Zhang Daqian painted murals in Dunhuang, and these excuses are untenable. Zhang Daqian not only peeled off murals, but also scribbled on them and even wrote his own name. The above-mentioned defense words are "fallacious" because the core files of Dunhuang murals destroyed by Zhang Daqian still exist, which is indisputable. I quote the following letter written to Yu Youren on February 5, 1942/kloc-0: "Dean Yu Youren gave me a warning: At the end of last year, Ji () received a letter signed by Feng, curator of Sichuan Provincial Museum, and Zheng Dekun, curator of Huaxi University Museum, which said that Jun had returned from Dunhuang archaeology and made a public speech in Chengdu. It is said that the Thousand Buddha Cave in Dunhuang is still preserved. However, the murals of various dynasties were not on the same plane. The earliest murals were in the innermost part, and later people painted mud on them and repainted them. Mr. Zhang Daqian wanted to copy the handwriting of people in different dynasties, so he drew the top layer first, then took it off after painting, and then drew the next layer, gradually drawing and taking it off, hoping to get the painting method of each generation. Feng and Zheng Erjun think that Mr. Zhang's move did not take into account the preservation method of antiquities. Stripping off a layer of murals means destroying one layer. Mr. Zhang's art has made great progress, but it is an irreparable loss to the whole culture. I hope the Ministry of Education and the Central Antiquities Preservation Committee will stop it as soon as possible. Fu Sinian after receiving this letter. I deeply sympathize with Feng and Zheng Jun's opinions, but in the case of Mr. Zhang peeling murals, Feng and Zheng did not see it with their own eyes, nor did they dare to lead them to listen to the truth just because of Wei Jun's words, or because of inaccuracy, for fear of hurting the sages. Later, I indirectly heard that the Ministry of Education sent someone to say the same thing, but I missed others and didn't give it. In the summer of this year, an investigation group of northwest history and geography was established, and professors from National Southwest United University were invited to participate. Mr. Xiang Da is an authority in the field of history, and his achievements in studying the history of Chinese and Western traffic have long been known to Chinese and foreign people. In September, I went from Fei Lan in Chongqing to Dunhuang in the west, and received a letter from him saying that I visited the Thousand Buddha Cave and met Mr. Zhang Daqian. Mr. Zhang hired four lamas, and with the help of his sons and nephews and students, he copied murals in the stone room all day. Murals have single and several layers; In August, Xin Si found that there were paintings of the Tang Dynasty on the wall of this courtyard, so he ordered his son to take care of it and led his painting friends to talk about it and Li Fu. After three days, he stripped off the outer layer, which was quite old-fashioned, delighted and amazed by the topic. Shu is full of beards. " In addition, when copying, the original painting was hooked at will, and the easel of the ladder table was placed on the wall, and how to damage the picture was not spared. Xiang Jun believes that if this behavior continues, the murals of the Thousand Buddha Cave will be destroyed in two or three years. Because the article "Study on the Management of Thousand Buddha Caves in Dunhuang and Other Related Issues" was drafted and sent here, I deeply feel that this article is of great significance to Xiang Jun, but it is a pity to bury it. So mimeographed more than 20 copies and distributed them to friends related to art. As for the proposal to nationalize the Thousand Buddha Cave and set up a management organization. The treasures of several countries can last forever ... "(2)
Yu Youren (left in the front row), Zhang Daqian (middle in the front row) and Zhang Qun (right in the front row) took a group photo at 19465438. From this letter, we can see that Zhang Daqian's behavior of destroying murals has attracted academic attention since he led a team to Dunhuang in 194 1, and the complaint letter was handed over to Fu Sinian and Li Ji long ago. However, due to Zhang Daqian's deep political and scientific relationship and his close friends with Yu Youren, Fu and Li did not take action without direct evidence. It was not until 1942 that the famous historian Xiang Da went to Dunhuang with the delegation that he witnessed Zhang Daqian peeling off the outer mural and smearing it at will. He even wrote his own name "Shu Chuan Da Qian" ... Xiang Dashen was impressed, "The mural of Thousand Buddha Cave will be destroyed" and wrote a detailed report to Fu and Li. Fu and Li Er asked Yu Youren in the form of a joint letter. Xiang