At the beginning of the new year in 2024, the Palace Museum held the three-month “Historical Encounters: Exchange Exhibition of Ancient Civilizations between China and West Asia”. The exhibition uses the Land and Sea Silk Road as a clue to connect ancient China with West Asia, Persia and The history of cultural exchanges between Arabs vividly demonstrates the historical glory carried by the “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
1. Station, furniture and music
In the “Glorious Persia: Essence of Iranian Cultural Relics Exhibition” section, the first thing that comes into view is the four words “Ancient Road Station”. Ancient China had relatively frequent communications with West Asia during the pre-Qin period. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Xiongnu blocked the Western Regions, causing the exchanges between the two sides to be interrupted for a time. Since Zhang Qian emptied the Western Regions, exchanges between China and West Asia have become smoother, and the smooth flow of the Silk Road in West Asia largely depends on the Persian Achaemenid Dynasty (550 BC-330 BC, Historically known as the Persian Empire), it built a very developed road transportation network throughout West Asia.
The Achaemenid dynasty reached its peak during the period of Darius I (reigned from 521 BC to 485 BC). It was the first great empire in the world that spanned Asia, Africa and Europe. In the early days of the Achaemenid Dynasty, there was a lack of solid connections between the various states. After Darius I came to power, he implemented a series of reform measures to consolidate the tributary relationship between different states to the central government. One of the most important measures was to vigorously strengthen road construction. These road facilities extending in all directions connected the most important economic, administrative and cultural centers within the dynasty, and played a very important role in coordinating economic exchanges and cultural exchanges in various places.
Matching road transportation is the construction of perfect post stations. At that time, every station in the Persian Empire had spare horses and messengers, which could deliver the king’s edict to the most remote areas at the fastest speed day and night. , making the huge country an effective whole. The ancient Greek historian Xenophon (approximately 440 BC – 355 BC) wrote this when describing the organization of the Persian royal post: “Sometimes this kind of delivery does not stop even at night, and the people on the night shift take over from the people on the day shift. In this way, as some people say, the messenger can run faster than the crane on the road.” The post system established by Darius laid the foundation for the trade route network in western Asia, and each post station gradually It developed into a distribution center for trade camel caravans. After China’s silk and other goods arrive in West Asia through the Silk Road, they can be trafficked unimpeded to major cities in western Asia and into Europe. In addition to the treasure of the exhibition – the bust of Darius from the chest down, the exhibition in the Forbidden City also displays many trade-related seal seals, edicts, etc., which visually presents the grand commerce and trade on the Silk Road at that time.
The Silk Road not only transported silk, tea and many other Chinese products, but also the culture of western Asia was introduced to China through the Silk Road, and continued to blend with Chinese customs and habits. Before the Han Dynasty, Chinese people were accustomed to sitting and lying on the ground.The mattress is placed under the seat, so the corresponding furniture is mainly low-standard, and relatively low tables are placed in front of the seat. West Asia has had a tradition of using high-standard furniture such as tables, chairs, and stools since ancient times, which is prominently reflected in Assyrian reliefs and ancient Persian reliefs. From the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, high-standard furniture such as tables, chairs, and stools commonly used in West Asia gradually spread to China along the Silk Road, and the Chinese people’s habit of sitting and lying on the floor also changed. However, what is interesting is that people in West Asia are now generally used to sitting and lying on the floor. I wonder if the traditional Chinese habit of sitting and lying on the floor has also been spread back to West Asia. There is currently no discussion in the academic circles.