TABLETS IN XI' AN
The Museum of Forest of Stone Tablets in Xi'an (the former
Shaanxi Provincial Museum), a courtyard-styled structure, is situ-
ated at the site of the Confucian Temple in Sanxue Street, Xi'an. It
was originally the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Tang Dynasty
and later became the Confucian Temple in the Song Dynasty. In
1950, it was extended into the museum as we see today. One may
wonder why the structure here differs from other Chinese temples
in that its two gates are facing east and west respectively, instead of
the traditional southern direction. As a matter of fact, all temples
are opened on both the east and west sides. One gate is referred to
as the gate of courtesy, and the other is that of righteousness.
The structure here is called pailou (decorated archway ) which
is derived from paifang of ancient times. It is for decoration. This
kind of structure could be seen almost everywhere in ancient China'
set up to hold a particular person in honour.
Behind the pailou there is a pond over which there is a bridge.
On both sides of the path in the centre of the first passage there are
altogether 28 stone stakes from the Ming and Qing dynasties. They
stand facing each other. These stakes are stone sculptures used to
tie and submit animals in ancient times. These sculptures were
mainly spread over the northern part of Weihe River in Shaanxi. On
top of these stakes are decorated animals and human figures, which
are full of folk traits of this area. Apart from the purpose of fying
and submitting animals, the horse-tying stakes also have the signifi-
cance of submitting evils, auspiciousness and decoration. Before the
founding of new China, the rich and noble in the northern area of
Weihe River used to have horse-tying stakes installed on both sides
of their courtyard gates for guests and visitors to tie their horses.
In the eastern pavilion within the second gate is exhibited the
Jingyun Bell. This bell was cast in the second reign of Jingyun (711
A. D. ), hence the name. The bell was originally hung on the Bell
Tower of Jinglong Taoist Temple (in the West Street today). It is
said that when the bell was struck daily, the clear and beautiful
sound could be heard all over the city. The bell weighs six tons and
is made of 5000 kilograms of bronze with 25 pieces of bronze casting
moulds. There are inscriptions of 292 Chinese characters in 18
lines. This epigraph was composed and written by Emperor Rui
Zong(Li Dan) in the Tang Dynasty. It is about the mystery of Tao-
ism and praise of the bell. The bell has 32 nipples which are used
for decoration and tune adjustment. At the Bell Exhibition in 1964,
this bell was listed as world famous. On New Year's Eve (Chinese
lunar new year )very year, the "new year's bell" played on Central
People's Broadcasting Station in "seeing off the old year and wel-
coming the new year" is recorded from the Jingyun Bell. The bell
on the Telephone and Telegraph Building in the North Street strikes
hour every hour with that clear and sweet sound to the whole city.
The sound also comes from the recording of the Jingyun Bell.
In the west pavilion there is a stone horse, carved in 424 A.
D., the Daxia Period. The horse is simple carved, vivid and true to
life. Between the hind legs is carved an image of the conquered.
Daxia was a nation established by the Hun nobles, one of the 16
states in the Eastern Jin Period. Most of these 16 states were sepa-
ratist regimes set up by the members of upper-class strata of the mi-
nority nationalities. Because of the constant wars, every state only
ruled for a short time and left very few relics, so this stone horse
appears to be the most valuable.
The Museum of Forest of Stone Tablets in Xl'an covers an area
of 30,000 square metres or more. The exhibition areas can be divid-
ed into two sections: Xl'an Forest of Stone Tablets (Beilin) and
stone sculptures. In addition, relics exhibitions are often held on
special subjects here in the museum.
Forest of Stone Tablets in Xi'an
Xl'an Forest of Stone Tablets was originally set up in 1087. It
is an art treasure-house containing the largest and richest collection
of stone tablets of anciet China. These pieces of art are works from
the Han Dynasty through to the Qing Dynasty, including over
1,000 memorial tablets forming the Forest of Stone Tablets.
Xl'an Forest of Stone Tablets is not only a treasure house of
ancient Chinese calligraphy, but also a rich collection of China's his-
torical documents and records and stone carving patterns.
