The Forest of Stone Tablets Museum is courtyard-styled structure.
It is situated on the site of the Confucian Temple on Sanxue Street
Xi’an. It served as the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Tang Dynasty,
and later became the Confucian Temple in Song Dynasty. In 1950, it
was extended into the museum that greets us today.
The structure ahead of us is called “Pailou”, which derived from “Paifang”.
Paifang was set up to honor men of attainments in ancient times, and
could be seen almost everywhere in china.
Jingyun Bell is housed in the eastern pavilion inside the second gate.
It was cast during the second reign of Jingyun; hence its name. Originally,
it was hung inside the bell tower of Jinglong Taoist Temple in the
west street today. It’s said that its clear and beautiful sound could
be heard all over the city.
The Forest of Stone Tablets was originally set up in 1087. The treasure
house comprises a large collection of centuries-old stone tablets.
Over 3000 tone tablets from the Han Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty
are preserved. The museum named “Forest of Stone Tablet” because it
houses numerous stone tablets which like a dense forest. And it was
officially named in Qing Dynasty. The museum is not only a treasure
house of ancient Chinese calligraphy, but also a rich collection of
historical documents and stone carving of various styles.
This place initially served to store the stone classics of the Tang
Dynasty, including the “Classic on Filial Piety” in the handwriting
of Emperor Xuan Zong in 745 and the “Kaicheng Stone Classics” engraved
in 837. They were originally erected inside the Imperial Academy,
in the area of Wenyi Road, south of the urban district, in the tang
Dynasty.
The stone tablets ate now on display in seven display rooms, six epitaph
corridors and one tablet pavilion.
The first display room houses the “Kaicheng Stone Classics”, including
12 Chinese classics, namely “The Book of Changes”, “The Book of History
”, “The Book of Songs ”, “The rites of the Zhou Dynasty”, (“The Book
of Ceremonies”, “The Book of Rites ”,) and so on. The classics, with
more than 650,000 characters, were engraved double-sided on 114 stone
tablets. The display room also houses another classic entitled “mencius”,
(with 30,000 characters, which was engraved on 17 stone tablets) in
the Qing Dynasty. This Classic and 12 others are called the “Thirteen
Classics”. These 12 classics were the readings required for intellectuals
of feudal society. Printing was quite backward in ancient times. The
classics were engraved on stones as the standard copy so that they
could be well kept and men of letters could avoid errors in copying
them. The stone tablets were then erected in Chang’an Imperial Academy
for the proof-reading of handwritten copies. From the Eastern Han
Dynasty onwards, the classics were engraved seven times. However,
only the “Kaicheng Stone Classics” remain intact today.
The second display room mainly houses the stone tablets of calligraphy
written by famous calligraphers of Tang Dynasty. Up to today, these
tablets have served as models for learners of calligraphy to follow.
“The Nestorian Tablet” provides valuable data for the study of the
cultural exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and other countries. “Da
Qin” is an ancient Chinese term for the Roman Empire. Nestorianism
is a sect of Christianity. When introcuced into China, it got its
Chinese name “Jing Jiao”. Nestorianism spread its influence to Chang’an
in 635 AD. The stone tablet was made in 781 AD. It offers an introduction
to the doctrines, rites and influence of Nestorianism, and the activities
of its Chinese believers during the Tang Dynasty. It also bears the
names of many missionaries and records some incidents in the Syriac
language.
The third display room houses the stone tablets that range from the
Han dynasty to the Song Dynasty. They bear a wide variety of Chinese
script forms, including seal script, official script, regular script,
running script and cursive script. These stone tablets show the evolution
of the Chinese writing system.
The official script appeared by the end of Qin Dynasty. Compared with
seal script, it is simple and easy to write. The evolution from the
seal script to the official script is generally reckoned to be a dramatic
change in the forms of Chinese characters. The official script became
popular in the Han Dynasty.
This is a stone tablet inscribed with characters in regular script,
which began in the period of the Three Kingdoms. It came to maturity
and gained popularity during the Sui and Tang dynasties. The rulers
of the successive dynasties all made it a rule that official documents
and imperial examination papers should be written in regular script.
This is called the 1,000-character Stone Tablet in cursive script.
It comprises 1,000 different characters. The stone tablet is said
to have served as a primer for children in ancient times. It was written
by the celebrated calligrapher Monk Huai Su in the Tang Dynasty. His
bold and unconstrained style of writing was followed by other calligraphers
in later periods.
The fourth display room houses the poetry works of the well-known
calligraphers, tablets of historical significance in the Ming and
Qing dynasties. And it also houses some line engravings from the Song
to Qing dynasties.
This stone sculpture showroom was built in 1963. It houses more than
70 stone sculptures, which were originally collected from different
parts of Shaanxi Province. These pieces of art are classified into
two groups: mausoleum carvings and religious carvings. They are arranged
in a chronological order.
These stone relievos date back to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and they
were discovered in Northern Shaanxi.
These rilievos, vivid and true to life, are the microcosm of the social
life of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, they are not only works of art,
but historical records as well. They provide valuable data for the
study of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
About 500 stone relievos that date back to the Eastern Han dynasty
were unearthed in Northern Shaanxi, and 133 out of them are preserved
at the Forest of Stone Tablets Museum.
This piece of stone carving shows how oxen were used for plowing in
the fields in Northern Shaanxi, and provides us with a general understanding
of the country’s level of agriculture production in ancient times.
Such a work of art about ancient plowing, though simple in style,
is rarely seen and very valuable.
This is an intact gate to a mausoleum. Its leaf is decorated with
the patterns of the Scarlet Bird, the Blue Dragon and the White Tiger,
and its lower part, with the pattern of the Tortoise. The four animals
were believed to be gods of directions in ancient times, representing
the South, the East the West and the North respectively. The appearance
of such patterns on the door suggested good luck and safety in ancient
times.
This stone rhino, 10 tons in weight, was carved in 635 AD, and initially
placed in front of Emperor Tang Gao Zu’s tomb. It was modeled out
of a huge stone after the live rhino that a foreign envoy sent to
the Royal Court in the Tang Dynasty. It is actually a memento of friendship
between China and foreign countries.
What we shall see next are stone carvings based on religion and on
Buddhism in particular.
Buddhism was introduced into China from India around the first century
AD. During the periods of the Wei, the Jin, the North and south, different
sects of Buddhism appeared in China. There were many scholars who
specialized in Buddhisn and gave lectures on the religion. Buddhism
was at its heyday in the Sui and tang dynasties. Different sects of
Buddhism were developed in China. Idol carving also came to china
with Buddhism, and stimulated the development of Chinese sculpture.
This is a statue of Li Er, the founder of Taoism. The religion originated
from the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The statue was probably created
by Yuan Jia’er, a famous sculptor from the Western regions. This work
of art is one of the masterpieces among the Tang-Dynasty sculptures.
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