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was in chaos, Confucian rituals and music collapsed, and Hu Le came from the northwest. Subsequently, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties became a period of great integration of the Chinese nation: on the one hand, the ethnic minorities in the northwest admired the Confucian culture of the Central Plains, studied poetry and etiquette, and yearned for Confucianism; on the other hand, the ethnic groups in the Central Plains also accepted and loved the dance of the ethnic minorities in the northwest. Happy clothing, hoping to get rid of the shackles of Confucian etiquette. “Book of the Later Han·Five Elements Chronicles” says: “Emperor Ling was fond of Hu clothes, Hu tents, Hu beds, Hu seats, Hu rice, Hu Konghou, Hu flutes, and Hu dances, and all the nobles and relatives in Kyoto competed for them.” “Tongdian” Volume 142 records that starting from Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty (reigned from 500 to 515), Hu music such as pipa and harp were “sonorous and boring… and shocking to the ears”, and gradually entered the court and became the mainstream of court music. “Pipa and contemporary music “The road, the harp and the harp has almost no sound.” Chinese silk music like the harp, the harp, and the guzheng no longer dominates the scene. It was also from this period that musical instruments such as the harp, pipa, and suona introduced from West Asia led the trend and eventually evolved into Chinese folk music instruments. In the exhibition at the National Palace Museum, there is a silverware called “Silver Bowl with Pictures of Musical and Dancing Ladies” that is quite eye-catching. It comes from Mazandaran Province in Iran and belongs to the 6th to 7th centuries AD. The reliefs on the outer wall of the silver bowl show musicians playing different musical instruments, including pipa, flute, castanets, and bagpipes. All of these instruments were introduced to China and became part of China’s traditional folk music instruments.
2. Silk and painting
After Persia obtained China’s silk production technology in the early days of the Sasanian Dynasty (224-651), it also developed its own silk weaving industry. From the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, fabrics produced in Persia were also introduced to China through the Silk Road. A large number of silk fabrics called “Persian brocade” were unearthed from the Astana Harahezhuo ancient tombs in Turpan City, Xinjiang, China. On the basis of absorbing Persian style, especially the beaded decoration, Chinese craftsmen designed new patterns that are in line with China’s local aesthetics. The weft patterning technique used in Persian brocade became popular in my country from the Northern Dynasties. After the Tang Dynasty, twill weft brocade from West Asia replaced the traditional Chinese warp brocade and became the mainstream product of jacquard fabrics in my country. Therefore, silk production technology spread back and forth along the Silk Road and promoted each other, which fully demonstrated that civilizations become more exciting due to mutual learning.
The Silk Road was not only a road for material and cultural exchanges, but also a road for spiritual and cultural exchanges. The three ancient religions of Persia: Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism), Manichaeism (Mingjiao)) and Persian Christianity (Nestorianism) all entered the Central Plains during the Northern Dynasties and Sui and Tang Dynasties. Starting from the Northern Dynasties and Sui Dynasty, the official position of “Sa Bao” was established to specifically manage Zoroastrian affairs. This official position continued until the Tang Dynasty. Among the three ancient Persian religions that entered the Central Plains and Buddhism introduced from India, only Zoroastrianism can set up corresponding official positions in the court to specifically manage its religious affairs, and the official level is not low (full fifth grade). This shows that Zoroastrianism had a high status and was relatively prosperous in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the famous Tang Sancai art, in addition to horses, the most popular ones are camels (because Zoroastrian’s name itself means “the person who cares for camels”), and the saddles of camels have patterns of the Holy Camel God. , which shows the degree of acceptance of Zoroastrianism in the Central Plains at that time. Among the designers of Tang Sancai crafts were Zoroastrian. This argument has been generally recognized by academic circles. This exhibition includes both Nestorian cross monuments in the Persian exhibition hall and Tang Sancai in the Chinese exhibition hall. The two complement each other and reveal the exchanges of civilizations incisively and vividly.
In 1256, Hulagu established the Ilkhan Dynasty (1256-1355) in Persia, which was one of the four major Mongolian khanates. Hulagu and Kublai Khan, the founding monarch of China’s Yuan Dynasty, were brothers. Because they share the same race and roots, the Ilhan Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty had a special close relationship. There were many exchanges of missions, documents, and merchants between the two countries. There are detailed records in Chinese historical materials, so I won’t go into details here. In short, the Yuan Dynasty was another important period in the history of cultural exchanges between China and Iran after the Tang Dynasty in China.
