My Heart Belongs to Dunhuang：

An Autobiography by Fan Jinshi

Fan Jinshi， Gu Chunfang

Yilin Press

October 2019

68.00 （CNY）

Brief introduction：

The book is structured topically， with chapters devoted to Fan Jinshi’s personal life， including the influence of her study at Peking University on her life and career， her work as an anthropologist in Dunhuang， the research on Dunhuang’s Mogao Grottoes both at home and abroad， the preservation of Dunhuang heritage， and the Digital Dunhuang project. It is an insightful， remarkably researched autobiography that portrays a brave and oddly vulnerable woman with a sense of responsibility for the preservation of cultural heritage for all mankind.

This book has been widely acclaimed since its publication， and was rated as “the best book of 2019” by many media outlets. Since its publication in October 2019， the book has been reprinted 18 times， with 340，000 copies printed and over 300，000 copies sold.

Fan Jinshi

Although born in Beijing in 1938， Fan Jinshi grew up mostly in Shanghai. She was admitted to the Department of History at Peking University as an archeology major. After graduation， she started her life-long career at the Dunhuang Heritage Institute. She is now Honorary President of the Dunhuang Heritage Institute and has long been devoted to the protection， management， and research of Dunhuang’s grottoes.

At the western end of the narrow Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province， with Mazong Mountains to the north and Qilian Mountains to the south， Dunhuang is situated in an alluvial oasis engendered by the flooding of the ancient Dizhi River （today’s Dang River） from the latter mountain range. A basin， comprised by Dang River’s fan-shaped alluvial tract and Shule River’s alluvial plains， nourished by snowmelt and groundwater， forms Dunhuang， a life-sustaining oasis amidst sand dunes and the Gobi Desert. Dunhuang is also strategically located as it borders the Central Plains to the east and Xinjiang to the west， and was a key town on the celebrated Silk Road since the Han Dynasty.

The earliest myth about Dunhuang appears in the Classic of Mountains and Seas （Shan Hai Jing）， which states：

“The Sanwei Mountains are inhabited by three blue birds. The mountains extend one hundred li （one li is 500 meters） north to south and east to west.”

According to the legend， the trio are mythical birds that fetch food for the Queen Mother of the West and perch amidst the Sanwei Mountains. Thanks to their association with her， the mountains are endowed with magical colors. Today’s Sanwei Mountain Scenic Area is located in northeastern Dunhuang. The main peak stands opposite the Mogao Caves， and the mountain is named “Three Looming Peaks” （San Weishan）， after the trio of pinnacles.

As early as 4，000 years ago， there were already ancient peoples active in the Dunhuang area. More than two millennia ago， the Western Han （202 BCE–9 ACE） established the administrative structure of Dunhuang Prefecture here.

In 138 and 119 BCE， Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty dispatched his imperial envoy Zhang Qian on two expeditions to the “Western Regions” （areas west of Yumen Pass extending into Central Asia）， which helped the Silk Road to link Eurasia in its entirety. During the Han and Tang dynasties， Dunhuang was at the crossroads of the Silk Road： Passing through the Hexi Corridor to Chang’an and Luoyang， it continued eastward to Korea and Japan; it proceeded westward through the Western Regions and across the Pamir Plateau to states in Central， Western and Southern Asia， and further westward it led to the Mediterranean Sea， the Greeks and Romans of Southern Europe and the Egyptians of North Africa. This is why history books dub Dunhuang a “choke point” on the Silk Road.

Dunhuang was effectively the gateway to the Silk Road， controlling East-West commercial traffic and evolving into a center and transit point for East-West trade. As a strategic site on the road， it was the scene of a thousand years of prosperity along its length. A long period of convergence and fusion of Eastern and Western civilizations engendered the magnificent achievements manifested by the artwork and relics created within the Mogao Caves during the 4th-14th centuries.

The Mogao Caves are a testament to the convergence of ancient Chinese and Western cultures at Dunhuang， which served as a transit point for East-West trade and a point of confluence for religion， culture， and knowledge.

