When it comes to the history of Chinese architecture, Liang Sicheng is definitely a name that cannot be ignored. His family, his wife Lin Huiyin, and his stories about ancient Chinese architecture have always been told. The Lianglin route, named after Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, has also become a classic tourist route for many ancient architecture and history lovers.
January 9th is the death day of Mr. Liang Sicheng's death, let us follow the footsteps of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin and his wife on this special day to find those ancient buildings submerged in the city and deep mountains.
Those who are familiar with ancient Chinese architecture or Mr. Liang Sicheng know that from 1932 to 1937, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin and their team traveled many times to investigate the ancient buildings in various places. The approximate itinerary is as follows:
Starting from the outskirts of Beiping in 1932, Liang Sicheng's exploration of ancient Chinese architecture began.
In 1933, he successively went to Datong, Zhengding and other places to survey, map and sort out ancient buildings;
In 1934, Jinfen in Shanxi, Hangzhou in Zhejiang and Jinhua became part of the year's itinerary, which enriched the research materials of ancient Chinese architecture.
In 1936, Liang Sicheng and his team traveled to Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Tai'an, Shandong Province to record the ancient Chinese architecture there.
In 1937, Xi'an, Guanzhong, and Wutai Mountain in Shaanxi Province welcomed this ancient Chinese architecture exploration team.
In this short period of five years, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin and their team surveyed and sorted out more than 200 groups of ancient buildings distributed throughout China, completed 1,898 surveying and mapping drawings, and photographed thousands of precious historical photos**. Their efforts have not only laid the foundation for the protection and research of ancient Chinese architecture, but also discovered a number of ancient Chinese buildings that are the best in China and even the world.
As the name suggests, northern Jin refers to the northern part of Shanxi, including Datong, Shuozhou, and Xinzhou.
Come to Datong, it is very suitable to take the Yungang Grottoes located in Yungang District, Datong City as the first stop, as one of the four major grottoes in China, the Yungang Grottoes were built in 460 AD, more than 1560 years ago. The textbook introduces it here: Yungang Grottoes is a three-dimensional historical material of oriental stone carving art, a perfect example of the integration of China and the West, and the most important treasure house for understanding the architecture of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 1933, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, Liu Dunzhen and other members of the China Construction Society made their first trip to Shanxi, and took the Yungang Grottoes as the most important object of investigation. Later, in the relevant introduction, we can see that Liang Sicheng's comment on the Yungang Grottoes is: This spiritual rock wall is the essence of Later Wei art - a rare large physical evidence in a very important period in the history of Chinese art.
From the Yungang Grottoes back to the ancient city of Datong, the thousand-year-old temple Huayan Temple is one of the most classic buildings in the entire ancient city. Located in the southwest of the ancient city of Datong, Huayan Temple was built in the seventh year of Liao Chongxi, that is, in 1038 AD, and was named after the Buddhist classic "Huayan Sutra". It has the nature of the royal temple of the Liao State and has a prominent status.
Also in 1933, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin placed the first stop of their expedition to Shanxi and Northern Jin to Huayan Temple. The two leading teams found this magnificent and shocking hall based on the records taken by the Japanese Tadashi Ito in 1902. In particular, seeing the Bhagavad Tibetan Temple, it is as if I have traveled back thousands of years at once. According to Liang Sicheng's comparison of "Constructing the French Style", the Bhagavata Tibetan Hall of Huayan Temple is simply a "living" specimen of ancient architecture.
For those who come to Datong for tourism, after visiting the above two, the Hanging Temple located in Beiyue Heng Mountain is also one of the essential attractions. This temple located on the cliff of Jinlong Gorge in Hengshan Mountain, Hunyuan County, Datong City, was formerly known as Xuankong Pavilion. Founded in the late Northern Wei Dynasty (491), more than 1500 years ago, it is a unique temple integrating Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Liang Sicheng's team also came here during their inspection of Datong, but because Liang Sicheng's goal at that time was to find Tang Dynasty buildings, and many of the Hanging Temples were rebuilt by later generations, they were not added to its Chinese architectural history.
Leave Datong and head south to Shuozhou, where we can go to Yingxian to see. When you come to Yingxian, the Buddha Palace Temple Shakya Pagoda is what we often call the Yingxian Wooden Tower, which is the symbol here. This wooden tower is also a Liao Dynasty building, was built in the Liao Dynasty Qingning two years, that is, in 1056 AD, is currently the world's tallest and oldest pure wooden structure pavilion building.
When Liang Sicheng inspected here, in addition to the same shock and jaw-dropping, it was an interesting anecdote before departure. Before going to Oy, the only information about the wooden pagoda in Ookan was the introduction of the 11th-century tomb tower by the Japanese Sekino Sada. In order to find **, he wrote a letter to the largest photo studio in Ying County at that time, begging the other party to help take a **, and added a 1 yuan silver dollar to the letter, of course, Liang Sicheng did not know who the owner of this store was at this time. Fortunately, the owner of the photo studio helped complete the task, and the reward was for Liang Sicheng to bring some stationery and letterhead when he came to investigate.
Also in Shuozhou, there is a Jin Dynasty temple that was missed by Liang Sicheng back then, which is the Chongfu Temple located on the north side of East Street, Shuocheng District, Shuozhou City. Chongfu Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty, and the supervised construction was the famous door god Wei Chi Jingde. In the third year of Emperor Jinxizong's reign (1143), it was rebuilt and added to the Mida Hall and the Guanyin Hall. Nowadays, the temple still retains the remains of the Jin Dynasty. Compared with the famous Foguang Temple, Yingxian Wooden Tower, Huayan Temple, etc., there is a kind of beauty of treatment in the boudoir and quiet in the noisy.
When it comes to Liang Sicheng's ancient building in Shanxi, Foguang Temple is an ancient building that has to be said.
In the 20s of the last century, scholars from Japan declared that "there are no Tang Dynasty wooden buildings in China, you can only go to Nara, Japan." The team of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin always believed that there must still be wooden buildings in the Tang Dynasty in China, and finally found traces of Foguang Temple through the "Wutai Mountain Map" of the Five Dynasties Period in Cave 61 of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.
Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin led the team to Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province to find Foguang Temple and its pagoda. Liang Sicheng and they not only found the Big Buddha Light Temple in Wutai Mountain, but also found the same pagoda as in the Dunhuang murals, which is the existing Buddha Light Temple Patriarch Pagoda. Much to Liang Sicheng's expectation, there is not only the Great Buddha Hall built in the tenth year of Tang Dazhong (856), but also the main hall of Nanchan Temple rebuilt in the third year of Tang Jianzhong (782). It is the earliest existing wooden building in China. Discovering Foguang Temple is like discovering a new continent of ancient architecture. Through careful research, surveying and drawing, Liang Sicheng wrote a discussion on the architecture of Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain, which caused a sensation in Chinese and foreign architectural circles after its publication. As a result, Foguang Temple was praised as "Asian Buddha Light" by foreign scholars.
Liang Sicheng's journey of discovery is full of hardships and challenges. Not only did he have to face difficult geography and harsh climatic conditions, but he also had to overcome technical and resource difficulties. However, he has always adhered to his love and dedication to ancient architecture, and has made outstanding contributions to the protection and inheritance of ancient Chinese architectural culture.
Nowadays, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin and the gentlemen of the Chinese construction academic department have long since left, but they have left us not only books and ancient buildings that are still standing, but also their spirit and heritage, which let us remember the deeds of this great architect and inherit and carry forward the ancient Chinese architectural culture.