HUGE SURPRISES ABOUT THE CHINESE
THE CHINESE CIVILIZATION
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Coming from outside of Fujian, except for a
Longquan type twin fish plate, which may have been produced in Zhejiang but
could also be a Fujian product, definitely leaves any tourist with due
information about how antique the city may have been. While the range of
variation of glazes is difficult to establish from brief written descriptions, the
grey body, yingqing (pale bluish white), greenish grey, celadon, thick yellow
and brown glazes with a propensity to peel, all appear to indicate wares made
locally in Fujian, such as Nan’an, Cizaoshan, and Jianyang.
Several evidences still remain as proofs of
ancient civilization in the Chinese settlement. We know of the Shangai empire
and others in the Chinese belt, but little or no much information is had about
the much later civilization in the Chinese settlement of Quanzhou, Fujian, not until
the abandoned monoliths drew the attention of interested archaeologists towards
that area. The history of Quanzhou has been discussed by recent writers (Clark,
1991; Schottenhammer, 2001; So, 2000; Wang, 1999). Because of its importance as
an international trading port, Quanzhou figures in discussions of world trade
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Abu-Lughod, 1989). The city was
visited in the fourteenth century by Ibn Battuta who said that it was the
largest or one of the largest ports in the world and that in the harbor he saw
100 large junks and innumerable small ones. The making of porcelain and the
existence of bazaars are mentioned as well (Gibb, 1994, pp. 894–895).
In this document, we provide an overview of
published accounts of the archaeology of the Chinese city of Quanzhou, Fujian,
mostly from the Tang (A.D. 618–960) through the Song (A.D. 960–1279) and Yuan
(A.D. 1279–1368) Dynasties, the time of its greatest power (Table I). Quanzhou
was an extremely important port for trade with Southeast Asia. Its
archaeological heritage sheds light on life in the Fujian region of Southern
China. The history of Quanzhou has been discussed by recent writers (Clark,
1991; Schottenhammer, 2001; So, 2000; Wang, 1999). Because of its importance as
an international trading port, Quanzhou figures in discussions of world trade
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Abu-Lughod, 1989). The city was
visited in the fourteenth century by Ibn Battuta who said that it was the
largest or one of the largest ports in the world and that in the harbor he saw
100 large junks and innumerable small ones. The making of porcelain and the
existence of bazaars are mentioned as well (Gibb, 1994, pp. 894–895).
Cylindrical bottles, of the type found in
Penghu, are represented, as well as a pottery “bank” or money box, containing
coins (see below). The vessel forms, including bowls, plates, small cups,
spouted pots, and bottles, belong to utilitarian vessels of daily use. Of a
total of 58 coins, 44 come from an earthenware “bank” found in Layer 7B, which
contained a wide range of coins from the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
including the earlier and ubiquitous Kaiyuan Tongbao. Layer 7A yielded one coin
of Yuanyou Tongbao (1086) date, while Layer 5 yielded one each of Shunhua
Yuanbao (990), Zhaosheng Yuanbao (1094), and Zhongning Zhongbao (1228). The
earliest possible date of the bank is 1111. There seems to be a trend of
possessing coins for long periods after their minting, and so a general date of
the twelfth century would be acceptable. In Layer 3B and the layers above it,
10 coins were recovered, including one Tianxi Tongbao (1017), one Yuanyou
Tongbao (1086), as well as coins from the Qianlong (1736–95) and later reigns.
Over 300 Hindu architectural and sculptural fragments have been identified in
Quanzhou since they were first discovered in 1933 (Guy, 2001).
On the slopes of Qingyuan Shan, several
kilometers to the north of the city, are a number of important relgious sites
including a colossal granite statue of a Daoist deity, which may have been part
of a Daoist complex (Fig. 6). Also, there is an important stone Buddhist triad
shows stylistic links to the sculptures found at Feilai Feng near the Lingyinsi
Temple in Hangzhou. The Feliai Feng carvings show the spread of Lamaist
Buddhist ideas which came with the Mongol conquest and imperial patronage of
Tibetan Buddhism (Swart, 1987).
