Art, Commerce, and State Power in the Heart of the Silk Road

DUNHUANG – Throughout history, the Silk Road – actually a network of roads – is the supreme star among all highways: the most important connectivity corridor of all time, running through Ancient Eurasia, linking what Chinese scholars consensually define as the world's major civilizational systems: China, India, Persia, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as showcasing various historical stages of economic and cultural exchanges between East and West.  

Professor Ji Xianlin, a leading scholar in the field of Dunhuang Studies, proposed a formulation that will undoubtedly drive Western supremacists mad for all eternity:

"There are only four, not five, influential cultural systems in the world: the Chinese, the Indian, the Greek, and the Islamic. The four only met in Dunhuang and Xinjiang, China."

Throughout history, it was inevitable that Dunhuang's privileged strategic position would lead to spectacular artistic achievements. 

Years after my previous travels, followed by the shock of Covid and China's subsequent recovery, I had the privilege of finally embarking on a new one. Journey to the West with the aim of following the route of the original Silk Road, starting in Xi'an – the ancient capital Chang'an – and ending in Dunhuang, via the Gansu corridor.

Brilliant Eurasian cultures converged, interacted, and spread their wings along the Ancient Silk Roads. Dunhuang – at the western end of the Hhexi corridor in Gansu province – was the most dynamic node of the eastern section of the Chinese Silk Road, surrounded by mountains to the north and south, with the central plains to the east and Xianjiang to the west.

Dunhuang, the "Flaming Beacon," occupied a supremely strategic position, controlling two passes – the Yangguan and the Yumenguan. Emperor Han Wu Di clearly understood that Dunhuang was the last water supply point before the formidable Taklamakan Desert to the west, and that it was situated at the confluence of the three main Silk Road routes that led westward.

Yumenguan was the all-important Jade Gate Pass – built by the Han Empire in the 2nd century BC: located in the southern Gobi and at the westernmost edge of the Qilian Mountains, marking the western limit of classical China. 

I spent a whole day under a beautiful, dazzling blue sky at the pass and its surroundings, after making a deal with the taxi driver in Dunhuang. It's thrilling to admire how the Han dynasty organized its traffic control system, the system of beacons with signaling bonfires, and the defense system of the Great Wall (remains of the Han Wall still exist) – ensuring the security of the Silk Road's long-distance connectivity corridor. 

Converse with the caravan: the secret of "people-to-people exchanges".

In the impeccably organized Dunhuang Book Center, historical records refer to the city as “a metropolis where Han and non-Han people meet.” Certainly, this predates Xi Jinping’s “people-to-people exchanges.” The spirit remains, particularly in the fabulous Night Market, a gastronomic festival with a special place for Uyghur recipes. 

Silk and porcelain from the central plains, jewels and perfumes from the "western regions," camels and horses from northern China, grains from Hexi—everything was sold in Dunhuang. Mercantile trade, migrations, military games, cultural exchanges, a profusion of writers, intellectuals, artists, high officials, diplomats, religious pilgrims, and military personnel brought classical Chinese culture into an effervescent mix—Sogdians, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Tanguts, and Mongols—all absorbed by what would become the art of Dunhuang.

Itinerant Buddhism, Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism, Islam – the sophisticated aesthetic atmosphere of Dunhuang was progressively influenced by architecture, sculpture, music, dance, weaving, and dyeing techniques from all parts of Central Asia and West Asia. 

The terminology of the “Silk Road” in Xi Jinping’s “moderately prosperous” China is extremely nuanced. For example, already in Xi’an, at the Little White Goose Pagoda, we see the “Silk Roads” described as “The Chang’an-Tian Shan Corridor Path Network”.

This is a geographically correct interpretation, highlighting the Tian Shan Mountains, rather than the politically correct Xinjiang (which, in essence, was part of the "western regions," and not necessarily Chinese territory for centuries). 

Regarding the origins of the Silk Road, there is now only one version consensually accepted by scholars: in 140 BC, the Han Emperor Wu Di sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the "western regions" on two trade missions. The "Records of the Grand Historian" show that Zhang Qian, as the first diplomat on an official mission in Chinese history, did in fact open channels of communication with the "western regions," and subsequently all the northwestern states began to have trade relations with the Han, mainly trading silk. 

At the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, and at the Dunhuang Academy, including the Gansu Museum, in Lanzhou., In interactions with academics and museum curators, while contemplating the magnificent collection of objects from the Silk Road, it is fascinating to follow the now established narrative about the Silk Roads, according to which "the civilization of ancient China, represented by silk, came to impact the states of the western regions, Central Asia, and West Asia."