Da, a famous historian, is the greatest hero who prevented Zhang Daqian from destroying Dunhuang murals. The delegation of the Ministry of Education witnessed that Zhang Daqian did not copy the outer mural according to the original picture, and the destroyed mural could never be copied. Fu mentioned that "people who heard it indirectly from the Ministry of Education also said so", referring to the northwest art and cultural relics investigation group of the Ministry of Education headed by Wang Ziyun. When Zhang Daqian led a team to "inspect" the Mogao Grottoes, the delegation also made an inspection in the Mogao Grottoes. Wang Ziyun witnessed Zhang Daqian's way of copying murals, and he was very disapproving. Wang said: "Our purpose is to preserve the original appearance and faithfully copy the original painting according to its existing colors, while Zhang Daqian did not preserve the existing appearance, but' restored' the original appearance. He hired three Lama painters from Ta 'er Temple in Qinghai to restore the faded murals of Thousand Buddha Cave to their original appearance by using the painting methods and colors of Tibetan murals in Ta 'er Temple. However, whether it is really the original appearance needs further study. It just makes people feel red, green and harsh, as if they are looking at a newly built temple, and it seems a bit' artisan'. " (3) In other words, although Zhang left a copy when he destroyed the mural, his copy is not a faithful record of the destroyed mural. On the contrary, it is just a "restoration map" drawn according to his personal understanding, which directly leads to the fact that there is no possibility of copying the destroyed mural, while Zhang Daqian has a unique "restoration map" with a strong personal imprint. Xiang Da witnessed Zhang Daqian's "Dramatic Cutting of Song and Yuan Murals" because of his personal preference. Xiang reflected Zhang Daqian's destruction of cultural relics to Fu and Li, and Fu and Li weakened them when they relayed Yu Youren. Gu quoted a letter from Xiang: "Zhang Daqian, as a river and lake painter, has been entrenched here for more than a year. He assembled more than ten people to do the copying work, sketched the original painting at will, described and destroyed the picture without mercy. Moreover, the cave is used as a bedroom, the town is closed every day, and tourists are wrapped in their feet. What is particularly outrageous is the unauthorized peeling of murals. Zhang worshiped the Northern Wei Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, so he thought that it was not desirable to follow the Song Dynasty. In order to find out the titles and inscriptions of the works of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, all the murals in the Song and Yuan Dynasties were cut down in a drastic way. It seems that in 2002 or 2003, the Thousand Buddha Cave was devastated. I don't know what it is! " ④
The Dunhuang mural "Sui Wenshu Begging for Illness" copied by Zhang Daqian was completely destroyed, and most of the newly exposed murals were broken because there was no stripping technology. In a letter to Zeng, Xiang gave a more detailed description of Zhang Daqian's destruction of cultural relics: "Painting on the face is a good thing and beyond reproach. But this generation paints murals at will, that is, ladder table easel. In other words, as a family bedroom, the cave locks the town every day, and the viewers are bound. The most disgusting person is peeling murals at will. The caves in the Thousand-Buddha Cave were often first opened in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasties and rebuilt in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The picture occasionally falls off and is damaged, revealing its original appearance. Zhang Ku liked the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties, so he cut off the upper level drastically. Later, when people rebuilt it, 19 cut off the original painting to make the plaster stick easily. Therefore, after the upper layer is cut off, the income is still only residual water, and sometimes there is no residual water in this residual mountain. For example, Cave 302 compiled by Zhang was rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, and Zhang stripped off the Song paintings. Now the two statues of the heavenly kings painted in the Tang dynasty have been destroyed, and there is nothing under them, while the paintings in the Song dynasty have been broken and out of control. Wait, and so on. The Thousand-Buddha Cave is a collection of ancestral spirits and a treasure of China art, which is owned by the state, not privately owned by local individuals. Who is Zhang? What right does he have to treat the Thousand Buddha Cave as private property and destroy it at will? As for this? This can be tolerated! " ⑤ In a