How Cultural Relics Were Discovered

By Shu Yi

How are discoveries made? I would like to cite two examples from my own experience.

I once went to the old Cishan Temple in the Tiantai Mountain in Shijingshan District. As I walked, my foot inadvertently kicked a stone. I carefully looked at the round stone which just happened to be an ancient sundial engraved with numbers. A needle was inserted in it, pointing at the south. The shadow cast by the needle indicated the time.

That stone was the plate of a sundial, but no one had noticed it,let alone discovered its value.

“1790” was carved on the plate,which aroused my curiosity. If the sundial was from ancient China,it should have used the year numbering system used in ancient China, such as Year of Yihai during Qianlong’s reign, instead of “1790.”

I then took a closer look at it and found hours on it. In ancient China, a day was divided into 12 two-hour periods indicating the names of 12 Earthly Branches,such as Zishi (23:00-24:59 at night) and Maoshi (5:00-6:59 in the morning). However, on the sundial there were 24 hours marked in the Roman alphabet. It was extremely rare for the Roman alphabet to have been used during Qianlong’s reign.

It was extraordinary! At that time, Western missionaries brought to China the Western calendar which was then combined with the Chinese calendar, and thus this special object came into being. It was an amazing cultural relic which was evidence of cultural exchanges between the East and West.

Later, I wrote an article about it, titled “The Foreign Sundial,”which attracted considerable attention. Now, the object has become part of a museum’s collection.

The second story also occurred in Shijingshan District. On Moshikou Street in the scenic area, there was an ancient temple from the late Ming Dynasty, called the Cheng’en Temple.

When I visited the temple, I found two dark murals on the wall of the Hall of Heavenly Kings.There were four murals in the hall.

慈善寺 The Cishan Temple

文物這樣被發現

文/舒乙

什么叫發現問題？我舉兩個我自己經歷過的例子。

有一次，走到石景山區，那里有一個破廟叫慈善寺，在天臺山里頭。正走著，踢到一塊石頭，我仔細端詳這塊石頭，是一個古代的日晷：一塊圓的石頭，上面刻上數字，然后插一根針，對著正南方，這個針的陰影就是當時的時間。

這塊石頭是一個日晷的盤面，沒有人去注意它，更沒人發現它的價值。

盤面上雕著“1790”。這個“1790”引起了我極大的好奇。如果日晷是古代的，它肯定用中國古代紀年法，比如說乾隆乙亥年，不會寫1790年。

再仔細一看，那上頭記的是小時。中國古代講時辰，十二地支記時，比如子時、卯時，這里的“時”相當于現在兩個小時。它那上頭記的是二十四小時，且標的數字是羅馬字母。乾隆時代用羅馬字母，是非常稀罕的了。

這是一個不得了的東西！在那個時代，西方傳教士把西方歷法傳到中國，然后和中國歷法相結合，形成這樣一個特殊物件。這是東西方文化交流的一個鐵證，是一個不得了的文物。

后來，我把它寫成一篇小文章，題目叫《洋日晷》，引起很大關注。現在，這個東西已經被收藏在博物館里。

第二個例子也發生在石景山區。景區里有個明晚期古廟叫承恩寺，在模式口街。

我參觀的時候，發現墻上有兩塊黑乎乎的壁畫。它一共四幅，在天王殿里。

I asked the temple keepers and staff managing cultural relics about what was painted on the two dark frescos. They didn’t have a clue. I borrowed a flashlight from them to take a closer look and was stunned at my discovery.

These two incredible murals had been there for about 550 years, but no one recognized their great value. On the murals were painted the images of eight lifesized people, with the empress and the emperor on either side.With a water container in her hands, the empress was pouring water and fish into the river. She was freeing the fish. The emperor was releasing a bird from his hand, and a maid was carrying a birdcage. These were actually two murals about freeing fish and captive birds.

Near this temple, there is a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level,called the Fahai Temple, where there are wonderful murals of Avalokitesvara and gods dating from the Ming Dynasty. The aforementioned two murals were created a bit later than those at the Fahai Temple dating back to the Ming Dynasty, but were of the same style, which proved that they were painted by the emperor’s own painter.Through images from heaven to earth, these murals reflect the Buddhist philosophy, as well as the forward-thinking concepts of protecting the Earth, caring for life, and maintaining a harmony between man and nature.

洋日晷 The Foreign Sundial

I wrote an article about the surprising presence of these wonderful murals at the Cheng’en Temple on the outskirts of Beijing. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized an assessment as soon as they read my article, and the status of the Cheng’en Temple was upgraded to that of a nationally protected major historical and cultural site.

(From Series 1, Huiyuan Lecture Hall, University of International Business and Economics Press. Translation:Chen Jia’ni)

我問看廟的人和文物方面的管理人員，這兩幅畫畫的是什么，他們說不知道。我向他們借了一個手電筒，要仔細看看。

一看嚇我一跳，兩幅非常棒的壁畫讓我給發現了。五百五十年來，竟然沒有人發現它們的價值。畫上畫的是八個人，都是真人大小，一邊是皇后，一邊是皇帝。皇后手里拿著盛水的容器，往河里倒水和魚，她在放生。皇帝托著一只小鳥在放飛，宮女給他拿著鳥籠子。這實際上是兩幅放生圖。

在這個廟附近，有一個國家重點文物保護單位法海寺，那里有明代壁畫，有觀音，有神仙，非常精彩。這兩幅畫從時間上來看，比法海寺明代壁畫稍微晚一點，但風格相同，證明是皇帝的畫師畫的。這些畫從天上到人間，看似在宣揚佛教理念，但其中關愛生命、人與自然和諧相處的意識，實則非常超前的。

我寫一篇文章，說精彩壁畫驚現京郊承恩寺。文章被國家文物局看見后，立刻組織評定，將承恩寺定為國家重點文物。

承恩寺 The Cheng’en Temple