"Teacher, according to the analysis of the notes left by Taoist Wang, there should be nearly 20,000 Dunhuang documents in these two Buddha statues. Let them be careful when breaking them open..."
Zhuang Rui looked at the hammers and chisels in the hands of several soldiers and couldn't help but remind Professor Meng that if someone accidentally damaged the cultural relics inside, it would be an immeasurable loss.
"Yes, yes, please be careful. These clay Buddha statues are probably made of blue bricks inside. Scrape off the surface first..."
Professor Meng nodded repeatedly and started directing the current staff, but then there was doubt on his face. He turned to Zhuang Rui and asked: "Daoist Wang once left notes? Where are they? Those documents that were sent out before.
There’s nothing inside…”
In the Dunhuang Museum, there are indeed some handwritten notes written by Taoist Wang, but these notes have been studied over and over by others. Professor Meng clearly remembers that there is no information about these Dunhuang documents unknown to the world in those notes.
That’s why Professor Meng thought that Taoist Wang had left notes in the Buddha statue and was discovered by Zhuang Rui.
Zhuang Rui was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and pointed to Nakagawa, who was sitting in the corner of the hall and was ignored, and said: "Teacher, that Japanese is a descendant of the Japanese explorer Yoshikawa. When he was sorting out the relics of his ancestors, he discovered what Taoist Wang had left behind.
I just came to Dunhuang with my notes and pictures. Senior brother also knows about this..."
"Well, I haven't had time to ask..."
Professor Meng smiled awkwardly when he heard this. After seeing the Dunhuang documents that Dr. Ren and Peng Fei brought out from the desert, especially the handwritten scriptures of Zhang Zhi, his attention immediately focused on
Up there.
Later, when the helicopter arrived and they were busy rushing here, Professor Meng and his students didn't communicate much, and naturally they didn't know the role Zhongchuan played in this archeology.
Zhuang Rui smiled and shook his head, and told Professor Meng about Zhongchuan. Of course, he also told Professor Meng that he promised Zhongchuan that he could send people to participate in Dunhuang research. As for whether the teacher agreed, it was none of Zhuang Rui's business.
Already.
"Is that what happened?"
After listening to this, Professor Meng pondered for a moment and said: "Dunhuang culture has been developing for decades. There are specialized scholars in Western countries and Japan who are studying it. Its influence is all over the world, not just in China.
A family...
Well, in principle, I agree to this matter, but it still needs to be reported to the higher authorities, and if the Japanese side wants to join the research, it must do so in the name of official cultural exchange and show their sincerity..."
The sincerity mentioned by Professor Meng naturally requires Japan to produce the more than 10,000 volumes of Dunhuang documents obtained from China. These materials should be quite complementary to the domestic study of Dunhuang culture. In this case, it cannot be said that
Whoever suffers gets the advantage.
What's more, Professor Meng is an open-minded person. He is not very concerned about the fact that Japanese explorers bought national treasures from China at a low price in the early last century, and he does not have much ill feelings toward Yoshikawa.
Because if the environment and location were changed, even Professor Meng would definitely take advantage of such an advantage if he saw it. Just imagine if you had the opportunity to buy a batch of priceless cultural relics at a low price through legitimate means without breaking the law or committing a crime.
Will you do it?
In addition, the country was weak and in troubled times at that time. As the saying goes, antiques in prosperous times are worth gold in troubled times. These rare ancient books were not valued by the Qing court and the warlords at that time. It is no wonder that foreign explorers took them out of China.
Some friends may not support this point of view, but this is indeed human nature. The main reason is that many friends cannot accept it psychologically when they see Chinese cultural relics being lost. If it were the Chinese who wantonly plundered foreign antiques, I guess our psychology
You can find balance.
"Thank you, old sir. I will take out all the Dunhuang documents in the family and study them, and I can also persuade others to do the same..."
Zhongchuan on the side was immediately overjoyed after hearing what Yan Xiaowei translated. He stepped forward and bowed deeply to Professor Meng. At this moment, he had long since lost all desire to monopolize these cultural relics. He was satisfied to get a piece of the pie.
Already.
Professor Meng waved his hand and said: "Well, the relevant departments will negotiate with you when the time comes. No need to thank me. Art knows no borders, and culture also needs to be exchanged..."
"Why doesn't the British Museum communicate with us and return the things..." Zhuang Rui muttered in his heart.
"I opened the blue brick, there is something inside..."
The archaeological staff on the pedestal of the Buddha statue suddenly heard a cry of surprise. Professor Meng ignored Zhuang Rui and rushed over immediately. The person who stretched out his hands so nimblely did not look like an old man who was nearly seventy years old at all.
"Slow down, don't water, it doesn't matter if there is dust..."