During the Ilhan Dynasty, Abaha Khan (reigned 1265-1282) built a summer palace on the ruins of Takht Suleiman Palace. The ruins of the Takht Suleiman Palace are located near Lake Urumiye in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. This place was originally a Zoroastrian fire altar during the Sasanian Dynasty. The sacrificial fire altar was destroyed during the Arab invasion. The palace built by Abaha Khan on the site was later abandoned during the war. According to archaeological discoveries, a large number of colorful glazed bricks are preserved in the ruins of Abaha Khan’s palace, and the patterns on the bricks have a strong Chinese style. The colorful dragon-pattern glazed tiles of the Takht Suleiman Palace on display this time express the Chinese dragon’s style beautifully on the occasion of the Year of the Dragon.
Several exquisite miniature paintings are also on display in the Persian exhibition hall. Persian miniature paintings are also the product of the interaction between Chinese art and Persian art. After the 13th century, through the Ilkhanate Mongols, the court painting academy system of the Chinese Song Dynasty was established in West Asia and prospered in the following centuries, strongly promoting the development of Islamic painting art.
The entire social atmosphere in the Ilkhanate is filled with “China fever.” At that time, Tabriz, the capital of the Ilkhanate, was an international metropolis. Rashid’s “Historical Collection” records that in Tabriz, there are “sages, astrologers, scholars and historians of various faiths and nationalities, such as North and South Chinese, Indians…” China (North and South China) Ranking first among many countries and regions, the ChineseThe city’s influence is evident. At that time, a large number of Chinese people lived in Tabriz, and the area where they concentrated was called “Chinatown”. Therefore, regardless of the direct brotherly exchanges between China and Iran at the official level at that time, considering the large number of Chinese in Tabriz, it can be said that it provided great possibilities for Persian painters to learn Chinese painting. It was in this environment that Persian miniature painting grew up.
The Timurid Dynasty (1370-1507) was the golden age for the development of Persian miniature painting. During the reign of Shaharul (reigned 1405-1447), his son Baisungul ran the Herat Painting Academy, which recruited the most outstanding artists from all over Persia, thus forming the Persian miniature painting in the first half of the 15th century. The most splendid Herat School of painting in history. At the same time, Shaharul is committed to diplomatic relations with China, and the two countries frequently exchange missions. During the reign of Shaharul, Chinese envoys visited Herat four times in 1409, 1412, 1417 and 1419, bringing large quantities of silks, porcelain and other gifts. This not only strengthens the political ties between the two sides, but also more powerfully promotes cultural exchanges between the two sides. It can be seen in the banquet scenes in Persian miniature paintings that the local aristocracy likes to wear golden robes made of Chinese silk, embroidered with dragon and phoenix patterns, and blue and white porcelain vases are often placed on the tables. In 1422, under the instruction of Shaharul, Baisungul sent a mission to China led by the court miniaturist Hoja Jiazordin, who was received by Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. After returning to Herat, Hoja Qiyazordin wrote “Shaharu’s Envoy to China”, which recorded what he saw along the way. This book can be said to be one of the most important historical materials on cultural exchanges between China and West Asia. It was the Persian artists of the Timurid Dynasty who, on the basis of fully learning from the artistic elements of Chinese painting, finally completely digested and absorbed the Chinese artistic style and transformed it into effective decorative elements of Persian art, making Persian miniature painting a leading figure in world painting art. Weird.