These tablets record a part of the great achievements of Chi-
nese culture and can reveal to us today the truth of the cultural ex-
changes between China and other countries. No tourist will take the
risk of missing the Forest of Stone Tablets, a place of great inter-
est, once in Xl'an.
The Xl'an Forest of Stone Tablets was born out of the place
where the stone classics in the Tang Dynasty were kept. The so
called stone classics during the Tang Dynasty included the "Classic
of Filial Piety" in the handwriting of Emperor Xuan Zong in 745
A.D. and the "Kaicheng Stone Classics" engraved in 837 A. D..
These stone classics were originally erected inside the Imperial An-
cestral Temple (in the vicinity of Wenyi Road, southern suburbs,
Xi'an) in the Tang Dynasty. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu
Wen forced Tang Zhao Zong to move the capital to Luoyang and de-
stroyed Chang'an City almost completely, bringing it down to ru-
ins. Han Jian, commander--in--chief, reduced the size of the city
for the purpose of easy defence. As a result, the stone classics were
abandoned in the wild suburbs, Later on, Han Jian was the first to
move the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Classics of Filial Piety
into Confucian Temple (along the Shehui Road, western street,
Xl'an) inside the city proper.
In 909 A. D. , when Liu Xun defended Chang'an, he too
moved the Kaieheng Classics into the Confucian Temple. That was
the earliest place where the steles in the Tang Dynasty were kept.
Because of the low--lying land and poor environment, which
were not fit to keep the stone classics, in 1087, all the stone classics
and other important steles in the Tang Dynasty were shifted to the
place where the stone forest lie. This is the earliest "Forest of Steles
in Xi'an". Because of the poor light and constant rubbings of the
steles, the steles became very black, so people called this place
"dark hole" or "hole of steles".
In 1555 A.D. a big earthquake took place in Central Shaanxi.
The forest of steles suffered serious destruction. Out of the 114
kaicheng classics, 40 fell down and lay broken due to the quake. In
1588, Ye Shirong, scholar then in Shaanxi, supplied the missing
words and carved them, according to the character forms, onto 97
small stone steles, and placed them along side the stone classics.
Consequently the Kaicheng Stone Classics were kept in their com-
plete form as "a book of stone carvings". In 1664, the Book of
Mencius was engraved additionally.
The name "Stone Forest" was determined in the early years of
Qing Dynasty. The Stone Forest now houses over 3,000 pieces of
stone steles ranging from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
The museum has seven display rooms, six epitaph corridors and one
tablet pavilion.
In March, 1961, the State Council promulgated that the Stone
Forest was a national monument.
In front of the first display room is a Tablet Pavilion specially
built for the Classics of Filial Piety.
"The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing)' is the largest tablet in
the Forest. It was engraved in 745 A.D. in the handwriting of Em-
peror Xuan Zong(Li Longji). The Classic was compiled by a disci-
ple of Confucius, Zeng Shen after attending lectures given by Con-
fucius. Emperor Xuan Zong wrote a preface for the classic with the
purpose of showing his wish to administrate the country by advocat-
ing the principles of Filial Piety. The following parts are the original
text of the classic. The small characters are the annotations made
by Emperor Xuan Zong. The tablet is set on a three-storey base,
with vividly carved line drawings of trailing plants, lions, etc.,
typical of the middle Tang art. The relief on the upper part is a bad
--relief of clouds and auspicious animals. The tablet is made up of
four pieces of stone, and a base under it, therefore it is called
"Stone-base Classic of Filial Piety".
The First Display Room
In the First Display Room at the Stone Forest is exhibited the
"Kaicheng Classics", including the texts of 12 books, namely "the
Book of Changes"; "the Book of History"; "the Book of Songs";
"Account of the Rite of the Zhou Dynasty"; "the Book of Ceremo-
ny"; "the Book of Rites"; "Zuo Qiuming's Commentary on Spring
and Autumn Annals"; "Gongyang's Commentary on Spring and
Autumn Annals"; "Guliang's Commentary on Spring and Autumn
Annals"; "the Analects of Confucius"; "the Canon of Filial
Piety"
and "the Erya". The 12 classics containing altogether 650,252
characters were thus engraved on both sides of 114 pieces of stones.