Bamboo slips unearthed from the site of the Han Dynasty Xuanquanzhi Ruins， a way station （yizhan） on the eastern margin of the Tarim Basin， shows that Dunhuang hosted envoys and delegations of twenty-plus Asian states during the Han Dynasty （206 BCE to 220 CE）， including： Parthia （modern-day Iran）， Greater Yuezhi （Aral Sea， Amu Darya）， Kangju （Samarkand in Uzbekistan）， Dayuan （Fergana Valley at the junction of Uzbekistan， Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan）， Jibin （Kashmir） and Alexandria Prophthasia （southwestern Afghanistan）.

From the late Han through the Tang （618-906） and the Song （960-1279） dynasties， Dunhuang was an inevitable thoroughfare for renowned senior monks preceding eastward such as An Shigao， Zhi Qian， Kang Senghui， Dharmaraksa and Kumarajiva， as well as for the Chinese monks Fa Xian and Xuan Zang， who traveled westward in search of Dharma.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty extended Han territory to include the Hexi Corridor （Gansu Corridor）， and implemented the establishment of the “Four Commanderies and Two Passes” （lie sijun， ju liang guan）. The former were located in the prefectures of Wuwei， Zhangye， Jiuquan， and Dunhuang. The Great Wall was built to the north of the four prefectures， and Yumen Pass （Jade Gate） and Yangguan Pass were set up to the west of Dunhuang. Large numbers of soldiers were recruited from China’s Central Plains to garrison the border and work the fields. With the establishment of the two passes， Dunhuang became the gateway between Han territory and the Western Regions.

At the same time， the Han Dynasty also took steps to develop the frontier by fostering migration from China’s interior to the sparsely populated Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang. The migrants brought with them the advanced farming and irrigation techniques of the Central Plains， as well as the Confucian-based culture of the Han， which transformed both the region’s nomadic economy and culture.

Between the 6th and 5th centuries BCE， Sakyamuni （565-486 BCE） founded Buddhism in India. Primitive Buddhism did not practice idolatry or Buddhist iconography. Around the first century BCE， Mahayana Buddhism emerged in India， leading to a movement to deify the Buddha and transform it into a sacred idol. Many images of buddhas and bodhisattvas were created to serve this movement’s needs.

At the end of first century BCE， the Kushan Dynasty emerged in northwestern India （present-day Pakistan）. As early as 334 BC， Macedonia’s Alexander the Great had occupied the region during his Eastward Expedition and infused the region with his Mediterranean-rooted culture. Influenced by the Greeks， the Kushan Dynasty gradually developed the Hellenic Buddhist arts of northwestern India’s Gandhara （present-day Peshawar， Pakistan） and Mathura （Uttar Pradesh） in the north， which in turn strongly influenced Buddhist cave-temple art in northern China.

Regarding the entry of Buddhism into China， there are many mentions in ancient Chinese texts， but in academic circles it is generally agreed that it occurred sometime between the late Western and early Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the chapter on Kasyapa Matanga in Biographies of Eminent Monks （Gao seng zhuan shemo teng zhuan） penned by Hui Jiao during the Southern Liang Dyansty （502–557）， there is a tale recounting that “Emperor Ming of Han， inspired by a dream， dispatched an envoy to seek the Dharma.” Having seen a golden man in his dream， the monarch summoned his ministers to interpret this. One of his omniscient senior advisors proclaimed this was the “Buddha of the West，” whereupon the emperor dispatched Cai Yin and others to “Tianzhu” （China’s term for ancient India） in the Western Regions to seek the Buddha’s teachings. When Cai Yin’s entourage arrived in the region of Afghanistan， they encountered Their Holinesses Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna returning from Tianzhu in the east. He invited the pair to come to the great Han court in Luoyang and expound upon the Dharma. And so， accompanied by the envoy， the two eminent Indian monks proceeded to the Han capital in Luoyang with a heavy load of Buddhist scriptures and statues transported on a white steed.