3. Maritime Silk Road and Porcelain
The cultural exchanges between China and West Asia through the Overland Silk Road have been fruitful, and the Maritime Silk Road may have closely connected China and West Asia before Zhang Qian’s passage to the Western Regions. In 1983, a silver box was discovered during archaeological excavations at the tomb of the Nanyue King Zhao Quan of the Western Han Dynasty (died 122 BC) in Xianggang, Guangzhou. Its shape and decoration style were very different from traditional Chinese utensils, but similar to those from the ancient Persian Empire. Relevant experts have identified it as a Persian product. Zhao Wei lived in the Lingnan area far away from the Central Plains. He died between Zhang Qian’s two missions to the Western Regions (138 BC and 119 BC). The Persian silverware buried with him in his tomb is difficult to match with Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions. What connection. This exhibition in the National Palace Museum displays the Persian silver box found in Zhao Wei’s tomb. In addition, the exhibition also displays a Persian-style cracked silver box, which was unearthed in 1978 from the burial pit No. 1 of the Tomb of King Qi of the Western Han Dynasty in Linzi, Shandong Province. This silver box is older than, for 179 BC. In the early Western Han Dynasty, the Western Region was blocked due to the Xiongnu invasion. These Persian artifacts showed that she did not know it at first, until she was framed by the evil women in Xi Shixun’s backyard, causing the death of Xi Shixun’s seventh concubine. Ruthless, she said that if there is a mother, there must be a daughter. She regarded the mother as her natural route, so the maritime traffic between China and western Asia should be earlier than Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, as China’s porcelain industry matured, porcelain gradually became one of the most important commodities in trade between China and West Asia. Since land transportation easily caused damage to porcelain, maritime trade routes became the main routes for porcelain trade. Therefore, the Maritime Silk Road is also known as the “Porcelain Silk Road”. The famous Persian historical work “History of Behaki” (written in 1059) records that during the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rahid (reigned from 786 to 809), the governor of Persian Khorasan gave him a large number of gifts, including ” There are two hundred pieces of Emperor’s porcelain, including large plates and bowls, each of which has never been seen by any king; there are also two thousand pieces of ordinary porcelain, large plates, large bowls, and large pots.” The “Emperor’s porcelain” here refers to Tribute porcelain specially fired for the Chinese royal family. Therefore, no later than the early 9th century, Chinese porcelain was already known to the Persians. In archaeological excavations in Iran, porcelain from the Changsha Kiln and Xing Kiln of the Tang Dynasty was unearthed.
Yuan blue and white porcelain can be said to be an outstanding representative of cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Persia. The firing technology of blue and white porcelain was basically mature in the Tang Dynasty, but the color was not bright enough because of the local Chinese green material. There was close communication between the Yuan Dynasty of China and the Ilkhan Dynasty of Persia. The green material used in the blue and white porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty came from the cobalt earth mineral called Sulaimani in the Kashan region of Persia. This cobalt earth mineral was mined in large quantities in the 13th and 14th centuries. Exported to China. This Persian cobalt earth ore has a crystal clear color after roasting. Soon, the “Sulaymani green” imported from Persia replaced the local Chinese green material. In 1278, the “Fuliang Porcelain Bureau” specializing in firing tribute porcelain was established in Jingdezhen. The best porcelain craftsmen in the world gathered in Jingdezhen, which promoted the rapid development of Jingdezhen’s porcelain industry. The blue and white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen is of high quality and has become a valuable commodity after silk. It is exported to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and even Africa in large quantities. During the reign of Busayin Khan (reigned 1316-1335) of the Ilkhan Dynasty, Yuan blue and white porcelain was sold in large quantities to West Asia through the Maritime Silk Road. According to “Dao Yi Zhi Lue” written by Wang Dayuan of the Yuan Dynasty, she actually didn’t believe it at first, thinking that he made up lies just to hurt her. But later when her father was framed and imprisoned by a villain, the matter was revealed. After being exposed, she realized that the city was engaged in porcelain trade. The production of blue and white porcelain reached a large scale during the Taiding period of the Yuan Dynasty (132.4-1328). During the reign of Busayin Khan, from 1329 to 1331 alone, tribute envoys were sent to China as many as eight times. Yuan blue and white porcelain can even be said to be a special offering of the Ilkhanate. Most of the Yuan blue and white porcelains currently collected in the National Museum of Iran and the Topkapi Palace Museum in Turkey belong to the Ilkhanate period.Imported from China. At that time, porcelain was mainly exported through the Maritime Silk Road, landed in the Persian Gulf, and was then trafficked to various parts of West Asia through the transportation network established by the “Ancient Road Station.”