In the Qing Dynasty another classic "Mencius" was engraved on 17
pieces of stones with 30,000 eharacters~, It is also displayed here.
This and 12 others are together called Thirteen Classics". These
12 classics were required readings for intellectuals of feudal society.
Because printing was quite backward, in order to'avoid errors made
in copying the classics by men of letters, and to keep them forever,
these 12 classics were thus engraved on stones as standard copies.
These tablets were erected in the imperial college in Chang'an for
the proof of private copies. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty the clas-
sics had been ,,successfully engraved seven times. The "Kaicheng
Stone Classics is the only complete set of such classics passed down
in good condition.
The Second Display Room
Room II mainly keeps tablets of calligraphy inscribed by many
famous calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. These tablets have served
as models for calligraphy students. There are "Huang Pudan
Tablet inscribed by Ou Yangxun, the early Tang calligrapher;
"Master Daoyin Tablet" inscribed by Ou Yangtong, Ou Yangxun's
son; "Duobao Pagoda Tablet" and "The Yan's Family Temple
Tablet" inscribed by Yah Zhenqing; "Mysterious Pagoda Tablet"
inscribed by Liu Gongquan in the late Tang Dynasty; "the Tablet
of Forward to the Sacred Teaching of Monk Xuan Zang" inscribed
by Monk Huai Ren in Chang'an's Hongfu Temple in the handwrit-
ing of Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher (This tablet is known as
the "most valuable copybook ". ); and the world famous tablet
"Nestorian Tablet".
The Nestorian Tablet provides precious data for the study of
the cultural exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and other coun-
tries. "Da Qin" is an ancient Chinese term for the Roman Empire.
Nestorianism is a sect of Christianity. It was so named after it was
introduced into China. In 635 A. D. it was then introduced into
Chang'an. The tablet was engraved and erected in 781 A. D.. The
inscription states 'the doctrine and rites of Nestorianism, its spread-
ing in China and its activities in a period of 150 years in the Tang
Dynasty. What is more, there are names of many missionaries and
important incidents inscribed on the tablet in the Syriac languange.
The Nestorian Tablet was originally erected in the Da Qin
Temple. It was unearthed in 1623 A. D. and then moved to the Jin
Sheng Temple in the western suburbs of Xi'an. Later on rubings of
the tablet flew overseas and were translated into Latin, which
arouse attention of many countries. Some foreigners believed that
since Europe had many Christians, such a tablet recording Nestori-
anism should be shifted to Europe for people to show respects. So in
1907, Britain sent Holmore, a Danish man, to Xi'an in an attempt
to buy the tablet at a cost of 3,000 tael of silver. When the inspec-
tor in Shaanxi got the news,he immediately moved the tablet into
the Stone Forest. Holmore could not do anything but made a false
tablet and shipped it back to London.
The Third Display Room
Room III contains tablets from the Han to the Song dynasties.
They are inscribed with a rich variety of calligraphy, including seal
characters, official script, regular script, running hand and cursive
hand. The tablets could very well describe the evolution of the Chi-
nese writing system.
The tablet here is in seal characters of Meng Ying of the Song
Dynasty. According to the book "On Characters" by Xu Shen,
Meng Ying wrote the radicals or basic structural parts of 540 Chi-
nese characters in seal script and marked them with phonetics sym-
bols in regular script.
This tablet for the county magistrate Cao Quan of the Han Dy-
nasty was inscribed in official script. The characters are written
with elegant and vigorous strokes and are well-arranged. The callig-
raphy flies its own colours among schools of the Han official charac-
ters. It is one of the famous Han calligraphy tablets. Offcial script
appeared by the end of the Qin Dynasty. Compared with seal char-
acters, official script is simple and easy to write, and people found it
rather convenient to use. The evolution from seal to official style is a
revolution of Chinese characters in their forms. Official script be-
came popular in the Han Dynasty.
