Research on Dunhuang Murals and Music and Dance

Author: Zheng Ruzhong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-09-01
Features: The book Research on Music and Dance in Dunhuang Murals compiles the fruitful achievements of Mr. Zheng Ruzhong from his decade-long dedication to Dunhuang. Upon the publication of this book, I recall meeting Mr. Ruzhong for the first time at the International Symposium on Dunhuang Cave Research in 1987. That day, I held a picture of a Sogdian mural depicting a pipa and sought advice from Mr. Zheng. Mr. Ruzhong’s teachings were earnest and deeply moving, and they remain vivid in my memory to this day. At the same symposium, we listened to Mr. Ruzhong’s lecture on Research on Musical Instruments in Dunhuang Murals. Mr. Ruzhong created a Dunhuang Mural Pipa Morphology Chart, depicting 50 diverse pipa styles found in Dunhuang murals. The lecture stated: "These 50 designs can largely summarize the evolution of the Chinese pipa over over a thousand years. When compared with the modern pipa, we can trace the instrument’s development in China." The renowned Japanese Dunhuang scholar Hikosuke Fujii, upon hearing the lecture, immediately praised it, saying, "Only those who have truly conducted research in the Mogao Caves could write such an article." Fujii’s sharp insight revealed a crucial feature of Mr. Ruzhong’s decade-long work: all his research stemmed directly from the Mogao Cave site. Unlike studies that rely solely on literature or superficial visits, Mr. Ruzhong immersed himself in the caves for over a decade.
Mr. Ruzhong’s humble yet highly effective method in this book is commendable. Its key features are:
1. Exhaustive study of primary sources of Dunhuang mural music and dance images. Building on previous investigations, he meticulously gathered data, such as the 50 pipa images, which were selected after analyzing 492 caves, including 240 with musical scenes, over 4,000 musical instruments, over 3,000 musicians, more than 500 ensembles, and 44 types of instruments.
2. Strong emphasis on classification methods. This highly effective yet often overlooked approach was frequently employed by Mr. Duan Wenjie in his recent Collected Papers on Dunhuang Art and was repeatedly highlighted by Mr. Su Bai in his 1962 lecture Seven Lectures on Dunhuang. The included A Study on the Classification of Musical Instruments in Dunhuang Murals is a masterful work.
3. Further analysis of specific cases based on comprehensive classification, leading to discoveries or refutations. On one hand, he uncovered long-overlooked truths, such as his discovery and study of the "flower-edge ruan," a novel finding. On the other hand, he examined mural musical instrument images from perspectives like musical theory, instrument-making principles, and literature, verifying or refuting them. For example, he pointed out that a painter’s imagined curved pipa with a single string, which could not press the frets, was impractical for performance.
4. Rigorous definition of specific concepts like "music and dance in murals," "mural musical instrument styles," "mural musicians," "mural dancers," "mural musical instruments," and "mural Buddhist music ensembles," always focusing on the analysis of mural styles or images. On one hand, he conducted classification studies similar to those required for an iconographic survey, such as Research on Mural Dancers, categorizing them as "decorative dance figures" and "realistic dance figures." On the other hand, he noted that "the artists must have included some imagination and fiction" in creating these styles and images. Mr. Ruzhong said, "After careful verification, some texts and poems do not align well with the murals, so it is fair to say there is no solid evidence." Thus, he distinguished his approach from the rigid application of historical documents or modern dance terminology to interpret mural music and dance images. He rejected interpreting religious mandala images as dances or reading Buddha’s "handprints" as dance poses, demonstrating his serious and rigorous academic attitude, which led to many more accurate conclusions.
5. The book does not study mural music and dance images for their own sake but offers cultural interpretations of them. For example, his research on the of dancers in Buddhist rituals discusses the "body-rhythm" in the history of Chinese dance. He also pointed out that the miniature court ensembles depicted in the murals were primarily modeled after the "seated ensembles" (zuobuji) of the Sui-Tang Yanyue (imperial music). Furthermore, his research on musical instrument styles led to the restoration and reproduction of ancient instruments. Since the late Qing Dynasty, scholars like Ling Tingkan and Qiu Qiongsun, who studied Sui-Tang Yanyue, excelled in pitch theory and ancient musical instruments. Mr. Rao Zongyi, a renowned scholar of Dunhuang music and himself a guqin player, emphasized that proficiency in pitch theory and ancient instruments is essential for advancing the study of Chinese music history. Mr. Ruzhong, with years of experience in pipa education, has also dedicated himself to the restoration and reproduction of Dunhuang musical instruments in recent years, driven by his expertise in ancient music. His work on restoring Dunhuang instruments is a significant academic practice based on over a decade of research. Mr. Ruzhong noted, "The history of Chinese musical instruments follows a 'jujube-core' pattern of rise and decline, with the period depicted in Dunhuang murals representing its most flourishing era. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, many instruments declined and disappeared, and the variety of instruments in modern Chinese orchestras is far less diverse than in ancient times." This compellingly argues for the necessity and urgency of restoring Dunhuang ancient instruments. The included Research on the Restoration of Musical Instruments in Dunhuang Murals can be seen as the crystallization of Mr. Ruzhong’s recent efforts.