Taiwan Today

In ancient times, Tun Huang was the bustling oasis town in arid north­-central China where the great silk route divided for India and Turkestan. In modern times, the Kansu province town has been known mainly for the vast repository of Chinese art stored in the hundreds of grottoes that dot the hard-packed clay cliffs. The Tun Huang caves (below) were begun in 366 A .D. as the first great Buddhist architectural under­taking in China. Then the silk route was abandoned, and for centuries afterward the caves were forgotten. In 1899, a Taoist monk stumbled onto the sealed-off caves and the world discovered one of its most valuable collection of artifacts, Buddhist scriptures, frescoes and clay sculptures which for so long had been preserved from sun and humidity.

 

Though archeologists from all over the world visited the caves, took photographs, and removed many of the trans­portable treasures, it remained for a young photographer and his wife to undertake the first large-scale recording of the wall paintings in color. In 1942-44, James and Lucy La (opposite, then and now) took 1,400 photographs, 400 of them in color, of the frescoes in the dimly lit interiors. The story of their trip begins with the long, dusty ride from Chungking when they were protected from roadside bandits by mule-riding bodyguards (top). It ends at their rustic studio in Yangmingshan in suburban Taipei (center) where reproductions of the frescoes, painted with the help of Prof. Hu Ke-min, are on permanent display (bottom).

 

The Tun Huang frescoes are largely devoted to Buddhist themes. Most often depicted are Amitabha Buddha and his spiritual son, Avalokitesvara, or Kuan Yin, who is sometimes represented as the goddess of mercy. Other votive pictures portray the Bodhisattvas, scenes from the life of Buddha, figures of donors, or secular scenes of the time. The Bodhisattvas shown here are from the Hu-Lo reproductions and date from 538 A.D. (bottom) and the late 8th century (top).

 

Complex compositions of the Western Para­dise depict Buddha surrounded by scores of heavenly beings. Some of the most interest­ing are figures of celestial musicians seated in a sacred concert as in the 642 A .D. repro­duction (Top), or suspended in the air as in the early 6th century Wei dynasty paintings of angels with flute (bottom) and with lute (Center).

 

Aside from the light the Tun Huang caves shed on Buddhist practices in early China, the most significant aspect of the paintings and sculpture lies in their role as documents of contemporary secular life. The figures on this page are graphic illustrations of the feminine hairdos and costumes of the time.

 

Masculine dress styles are depicted in the clothes and headgear of an archer, a wealthy donor and his attendants, and an equestrian.

 

This small scene painted at the side of a large composition shows the manner of life in a well-to-do house­hold, while the small clay models reveal the use of outside stairways and pillared balconies in early China.