There is a tablet inscribed in regular script, which began in the
period of the Three Kingdoms (220--280 A. D. ). It came to matu-
rity and gained popularity during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Rulers of the successive dynasties all made it a rule that official doc-
uments and imperial examination papers should be written in regular
script.
This is the Thousand--Character Inscription in cursive hand
which contains one thousand non-repeated characters, serving as a
primer for children in ancient times. It was written by the celebrat-
ed calligrapher Monk Huai Su in the Tang Dynasty. His bold and
unconstrained style of writing has had a considerable influence on
successive periods.
The Fourth Display Room
In Room IV are works of poetry in the authentic hand-writing
of the well-known calligraphers from the Song through the Qing
dynasties, tablets of historical significance in periods of the Ming and
Qing dynasties, and some liner engravingsfrom the Song through
the Qing dynasties. We would like to show you several of these
drawings in particular.
Here are two of them: "Bodhidharma's Eastward Journey";
and "Bodhidharma in Meditation". Bodhidharma was a prince of
Southern Tianzhu (India). He arrived in China in 520 A. D.. Be-
cause he had different views on Buddhism from Emperor Wu Di of
the Southern Dynasty, he left for another state in the east named
Wei and settled down in Shaolin Temple where he practiced Bud-
dhism for nine years, facing the wall day in and day out. This
tablet describes a legend of Bodhidharma crossing the river to the
east, standing on a piece of reed, with shoes hanging from his
neck. The other describes Bodhidharma sitting on a rock cushion in
meditation. These are two carved sketches of life-like figures. Their
rough sketch reveals a vivid touch.
This drawing is composed of characters ingeniously pieced to-
gether and is called "Jizi Kuixing Diandou" (portrait of Kuixing
composed of characters). In the feudal society, the imperial exami-
nation system selected officials by testing their knowledge about the
Five Confucian Classics. Those who won the first place in an exami-
nation would be honoured as "Kuixing" (the star at the top ofthe
Big Dipper). It is not a surprise, therefore, that pavilions called
"Kuixinglou" or "Kuixingge" could be found is the most colleges,
where a portrait of Kuixing would be enshrined. In the drawing,
the figure of "Kuixing" is composed of eight characters, meaning
"restraining oneself and returning to the rites", which was upheld
as the norm of cultivation for Confucianists. "Kuixing" himself
stands on one foot over a character meaning "turtle", with the oth-
er raising up and supporting a character meaning "the Big Dipper".
All of his manner implies that he heads the list of the successful can-
didates. This is a vivid picture and ingeniously constructed.
The Fifth Display Room
In the Fifth Display Room are tablets which record the history
of temple repair, good deeds of man, canal digging and wall mend-
ing during the dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. They are
good reference data for the study of the then society and local histo-
ry.
There are also some tablets on which are inscribed the giant
characters : "Tiger", "Longevity" and "Fortune"
etc, written by
Ma Dezhao in the Qing Dynasty at one go. The characters are vig-
orous in writing with a tremendous momentum and offer the visitors
a taste of enjoyment.
The Sixth Display Room
The room mainly contains the tablets of poetry and verses in
the dynasties of Yuan, Ming and Qing. Among them are the very
valuable tablets of "Visiting the Tianguan Mountain" by Zhao
Mengfu in the Yuan Dynasty; "Seeing off Zhang Sheng of Huiji in
Moling Inn" by Dong Qichang in the Ming Dynasty; of "Bestowing
Wu He" by the Qing Dynasty Emperor Kang Xi in the handwriting
of Mi Fei, and of "Visiting Mount Hua" by Lin Zexu.
The Seventh Display Room
This room was set up in 1982 ,which specially stores "The Se-
cret Court Copybook of Chunhua in the Song Dynasty".
This secret copybook has ten volumes. The first five contain
the calligraphy of various emperors, famous officials and well-
known calligraphers in seal script, cursive script and regular script.
The later five contain the cursive handwriting of Wang Xizhi and
Wang Xianzhi. This is a collection of the works of Chinese calligra-
phers before the Song Dynasty. "The Secret Court Copybook" was
originally engraved on date wooden board by Wang Zhu under the
order of Song Taizong in the Third Reign of Chunhua(992 A. D. ).