In order to commemorate the sutras’ transport， the emperor ordered the construction of a monastery， “White Horse Temple，” three li north of the Imperial Boulevard beyond Luoyang’s Xiyong Gate. This is the earliest record of the introduction of Buddhist art to China.

Buddhist ruins and relics dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries CE have been found along the margins of Xinjiang’s Tarim Basin， such as Khotan （present-day Hotan）， Qiuci （Kuche）， Shule （Kashgar） and Shanshan. Buddhist items dating from the Eastern Han， Wei and Jin dynasties have also been found in today’s Inner Mongolia， Shandong， Jiangsu， and Sichuan.

The construction of the Mogao Caves began in 366 CE and continued on for one millennium up until the 14th century. They constitute the largest and best-preserved Buddhist cave art site in the world， with 735 grottoes （including the Southern and Northern Zones）， 45，000 square metres of murals， and more than 2，000 sculptures on a 1，700-metre-long cliff face. More than 50，000 documents and works of art dating from the 4th to early 11th centuries were unearthed in Mogao’s “Library Cave” （cang jing dong） in 1900. The Western Thousand Buddha Caves， 35 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang’s urban centre， preserve 22 grottoes dating from the 5th to 14th centuries， with 818 square meters of frescoes and 56 polychrome sculptures.

Located some 100 kilometers east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves， the Yulin Caves in Anxi preserve 43 caves from the 7th to 14th centuries， nearly 5，200 square metres of murals， and more than 200 polychrome sculptures. No other site of Buddhist ruins in the world was one thousand years in the making and holds such a wealth of artistic and handwritten and printed treasures as the Mogao Caves.

The Dunhuang region had a long tradition of mythology centering upon the worship of Queen Mother of the West， femininity， the moon and trees， and thus provided the perfect breeding ground for Buddhist art. Cave art at Dunhuang was originally associated with the promotion of Buddhism. In order to spread the Buddhist doctrine to an illiterate public， monks and painters employed art to illustrate and disseminate the teachings. One thousand years later， as the once great Buddhist site declined， the precious art of these ancient artisans survived at Mogao Caves， presenting a three-dimensional history of painting， sculpting， and Buddhism.

Located on the west bank of the Dangquan River， the Mogao Caves are a large-scale， spectacular and lengthy collection of densely packed， beehive-like caves carved into a long cliff.

But due to sand erosion， when Chang Shuhong and others arrived in the 1940s， the grottoes had long since fallen into disrepair and resembled a tattered， faded-saffron kasaya， or monk’s outer robe. Since the caves housed myriad images of Buddha， the locals referred to them with a variety of names， such as “Ten Thousand Buddha Gorge” （in Anxi）， “Thousand Buddha Cave” （Mogao Caves， proper name）， and “Western Thousand Buddha Caves” （western counterpart to the Mogao Caves）， and so on.

In fact， the term “Dunhuang Caves” is a collective term that refers to these Buddhist cave-temple sites in and around Dunhuang.

The art of the Mogao Caves is a multicultural repository of art based on Chinese culture and fused with Indian， Hellenic， Persianate， and Central Asian cultures. Although Dunhuang art was closely associated with the promotion of Buddhism， and its images and statues depict Buddha， bodhisattvas， and the “Pure Land” —their celestial realm in Mahayana Buddhism—it was nevertheless faithful to the realities of mundane human life and represented people’s longing for an ideal world.

Dunhuang is not simply a sacred site of Buddhist art. It is also a glorious history of humanity， a chronicle of the creation of a spiritual home for humankind in an oasis surrounded by the Gobi Desert. The numerous illustrations of Sukhavati （Sanskrit） or “Western Paradise Pictorial Representations” depicted in wall paintings were not only a manifestation of a mortal being’s difficulties in abandoning material pleasures and escaping from the confines of its hierarchical system， but also an expression of the Chinese people’s yearning for a free realm in which social justice and personal dignity could be truly realized.