"Okay, two people go in, and you place two boards on the base of the platform..."
"Be careful, how do you do it? Put on your gloves, lift the two of them up and put them on the cart..."
When the hole was opened wide enough, Professor Meng gave instructions continuously. Seeing the neat Dunhuang documents wrapped in oil paper, the old professor's face was full of excitement.
The equipment brought from the helicopter was much better than the facilities brought by Zhuang Rui and others. Soon two alloy plates were placed on the platform, and two small carts carried the sutra scrolls in the belly of the Buddha statue back and forth.
.
Although the manpower was much more abundant than before, the more than 20,000 volumes of Dunhuang documents still kept everyone busy for a whole day, and it was not until completely dark that the cleaning was completed.
After carrying the scriptures into the helicopter, Professor Meng and his people carefully cleaned the inside of the Buddha statue, leaving not even a scrap of paper.
Since it was getting late and there was a need for further research on this ancient temple, everyone took a rest in the ancient temple that day.
Of course, beside the three helicopters, there are soldiers with loaded guns guarding them. These precious Dunhuang documents are worth a fortune. Losing even one copy will be a heavy loss.
The next day, Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren accompanied Professor Meng and his team of experts to inspect this thousand-year-old temple. However, just like Zhuang Rui and others' previous survey, all valuable things in the ancient temple had been moved away, and only these
Ancient buildings still have some research value.
After confirming that there were no more Dunhuang documents in the ancient temple, everyone got on the helicopter and flew towards the town. When they arrived at the town, the helicopter just dropped Erdan and others down without stopping. They didn't even go back to Dunhuang, but went directly to Dunhuang.
We arrived at the huge military camp at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base.
"Teacher, isn't this a bit exaggerated? How did you manage to end up in the army?"
Originally, the helicopter landed in the military camp. Zhuang Rui thought that the other party would then send a car to take his group to the hotel. Who knew that they would be placed directly in the army's guest house, which made Zhuang Rui a little confused.
"There will be a special plane to take us back to Beijing tomorrow. Let's stay here for one night..."
Professor Meng saw Zhuang Rui's confused look. Although he wanted to check the Dunhuang documents first, he still patiently said: "I don't know how your archaeological operation was spread. Now Dunhuang
In the streets and alleys, apart from tourists, there are probably cultural relic smugglers, so it’s safer to live here..."
Since the year 2000, the boom in the world's investment goods market has also led to a craze for Chinese antiques. Coupled with the hype of some behind-the-scenes masterminds, the prices of these things that could have been bought for thirty-five yuan in the 1970s and 1980s have increased.
It has doubled thousands of times.
However, the antiques circulated among the people were limited after all. As a result, many people focused their attention on those tombs. For a time, nine out of ten tombs in China were empty. The brave tomb robbers even dared to seize the tiger's teeth. In some countries
The archaeological team was hanging around in front of the door.
The news of the unearthed Dunhuang documents this time attracted a large number of domestic cultural relic dealers and tomb robbers. After being alerted by relevant departments, Professor Meng chose a military camp as a temporary shelter for the safety of these cultural relics.
…
After a short stay of one day, the day after Professor Meng returned to Beijing, the news of the major breakthrough in Dunhuang archeology spread throughout the world through television, radio, newspapers, the Internet and other media, shocking the world's scientific research community.
A hundred years ago, in an era when communications were extremely underdeveloped, the emergence of Dunhuang documents caused a sensation throughout the world. The quantity and quality of the Dunhuang documents unearthed today are no less than those of those years, so the sensation they caused is natural
It's even bigger.
For a time, Dunhuang cultural research institutions from various countries applied to relevant domestic departments one after another, requesting to participate in this scientific expedition in the form of cultural exchanges, and proposed many cooperation and exchange plans.
Under this circumstance, the World Dunhuang Culture Symposium is also scheduled to be held in Beijing next month. Institutions and scholars studying Dunhuang culture from Western countries and Southeast Asia, including Japan, have applied to the conference to participate.
The names of Zhuang Rui and others also became known to the world's scientific research community overnight. A certain core leader in charge of culture, science and education in China also sent a congratulatory message to the archaeological team headed by Zhuang Rui and Ren Chunqiang.
Commendation.
The publication of the Dunhuang Documents happened to coincide with the annual college entrance examination. I don’t know how many students resolutely applied for the relatively unknown archeology major because of this incident. In the past, the archeology department, which could not even fill a single class, actually showed up.
The situation of shortage of supply cannot but be said to be inevitably related to this incident.
CCTV even continuously broadcasts a large-scale science and education film that was tepid a few years ago: Entering Dunhuang has caused an archaeological craze in the land of China. Of course, in a certain respect, it has also strengthened the profession of tomb robbers.