After the blue and white porcelain trade reached its peak during the Yuan Dynasty of China and the Ilkhan Dynasty of Persia, it was still at its peak during the Ming Dynasty of China and the Timurid Dynasty of Persia. Blue and white porcelain was often presented to King Shaharul of the Timurid Dynasty by Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, as a valuable national gift. It was not until the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty that blue and white porcelain became obvious and certain. It is still a great gift to the country. The production process of blue and white porcelain adopts China’s mature underglaze color porcelain technology. However, its shape, pattern and decorative style are greatly influenced by Persian Islamic aesthetic style. In this exhibition, there is a very similar blue and white porcelain double-handled jar on display in the Persian exhibition hall and the Chinese exhibition hall. Its shape and pattern are almost the same, completely in West Asian style. They are both blue and white porcelain produced in the Ming Dynasty of China in the 15th century. It can be seen that this type of jar was produced at that time. Blue and white porcelain is produced in batches. There is also a blue and white porcelain plate in the China Exhibition Hall that belongs to the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Its shape and decoration are completely Persian style, but in the center of the inner bottom of the plate is a Chinese character “福”, and there are Buddhist Sanskrit characters on the outer wall of the porcelain plate. This artifact can be said to be an outstanding representative of the exchange and integration of Chinese, West Asian and South Asian cultures in China.
After the establishment of the Safavid Dynasty of Persia (1501-17), the national power was greatly enhanced, and its ceramics Production technology has also been greatly improved, and new varieties of porcelain have been produced inspired by Chinese patterns, which has had an impact on European porcelain production. King Abbas (reigned 1587-1628) had a fanatical love for Chinese porcelain. Legend has it that , for the production of ceramics, King Abbas once invited 300 Chinese ceramic craftsmen and let them and their families settle in Persia. It is worth mentioning that King Abbas also invited Sheikh Safi, the ancestor of Ardabil, A palace was built next to the mausoleum, which contains the most exquisite and precious porcelain from China, many of which are blue and white porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty, a considerable amount of blue and white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, and a small amount of blue and white porcelain from the Qing Dynasty. Now, the ancestral palace in Ardabil, Iran It is a world-famous Chinese blue and white porcelain museum. The Persian exhibition hall displays several pieces of Chinese blue and white porcelain collected by the Ardabil Ancestral Palace, which are very exquisite. One of them is a blue and white bowl with figures, flowers and birds, which belongs to the Ming Dynasty in the late 16th century. The blue and white porcelain The style of the bowl is completely Chinese. Not only is the appearance of the bowl Chinese-style, but the pattern on the outer wall of the bowl shows a Chinese woman sitting by an outdoor door. There is also a porcelain plate with a red color and fish pattern, which is also a pure Chinese art style. It’s very stunning. This shows that in the production of blue and white porcelain, although there are many porcelains with West Asian shapes and decorative styles, pure Chinese style blue and white porcelain is often better.
The cultural exchanges between China and West Asia through the Land and Sea Silk Road are rich in historical facts. Among them, blue and white porcelain is a model for Chinese artists to absorb a large number of elements of West Asian Islamic decorative art.Chinese artists integrated and mastered it, and finally made blue and white porcelain into “China’s business card”, which is unique in the world. The historical encounters along the Land and Sea Silk Road perfectly illustrate that civilizations are colorful due to exchanges and enriched due to mutual learning.
(Author: Mu Hongyan, professor at the School of Asia, Beijing Foreign Studies University)