It was kept, rubbed and distributed to officials. Because it was en-
graved in the Imperial Court, it was thus named "Secret Court
Copybook ". Also because it was done in Chunhua Reign, it was
thus called "the Secret Court Copybook of Chunhua". Soon after
the book was engraved, it was destroyed. There were many private
and public copies from Song to Qing dynasties. The present copy,
an imitation of "the Secret Court Copybook of Chunhua" in Xi'an
Stone Forests, was engraved on 145 pieces of stone with both sides
in 1646.
In the six tortuous corridor are displayed epitaphs from Wei to
Qing dynasties. In the Wei and Jin periods, it was strictly forbidden
to bury the dead extravagantly and erect tablets in front of the
tombs, but to commemorate the deceased, members of the family
and relatives engraved on the stone tablets the compliments for the
dead and placed the tablets secretly into the tomb. This type of
stone engraving later became inscriptions on memorial tahlets and
the inscriptions thus became epitaph.
Stone Sculpture
This showroom containing stone sculpture was built in 1963. It
houses more than 70 pieces of stone sculptures which were scattered
all over Shaanxi Province. These pieces of art are classified into two
groups: mausoleum carvings and religious carvings. They are here
arranged in a chronological order.
Stone sculpture is the gem of the nation's excellent cultural
heritage. Shaanxi is one of the places where the nation's early de-
velopment of stone sculpture and abundant historical relics have
been found. The province is particularly renowned at home and
abroad for its large numbers of superb skill of stone sculpture,
which occupies a conspicuous position in the nation's sculptural his-
tory.
Let's start with the mausoleum sculpture. This pair of stone
animals used to be placed in front of a mausoleum to protect it from
evils. The craftsmen combined characteristics of lions and tigers,
and created such an imaginary beast of prey. The forceful legs,
mighty and active figures all reveal the superb skills and creative tal-
ents of the sculptors of the Han Dynasty.
These are Eastern Han stone relievos discovered in Northern
Shaanxi.
Relievos are pictures chipped on stone surface. It originated
fi'om Western Han Dynasty, and became popular in Eastern Han
Dynasty. For 2000 years or more, it shows its eternal artistic glam-
our in its unique style. During the Western Han Dynasty extrava-
gant burial was very popular. Among the nobles, there was a
strong concept of "living again after death". They had engraved on
the tomb walls what life they lived and what they respected and
loved, so they could enjoy after their death in another world. The
Han Dynasty relievos were thus born under such circumstances. Be-
sides some historical legends, the subject matter of the relievos orig-
inated from real life, such as ploughing, hunting, music and dance
and the style of noble lives. These relievos, vivid and true to life,
are the miniature of the social life of the Han Dynasty. Therefore,
they are not only the artistic creation but the historical records as
well. And at the same time they provide valuable data for the study
of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
There are about 500 pieces of stone relievos of the Eastern Han
Dynasty, unearthed in Northern Shaanxi, out of which 133 pieces
are retained at the Museum of the Forest of Stone Tablets.
This ploughing relief could be an example. It tells us how oxen
were used for ploughing in the fields in Northern $haanxi. It helps
us greatly to understand the country's state of agricultural produc-
tion in ancient times. Although the drawing is just a simple sketch,
such works of art about ancient ploughing are rarely seen and are
thus very valuable.
This is a complete entrance to a mausoleum. On the door leaf
are scu!pted a scarlet-bird, a white tiger, a blue dragon, and a tor-
toise on the lower part of the door frame. They were believed to be
gods of the four directions of south, north, east and west in ancient
times. The engraved figures on the door suggested good luck and
safety.
This is an outer coffin for Li Shou (630 A. D. ), a cousin of
the Tang Emperor Gao Zu (Li Yuan). It is made up of 28 black
stones. The tombstone bearing inscriptions for him is not in the tra-
ditional square shape, but in the shape of a stone tortoise. In the
Tang Dynasty, a tortoise was a symbol of'longevity and high rank.
However, it was very rare to find a tortoise-shaped tombstone.