Since many fragments were found in the
vicinity of the Tonghuai Gate in the building material of the city wall
constructed in the Ming, it is likely that there was a Hindu temple in the
southeastern part of the city; the exact location is not clear. Also of great
interest are two pillars and the basement frieze of the main hall of the
Kaiyuansi, the Daxiong Baodian. Early field work by Gustav Ecke led to an
article by Ananda Coomaraswamy (1933). Coomaraswamy concludes that the pillars
are careful Chinese copies of wooden originals which were made by Indian
craftsmen. They are chamferred to a 16-sided form in sections alternating with
cubical blocks bearing medallion panels, some of which have illustrations of
familiar themes of Hindu mythology, while others have floral patterns, such as
lotus, rose, and tea flowers, which are Chinese motifs. Examples of Hindu
themes are Vishnu riding on a garuda, the release of the king of elephants,
Krishna tied to the mortar between two arjuna trees, and Vishnu seated in a
lotus pedestal with two Sakhti on lotus petals. Two more pillars are built into
the rear building of the Tianfeigong, the Temple of Tianhou, the Heavenly
Consort. These are likely the same as the pillars identified by Coomaraswamy
from the Daoist Hailongwang Temple in Quanzhou (Coomaraswamy, 1933, pp. 9–10).
In the 1930s a “cult image of Visnu” 1.15-m
high, holding a conch, disc, and mace, was found at Nanjiaochang, Quanzhou
(Guy, 1994). Two other carved stone pieces with Saivite subjects were also
discovered in the 1930s, in a small shrine near the Kaiyuansi in the northern
part of the city. One shows an elephant making an offering of a lotus to the
linga, while the second shows a cow offering milk to the Sivalinga and licking
it. Guy proposes that these pieces must have come from a separate Saivite
temple, and that the patrons must have come from Thanjavur, the Chola capital
served by the port of Nagappatinam. Guy concludes that the Quanzhou Hindu
remains are the legacy of temples conceived in the South Indian Dravidian style
of the late Chola Period (thirteenth century) (Guy, 2001). The discovery in
1956 of an inscription in Tamil and Chinese dated April 1281 confirmed the
presence of a Tamil-speaking merchant community in Quanzhou.
The east (Zhen Guo) and west (Ren Shou) five
storied stone pagodas were built in 1238–48 and 1228–37 respectively, replacing
earlier wood and brick structures (Fig. 5).
The East Pagoda, 48.24-m high, has greenstone
base panels decorated with human reliefs, while the west pagoda, 44.06-m high,
sits on a white granite base. Demieville, in his analysis of the iconography, noted
the distinctiveness of the narrative panels carved in soft greenstone
(diorite), which contrasts with the hard granite of the upper stories. The
construction details imitate wooden pagodas, but the central core is solid
stone, which has resisted very strong earthquakes, such as the 1604 quake,
estimated to have been of magnitude 8.08. Ecke and Demieville note that the
architecture is of a local Song style (Ecke and Demieville, 1935, p. 7). The
Shanmen Gate of the Nanshansi, in Zhangzhou, Fujian, was noted to have been
based on similar principles (Ecke and Demnieville, 1935, p. 9)
Each pagoda is decorated with 80 panels with
life-size figures carved in middle relief. The main motifs are “Patriarchs and
Arhats, real or imaginary monastic portraits, and a series of Bodhisatvas and
Guardians” (Ecke and Demieville, p. 11). Originally the 40 outer and inner
niches of each tower were filled with sculptures
The inscription consists of six lines in
Tamil script, with half of the last line in Chinese characters. The Tamil
letters are poorly written and often erroneous, suggesting to Guy that the
stone carver was not literate in Tamil. The dedication asserts that a Siva
image was installed in April 1281 with the imperial authority of Chekachi Khan,
possibly Kubilai Khan’s son, Chimkin. Possibly it was installed in an existing
temple (Guy, 2001, p. 296). Guy notes that the dedication of the Hindu temple
devoted to Siva in April 1281 was preceded in February of that year by the
sending of a Mongol envoy to India from the port of Quanzhou (Guy, 1994, p.
300). In addition, a relief of a seated Durga was found in 1986 at the Xinji
Pavilion in Jinjiang near Quanzhou (Guy, 1994, p. 296). Further field work in
both Quanzhou and Tamil Nadu has added important information on the relations
of Quanzhou and South India (Guy, 1994, 2001).
A Manichaean temple built during the Yuan
Dynasty is located at Huabiao Mountain, in southwest Jinjiang County adjacent
to Quanzhou (Fig. 7). It contains a stone representation of Mani with a height
of 154 cm, backed by a gold-plated stone halo with a diameter of 168 cm (Fig.
