Page 554 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

was granted the titles of Prince of Taiyuan and Prince of Beiping. His status as a powerful war-
lord in the Hebei region is reflected in the design of his tomb, which includes an antechamber,
a rear chamber, and two side rooms, a design identical with the contemporaneous tomb of Zhao
Dejun discovered in Beijing; such designs during the Five Dynasties were traditionally the privi-
lege of individuals of higher rank. Wang Chuzhi died in the twentieth year of the Tianyou (923
CE). The design of the mural paintings was likely adapted from similar murals at Chang'an, a
reflection of Wang Chuzhi's status as a warlord of Hebei and his social position in the capital.
Buddhist culture introduced a variety of artistic forms and influences into Han and Tang
culture. Archaeological study of Chinese Buddhism has concentrated on three areas: cave tem-
ples; monastery remains, including various Buddhist images and objects unearthed from the
sites; and subterranean crypts beneath Buddhist pagodas. The most important monastery re-

mains excavated in recent years have been the Xiude Monastery in Quyang, Hebei province; the
Wanfo Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, and the Longxing Monastery, in Qingzhou,
Shandong province. Artifacts from the pagoda crypts, such as the renowned Famen Monastery
in Fufeng, Shaanxi province and the Longxing Monastery in Qingzhou, have yielded extraordi-
nary objects that represent the artistic quintessence of Chinese Buddhist culture.
The three hundred Buddhist statues discovered in 1996 at the Longxing Monastery in
Qingzhou date from the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, Tang, and the Northern
Song dynasties; most of the images, however, were made during the Northern Wei and North-
10
ern Qi. During the later years of the Northern Song (the early twelfth century), the creation of
Buddha statues ceased altogether; existing statues were destroyed and buried. Several stylistic
dominate the Longxing Buddhist images: their splendid colors and use of gold inlay and the
close-fitting drapery of the figures ("as if just coming out of water"); the latter feature is charac-
teristic of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi statues and reflects the influence of Gandharan style,
contrasting with the loose gown and sash normally seen in the Northern Wei images.
The Famen Monastery was one of four Tang imperial sponsored Buddhist monasteries
that enshrined relics of the Buddha. During the Zhenguan, Xianqing, Zhide, Zhenyuan, and
Yuanhe eras, the imperial court ordered the skull, fingerbones and other relics to be brought

from the Famen Monastery to the palace; with the persecution of Buddhism under the
Huichang era (845 CE), the worship of the relics ceased, but during the fourteenth year of
the Xiantong era (873 CE), the imperial court again had the relics brought to the palace and
returned them to the monastery at the end of the year. One year later, the Buddha's relics were
buried in the subterranean crypt beneath the pagoda and lay there undisturbed until their
excavation in 1987.
The subterranean crypt of the Famen Monastery pagoda is oriented along a north-south
axis, with a stairway, tunnel, antechamber, middle and rear chambers constructed of stone
slabs. This remains the only known three-chambered subterranean crypt, a layout evidently
derived from that of imperial mausoleums. Two stone steles were erected at the northern end of

553 | HAN AND TANG D Y N A S T I E S