There have been only two tombstones of the sort found so far. Un-
fortunately, the one discovered before this is missing for reasons no-
body knows. Surely this tortoise-shaped tombstone is really valuable
in archaeology.
This stone rhino of ten tons, carved in 635 A.D. , used to be
placed in front of Tang Emperor Gao Zu's tomb. It was copied from
live animals from some foreign countries as a tribute to the Tang
Dynasty. In addition, the piece of art was carved out of one huge
stone. It is actually a memento of friendship between China and for-
eign countries.
These six world-famous steeds of Zhaoling Mausoleum were
sculpted when Zhaoling Tomb was built by order of Emperor Li
Shimin in memory of six horses, which served him in wars. An
outstanding painter named Yan Liben made the drawings. Two of
the bas-relief steeds, known as "Saluzi" and "Quanmaowua"
were
stolen by an American who worked in collaboration with the feudal
war-lords in 1914. They are now kept in Pennsylvania, at the Uni-
versity Museum of Philadelphia.
In 1918, they broke the other four steeds into p!eces in an at-
tempt to ship them away in boxes, but they were found and blocked
up by the locals. The bas-relievos of the six steeds are vigorus and
graceful regarded as one of the rare treasures of art in the Tang Dy-
nasty.
This pair of stone lions used to be placed in front of Zhaoling
Tomb. The vivid modelling fully expresses the animal's characteris-
tic of dignity. In the Tang Dynasty, training lions was very popu-
lar. Tamed lions could perform dances in time with music for recre-
ation in the palace. The man standing over there is a lion trainer.
What we shall see next are religious carvings, mainly of the
Buddhist religion.
Buddhism was introduced into China from India around the
first century A. D.. In Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties
(256--589 A. D. ), different sects of Buddhism appeared in China.
Buddhist scholars specializing in the religion began to give lectures
as a profession. The religion reached its height in the Sui and Tang
dynasties. China then developed her own sects of Buddhism. Idol
carving came to China with Buddhism, accelerated and enriched
craftsmanship of Chinese sculpture.
This figure belongs to the Southern and Northern Dynasties,
with features typical of Indian Gandhara sculpture, an ancient
school of sculpture which was very popular in India's Gandhara
from the first through the sixth centuries A. D.. This kind of
sculpture shows beautiful postures, terse lines and clear patterns of
clothing real to the touch. This statue of Maitreya adopted both the
Chinese traditional craftsmanship and merits of foreign art.
This carving of Boddhisattva belongs to the Sui Dynasty. It
wears a jewel crown, jade lace trimmings, and is sitting erect. The
delicate carving is in good proportion,typical of the Sui sculpture,
which maintained some characteristic touches of the Southern and
Northern Dynasties but tended to be more realistic. It broke
through the trammels of foreign art norms and developed a rich
artistic style of our own.
The Tang Dynasty witnessed a high level of development of the
Chinese art. It was in this period that Buddhist statue modelling at-
tained maturity. The varied styles, accurate figuring and skillful
manufacturing were all unprecedented. It is worth while to have a
look at these fine carvings of the Tang Dynasty.
This handsome Boddhisattva looks graceful and solemn. The
meticulously carved muscles, jade trimmings, scarf and lotus petalg
are all real to the touch, well-proportioned, and in perfect harmo-
ny. And the cutting shows a skillful, lucid and lively style. This
masterpiece of the Tang sculpture is great in every sense of the
word.
This statue of a warrior is full of vigour, and is sculpted with
ease and grace. The strong physique and armour suit are somewhat
exaggerated, but reasonable.
The craftsmen drew on their powerful imagination and inge-
niously adopted the method of contrasting the false and the true,
the loose and the compact, thus creating a graceful integrated struc-
ture. The marvellous craftsmanship is certainly an embodiment of
the superb wisdom of those creators.
This is a statue of Li Er, the founder of Taoism, which is a re-
ligion of the Han nationality, originating in the late Eastern Han
Dynasty. It was probably made by Yuan Jla'er, a famous sculptor
from the Western Regions. This dignified and plump figure carving
is one of those masterpieces of the Tang Dynasty sculptures.