8) (Lieu, 1980, p. 81). Recorded in the 1920s by Wu Wenliang of Xiamen
University (Wu, 1957), the shrine looks like an ordinary Buddhist temple and
was used for Buddhist practice in recent times. Built entirely in granite, it
has two storeys with the main hall for worship on the ground level and living
quarters for a very small number of priests on the upper floor. The Huabiao
site is the only Manichaean temple to survive anywhere in the world, all others
having been destroyed through centuries of persecution and the extinction of
the religion (Lieu, 1985, pp. ix, 312–313). An inscription in the courtyard
exhorts worshippers to repeat “Mani, Buddha of Light, the most pure Light, the
great and powerful wisdom, the highest and unsurpassable truth” and dates the
inscription the 9th month of the Zhizhou year of the Zhengdong period (1445)
(Lieu, 1980, p. 81).
The statue in the shrine shows perceptible
iconographic differences from a Buddhist sculpture. For instance, the statue
stares straight at the viewer, instead of looking downward, and is bearded,
with no hair on its head. The birthday of the “Buddha” in the hall is given as
the 16th day of the 4th month whereas Quanzhou people celebrate the birthday of
the Buddha on the 19th day of the 2nd month of the Chinese Year (Lieu, 1980, p.
81). Lieu believes that Manichaeism came to Quanzhou via overland routes rather
than by sea and notes that persecution of Manichaeism decreased but did not
disappear under the Mongols, there being about 700,000 families of believers,
who were confused with Christians by Marco Polo. The religion had its admirers
among officials and scholars for its asceticism (Lieu, 1980, pp. 80, 83).
Tombs and tombstones provide evidence of the
communities living in Quanzhou. Most of the gravestones were gathered and used
for the refurbishment of the walls and gates in the late fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. Since they are out of their original context, it is not
possible to link their attributes to places within cemeteries or to define
distinctive local status or ethnic groups with a cemetery, as archaeologists
often do with burials. However they do provide fascinating evidence for the
religious and cultural diversity of the city. In addition to the mosques of
Quanzhou and their architectural stone carvings, ancient Islamic cemeteries
have been preserved in a few cases. In others, the tombstones and portions of
the burial structures have been recovered after cemeteries were destroyed at
various times since the fourteenth century.
The Xiamen University Museum and the Quanzhou
Maritime Museum both have large holdings of such relics (see Chen, 1984; Chen
and Kalus, 1991; Wu, 1957). The historic mosques and tombs of Quanzhou have
served as important symbols of cultural identity for members of the Hui
minority, since at present the tombs provide evidence that modern groups may be
descended from foreign Muslims (Gladney, 1987). Such descent has implications
for state recognition of minority status, and in some instances can create economic
advantages. Of the 149 gravestones examined by Chen Dasheng, 58 were of unknown
provenience (Chen, 1984). Thirty six came from the Renfeng Gate area, either
from the walls or from the gate, or as isolated finds in the vicinity. Twelve
came from the Tonghuai Gate area, and eight from the walls of the Mingshantang
of the Ashab Mosque, where they were presumably placed for safekeeping after
they had been uprooted (perhaps more than once) from their original context.
From accounts of destroyed cemeteries
mentioned by Chen we can establish the location of some ancient cemeteries
which clustered near some of the city gates, suggesting that the Muslim
communities were located outside of these gates, rather than being concentrated
in one location (Chen, 1984). Such locations are outside the Tonghuai Gate at
Jintoupu (Chen, 1984, No. 38), Houlu Donghai No. 82), Fashimei Hill, (No. 91),
Dongmujing (No. 92); outside the Renfeng Gate at Secuomei (No. 50), Xiacuo Hill
(No. 89), Wailingshan (No. 98), Lingshan (No. 99), Yilupu (No. 106). Other
locations are Jincuowei on the west slope of the Dongyue Hills in Quanzhou and
Waitingdian outside the South Gate (No. 186). The stone remains associated with
burial can be grouped into four categories: inscribed gravestones with
inscriptions concerning the deceased, grave covers, grave vaults or structures,
and lintels from the cupolas thought to be constructed over the graves. Since
most of the examples were not found in their original context, structural
interrelationships are often conjectural. They were made mostly of a local
hard, grey diabase, or occasionally, local granite. Rarely was limestone or a
mixture of lime, sand, and clay employed. Inscriptions appear in ancient Kufic
script, large and small regular script, and cursive, ...
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