It was far more complex than that – since, in addition to silk, spices, metals, chemicals, saddles, leather goods, glass, and paper (invented in the 2nd century BC) were also traded. But the general trend still applies: merchants from the central plains, braving deserts and mountain peaks in caravans laden with silk, bronze mirrors, and Chinese lacquerware, attempting to exchange them for commodities, while merchants from the western regions brought furs, jade, and felt goods to the central plains. 

These are the true "exchanges between peoples" among diverse ethnic groups. And, incidentally, nobody used the term "Silk Road," but rather "road to Samarkand," or simply the "northern" and "southern" routes around the ominous Taklamakan Desert.

Regarding the monetary system of the Tang Dynasty... 

Around the 3rd century, Dunhuang was already the pinnacle of connectivity on the Silk Road, and it was then that merchants and pilgrims began to sponsor the construction of the Buddhist caves of Mogao, located in the surrounding area. 

The Mogao Caves are part of what is known in Gansu province as the five Dunhuang caves. It's the same cave system – 813 remaining, with 735 in Mogao. The arrival at Mogao is, in itself, immensely exciting: you have to take an official park bus, overcrowded with countless Chinese tourists, which travels through the desert until, suddenly, you find yourself at the eastern foot of the Mingsha Mountains, with the Dangquan River flowing right in front of you and the Qilian Mountains to the east, where the caves are carved into the rock face, connected by a series of ramps and walkways. 

The construction of the caves began as early as the 4th century – extending into the 14th century (the first mural paintings dating from the 5th century). There are four levels of caves, measuring 1,6 kilometers from north to south along the cliff face, which is up to 30 meters high. The 492 caves in the southern area house more than 45 kilometers of mural paintings, more than 2000 painted statues, and five wooden eaves. These caves were originally used for Buddhist worship. 

What we still get to see is breathtaking. Highlights include a fight scene from the life of Buddha in cave 290; an apsara, or mystic dancer, in cave 296; the Deer King in cave 257; a hunting scene in cave 249; a Garuda – defined in Chinese as the “scarlet bird” – in cave 285; parables from the Magic City of the Lotus Sutra, a masterpiece of the High Tang Dynasty, in cave 217; a seated Bodhisattva in cave 196; and impeccably preserved praying Bodhisattvas in cave 285.  

The rules are extremely strict: visits are only permitted in a few specific caves, always accompanied by a guide, photos are prohibited, and only the guide's flashlight illuminates the grottos. I had the privilege of having Helen as my guide, who studied at Dunhuang University and is now pursuing her doctorate in Archaeology. After the visit, she explained in detail the pioneering conservation work carried out by the Dunhuang Academy.

The construction of the caves was a spectacular undertaking in terms of division of labor. Just imagine: carvers to dig and excavate a cave in the cliff; stonemasons who also excavated; bricklayers to build wooden or earthen structures; carpenters who also repaired wooden tools; sculptors to create the statues and painters to paint the walls and the statues.  

Mogao, as an aesthetic experience, is unparalleled in its remarkable collection of paintings that blend the art of China, Persia, India, and Central Asia.

And then there's what we can't see: more than 40,000 parchment scrolls found in the cave's library, the largest repository of documents and artifacts ever discovered anywhere along the Silk Road, containing Buddhist, Manichean, Zoroastrian, and Eastern Syrian Christian Church texts, demonstrating the cosmopolitan nature of Dunhuang. This is part of the story of the looting perpetrated by Europeans – academics or otherwise – of Dunhuang's riches, which began in the late 19th century, another story, long and complex.

In geoeconomic terms, for almost ten centuries Dunhuang was extremely wealthy, especially during the Tang Dynasty (from the 6th to the 9th century). The Tang Dynasty possessed a fascinating monetary system – with three different currencies: textiles (silk and hemp), grains, and coins.  

The central government, in the imperial capital of Chang'an, used a single aggregate unit to represent all trade. The Dunhuang garrison was a post of crucial strategic importance: payments came in no less than three types of woven silk. Each locality paid its taxes with locally produced textiles. What the Tang did was transfer all these textile products to Dunhuang. The garrison officials then converted the taxes paid in textiles into coins and grain to compensate local merchants for feeding the troops. 

In short, the Tang dynasty injected a great deal of money – through textiles – into Dunhuang's economy. This is what a public-private state development model means – something that certainly did not go unnoticed by Beijing's planners when, in 2013, they created the concept of the New Silk Roads.  

Translation by Patricia Zimbres