long article published under the pseudonym "Fang Hui", Xiang Da bitterly pointed out the great destructiveness of Zhang Daqian's behavior: "There are many caves in the Thousand Buddha Cave, which were originally opened in the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties, but were rebuilt by Xixia in the Five Dynasties and even in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The first layer of the picture occasionally peels off, and you can see that there are traces of one or two layers below. An artist who prefers the Northern Wei, Sui, Tang and even the Five Dynasties is obsessed with history, cutting off the upper layer and exposing the lower layer for their appreciation. However, when murals are rebuilt, the lower layer is often cut and broken, and then stuck with mud. After peeling, the income is only some residual water. Even if the lower layer does not peel off, but is stuck by the soil above for too long, once peeled off, the color and ink of the lower layer often stick together. Therefore, peeling off murals is a very difficult problem in technology. Before the technical problems are satisfactorily solved, my personal opinion is that it is better not to peel them easily. If you peel it casually, you will often lose more than you gain, and you will regret it. As for painting, don't sketch the original painting at will, and don't lean on murals, such as tables and ladders, so as not to damage the picture. That's the minimum example for people who study painting. There is no need to elaborate on it one by one. But unfortunately, this work of stripping murals and paintings continues. No one can stop it, and no one will. Look at the murals of the Thousand Buddha Cave, which will be destroyed in two or three years. What a sad thing. ⑥ Although it was exposed at the end of 1942, Zhang Daqian left Dunhuang as late as 1943+0 1. However, Xiang Da's shouting failed to achieve immediate results. Until April 1943, Gu Cai, the chairman of Gansu provincial government, called Chen Ruxue, the county magistrate of Dunhuang, and asked him to "tell Zhang Jun Daqian that the murals should not be slightly defaced to avoid misunderstanding." At the same time, Zhang was hired as a member of the Preparatory Committee of Dunhuang Art Research Institute. In October 165438+, Zhang Daqian led a team to leave Dunhuang. As far as the available materials are concerned, the destruction of Dunhuang murals by Zhang Daqian and his team lasted at least from the end of 194 1 to the beginning of 1943. As for the total amount of damage, due to the scattered statistical data of Hunan University in those days, it is difficult to make a detailed textual research today. ⑦ In view of this matter, there was a feeling in the academic circles that day: "Recently, Chinese people are talking about developing the northwest, and Dunhuang art is often concerned by celebrities. However, as one of its institutions, with Xun Yu (Yu Youren) as its protector and Zhang Daqian as its mainstay, it is doubtful whether the historic sites in the northwest can last forever. "In fact, in addition to destroying murals, Zhang Daqian also took away an unknown number of Dunhuang cultural relics. According to He Shizhe, a senior scholar of Dunhuang Academy, "As far as I know, Mr. Zhang Daqian only gave Zhang Junyi to the former Dunhuang Academy of Art, and it is still kept in Dunhuang Academy. The rest of the cultural relics were taken away by Mr. Zhang Daqian and later dispersed to the Japanese tenri university Library. " Pet-name ruby note ① Li Yongqiao, Chronicle of Zhang Daqian, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, 1987, P482-483. ② The original of this letter is now in the Central Research Institute of Taiwan Province Province; The letter mentioned Feng, curator of Sichuan Museum, and Zheng Dekun, curator of Huaxi University Museum, written in 194 1 12.20, and the original is also kept in the Academia Sinica of Taiwan Province Province. ③ Wang Ziyun, from Chang 'an to Athens: Travels of Chinese and Foreign Art Archaeology (I), Yuelu Bookstore, 2005, P70-7 1. ④ ⑤ Letter to Fu Sinian, 1942 1 1.5. Letter to Zeng Zhaokui, 1942 1 1.5. ⑥ Xiangda, Study on the Management of Thousand Buddha Caves in Dunhuang and Related Issues, Chongqing Ta Kung Pao,194265438+February 27th, 28th and 30th. ⑦ Xiang Da once wrote an outline of the stripping of the Thousand Buddha Cave in Dunhuang, and I don't know where it exists. See Rong Xinjiang's "Shocking the Sand and Shaking the Desert-An Investigation of Dunhuang in Xiangda University and Its Academic Significance", which is included in Xue Ji of Xiangda University, Sanlian Bookstore, 20 10. Today, Tang Yongtong gave it to Hu Shixin, 1943 65438+ 10/9. Pet-name ruby He Shizhe, Zhang Daqian's Doubt on Never Destroying Dunhuang Murals, Dunhuang Studies, No.01issue.