《Dunhuang in Space》Life·Reading·New Knowledge Sanlian Bookstore

Introduction

Nearly a century ago, Mr. Chen Yinke wrote in the Preface to Chen Yuan's Dunhuang Records: "The academic research of an era must have new materials and new problems. Using these materials to study problems is the new trend of academic research in this era." If the situation a hundred years ago was that new materials from Dunhuang documents and Dunhuang art would lead to new research problems, the situation today is that after the accumulation of several generations of scholars, basic investigations and material collation have been quite sufficient, and more new problems arising from research are needed to drive the rediscovery of materials. Wu Hung's new work uses the perspective of "space" to mobilize readers' own experience, from Dunhuang City all the way west to Mingsha Mountain, where thousands of caves are carved; facing the cliffs that come in front of them, historical imagination is unfolded, and with the human body as the scale, the cave space of different periods is entered to feel the obvious changes in the function, nature and visiting methods of the cave. In the cave, the body participates in the perception of sculptures and series of murals and the relationship between them, and finally the eyes fall on a single picture, entering the internal space of the picture, completing the spiritual viewing meaning. Therefore, although the book widely uses and cites original materials on Dunhuang research, it attempts to show their significance from a new level, inspiring readers to mobilize their bodies and eyes and embark on a historical and cultural journey of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes while reading.