Professor Chang Qing’s bookChang’an and Luoyang: Buddhist Art of the Two Chinese Capitals from the Fifth to the Ninth Centurywas published in 2020 by Cultural Relics Press. Among the twenty-six articles in this book on the Buddhist arts from the Sixteen Kingdoms, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang periods, thirteen were published in 1989-2001. Three articles are Chinese translations from an original English version published in 2003-2008. As for the other ten articles, some of which are first published in this book, the author wrote them in 2016, but collected the research materials over the past few years. This book would be a very good reference for the scholars, students, collectors and other people who are interested in early Chinese Buddhist art from the period prior to the tenth century.

After the transmission of Buddhism to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), the Chinese began producing Buddhist imagery based on Indian prototypes but adapted to Chinese sensibilities. Over its long history in China, devotees established the foundations for Buddhism and its artistic expression during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589). Buddhism and its art form reached its apogee during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). From the fifth to the ninth century Buddhist art was a primary influence on many artists, resulting in a more individualistic artistic expression after the tenth century. Most of the extant works of Chinese Buddhist art have been discovered in northern China. During the five hundred years from the fifth to the ninth century, Chang’an and Luoyang held pivotal positions in the areas of Chinese politics, culture, and religion. Both cities had served as either the capital of a unified empire or of a regional kingdom for a long time. Therefore, Buddhist iconography from these two areas played key roles in the development of Chinese Buddhist art in other parts of China. In addition, many important Chinese artists produced new artistic styles, based on those transmitted from India and Central Asia. Their work, in turn, served as models influencing other regional artists to think beyond the art produced in the two-capital region. The purpose of this book is to clarify the important role and position of Chang’an and Luoyang in the development of Chinese Buddhist iconography during the fifth to the ninth century.

There are five sections in the book, which include twenty-six articles and an appendix. Each article discusses the iconographies, subject matters, styles, and related issues of Buddhist art from the Chang’an and Luoyang areas. They also discuss the origins and influential key roles on Buddhist art in other regions of China. In theIntroduction, the author introduces the contents and structure of the book, and opens the discussion of “Models” for Chinese Buddhist art. That is, during what periods could Buddhist artistic style from Chang’an or Luoyang be considered a “Model” influencing artists in other regions of China in the production of their own work. What political and religious situation led Chang’an and Luoyang to become the centers of Buddhist art and play such a pivotal role in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

Parts One to Three summarizes the author’s research on Buddhist art as it relates to Chang’an and Luoyang during the Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439 CE) and Northern Dynasties periods (386-581 CE).Part Onecontains three articles primarily concerned with the chronology and the subject matter of the clay sculptures and murals located in Cave 169 of the Bingling si Cave Temple in Yongjing County, Gansu Province dated to the Western Qin (385-431 CE) and how the Buddhist art contained in this cave complex relates to early fifth century Chang’an, which was the capital of the Later Qin Kingdom (384-417).Part Twocontains four articles discussing the Buddhist art of the Northern Dynasties focusing specifically on the Longmen Cave Temple complex, another one of the three greatest cave temple sites in China. This part also discusses the spiritual king images, developed in the Luoyang area, which spread north during the Northern Dynasties period, the chronology of the Yaofang Cave at Longmen from the fifth to the seventh century, as well as the dated imagery in the cliff niches carved at Longmen during the Eastern Wei (534-550), Western Wei (535-557), and the Northern Qi (550-577) periods, focusing on their contents and the origin of their styles.Part Threeincludes four articles on the development of Buddhist art in the Chang’an area during the Northern Dynasties. It first discusses a few of the styles of Northern Wei imagery discovered in Guanzhong region (with its center in Chang’an), determining which styles may have been influenced by Pingcheng (in present-day Tatong of Shanxi Province) and Luoyang, both Northern Wei capitals, and which styles should be considered native to the Shaanxi region.Part Threewill also address the cross-ankled Maitreya Buddha dated 471 CE from the Guanzhong area. It will include a discussion about its subject matter and the origin of its iconography. The last two articles ofPart Threewill discuss how the Buddhist art of the Western Wei from Chang’an was inheritedby the Northern Wei-Luoyang artistic tradition, thereby influencing both the cave imagery along the Silk Road in the Gansu region, as well as the development of the Chang’an style of Buddhist art during the Northern Zhou, and its influence on other regions of the kingdom.

Part FourandPart Fivefocus on Buddhist art during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-906) dynasties in the Chang’an and Luoyang areas. The six articles inPart Fourwill discuss the development and the characteristics of Sui and Tang Buddhist art in the Chang’an area, as well as Chang’an’s influence on other regions of the empire. It seems that Buddhist icons discovered in the Chang’an area and produced during the Sui Dynasty continue to demonstrate much of the traditional iconography inherited from the preceding Northern Dynasties period. But their modifications to the iconography did influence other regions during this short dynastic period. One of the articles inPart Fourfocuses on the chronology of the imagery at the Great Buddha Temple in Bin County. Another article is a comprehensive discussion of Tang Dynasty Buddhist imagery in the entire Guanzhong region to clearly represent the styles and artistic origins of Tang imagery in the surrounding Chang’an area. As a result of the important position of Chang’an during the Tang, Buddhist images discovered in the Guanzhong region may be called “The Tang Dynasty, Chang’an model,” which influenced other regions beyond the capital.Part Fourincludes a summary of wall painting subjects from Buddhist temples in the Chang’an and Luoyang areas as recorded by contemporary Tang scholars in historical texts. The treatises discuss a limited repertoire of painted Buddhist images and icons discovered in Chang’an and Luoyang and comparing them to Tang wall murals discovered in the Maogao Cave Temples in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. These extant murals provide clues to the subject matter of both wall paintings and icons at the Buddhist temples in the two Tang capitals. The last article ofPart Fourdiscusses some carved stone images excavated from the ruins of the Great Anguo Monastery and their relationship to Esoteric Buddhism, a discussion of their iconography, as well as dating and their possible original orientation in the halls of the temple.

Part Fivehas five articles, which discuss the Tang Dynasty caves and imagery at the Longmen cave complex and its influence on other regions. The first article opens the discussion with how the Chang’an style influenced the Longmen caves and its imagery. Secondarily, how the conservative, yet multiple styles of a group of Longmen images carved during the reign period of Emperor Taizong (627-649) evolved into a period Tang style for the succeeding generation. Luoyang was established as the Eastern Capital of the Tang Empire. During the last quarter of the seventh century, Luoyang was considered the center of politics and religion for the empire, and so its position was higher than the Western Capital at Chang’an. As a result, Longmen caves served as a “Model”, influencing other areas of the empire in the second half of the seventh century and the early period of the eighth century. Therefore, the key section ofPart Fiveis the discussion of the three phases of the Longmen caves with typical Tang style imageryas well as the Luoyang influence on other regions.Part Fivealso discusses the earliest group of extant Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva images as well as the Esoteric imagery from Longmen and their related issues, such as the historical background and their position in Chinese Buddhist art history.

In theAppendix, there are four articles which discuss the methodology of dating and researching the iconography of Buddhist cave temples and images, as well as the Longmen and Chang’an style images collected by the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Columbia University in New York City.