King were accidentally lost. Later generations have many comments or criticisms on this statement. But what is certain is that his "mistake" avoided the tension between China and Japan that may be caused by the language problems in the credentials, which contributed to Pei's successful return visit and brought back unprecedented complete and accurate Japanese information. In 609 ad. Sister Xiao Ye came to China as an envoy to see the Sui Dynasty off. This time, the credentials learned from the previous lesson and looked up as: "The East Emperor respects the White Emperor", which cleverly avoided the issue of relations between the two countries. In this way, due to their respective political, economic, diplomatic, cultural and educational needs, the official exchanges between China and Japan reached the first climax. No matter for the purpose and need of communication, Chinese emperors all over the world have the concept of "taking me as the center". Even in order to safeguard the dignity of a big country, he was greatly dissatisfied with the slightly "disrespectful" words of foreign countries, and even made some childish moves, which somewhat violated the demeanor of a big country. However, out of the strategic need to make friends far away and attack near, these rulers took a friendly step in the exchanges between China and foreign countries, and also created the prosperous situation of China in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Since ancient times, people in China and Japan, two East Asian neighbors, are willing to use the phrase "only a strip of water" to describe their proximity. But the facts show that the real distance between China and Japan, whether geographically or psychologically, is not as easy to cross as "only a strip of water". People in any country cannot judge the values of other nations according to their own moral standards, and I think it is precisely because the world is full of diversity and pluralism that it is necessary to exchange needed items from generation to generation. Looking back on history and looking forward to the future, we all have reason to believe that the exchanges between China and Japan can be carried out smoothly.