Xinjiang temple site displays key Chinese characteristics

Question: What do you think of the recent Economist report about Mo'er Temple Site in Xinjing that your team is excavating?

Xiao: On July 11, 2024, The Economist published a special report titled "China is using archaeology as a weapon". This report refuted the basic stance and viewpoints of the archaeological findings at the Kashgar Mo'er Temple Site in Xinjiang and the keynote speech "Pluralistic and Integrated (features) in Xinjiang" by Pan Yue, director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. It did so by questioning the dominant position of Chinese culture in the "pluralistic and integrated" pattern of Xinjiang's culture and promoting a one-sided view of "Indian Buddhist dominance". As the head of the Mo'er Temple archaeological project, I cannot agree with the theoretical arguments and basic conclusions made in the above-mentioned statements. Based on archaeology and related research, I would like to offer alternative opinions to clarify the academic value of the Mo'er Temple Site and the significance of Buddhist history research.

Question: What have your team discovered at the site over the years?

Xiao: Currently, the temple buildings unearthed in the excavation of the site include a stupa with three-tiered square bases, a severely damaged pagoda with a square-shaped base (square pagoda), and a series of differently shaped residential buildings. Based on the structural form, interior layout, and unearthed artifacts of these residential buildings, it can be inferred that there were various types of structures such as Buddhist halls, monk quarters, and kitchens. These buildings were constructed at different times, gradually forming the scale of the temple.

Overall, the development of the Mo'er Temple Site was influenced by the Gandhara Buddhist temple, but it also has its own unique characteristics.

The stupa located at the center of the site is one of the earliest structures built. Its architectural form is derived from the Indian stupa but is not identical. Its direct source is possibly the Gandhara region, belonging to the high-pagoda type of stupa. It bears a striking resemblance to the stupa paintings in the Karatepe Buddhist caves in the Amu Darya River Basin. The difference is that there is an additional layer of circular wheels between the square base and the cylindrical stupa body.

The multi-layered square pagoda at the northernmost part of the site, according to Austrian scholar H.G. Franz, can be referred to as a pagoda-shaped stupa with niches. It is similar to the Taizangta Site (Buddhism architecture during the Kingdom of Gaochang's period, from 460 to 640) in the Turpan region, which represents the transition from early pagoda type to the Chinese-style pagoda.

Question: What features of it are related to Chinese-style pagodas?

Xiao: In fact, we have recently cleared the first layer of the base at the bottom of this multi-layered square pagoda, which is located in the middle of a larger platform. The eastern side of the platform is relatively well-preserved, allowing us to measure its actual length, approximately 39 meters. Interestingly, the Yongning Temple Pagoda in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), was excavated, and found that it has a square-shaped platform with a side length of about 38.2 meters, almost the same as the Mo'er Temple pagoda. Li Daoyuan, a renowned geographer of the Northern Wei dynasty, recorded in his work Commentary on the Water Classic that the base of Yongning Temple measured fourteen zhang (a unit of length in ancient China) on each side. According to the conversion rate of 1 chi (another unit of length, about 0.1 zhang) during the Northern Wei period, which is equivalent to 27.97 centimeters, the fourteen zhang are extremely close to the side length of the Mo'er Temple pagoda, suggesting its use of similar construction scales as Yongning Temple.

Additionally, I would like to add that between the two pagodas, we have cleared three individual buildings with a shape resembling the Chinese character "回" , which means one square encircled by another bigger one. Two of them have square plans, while the rest one has a rectangular plan. One of them, a square platform, is divided into three tiers, gradually decreasing in size from bottom to top, similar to the base of the aforementioned stupa. These buildings have yielded fragments of plaster Buddhist sculptures, indicating that they were probably Buddhist halls.

According to the research by Chinese archaeological scholar Chen Xiaolu, this type of Buddhist hall with a winding corridor first appeared in Daxia (one of the political regimes during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, from 304 to 439 in ancient China) and later spread to Gandhara and Xinjiang. It is worth noting that this type of Buddhist hall with one square encircled by another bigger one in Xinjiang has its own unique characteristics in terms of development and evolution. It rarely forms large-scale courtyard-style complexes with this shape. Instead, it is often composed of walls and pagodas. With the development of Buddhist sculptures in Xinjiang, the central position of the pagoda was replaced by Buddha statues, leading to the emergence of these Buddhist halls with Buddha statues at the center.