Yungang: Art, History, Archaeology, Liturgy. Joy Lidu Yi. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. 244 pp., 66 plates, 41 figures, bibliography, glossary, character glossary. Hardcover US $155, ISBN-13 978-1138049901.

Leidy,Denise Patry

Yungang: Art, History, Archaeology, Liturgy. Joy Lidu Yi. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. 244 pp., 66 plates, 41 figures, bibliography, glossary, character glossary. Hardcover US $155, ISBN-13 978-1138049901.

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08c_58.2Leidy_Book_review.pdf (41.56 KB)

Date

2019-10-04

Authors

Leidy,Denise Patry

Abstract

Now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Buddhist complex at Yungang (Cloud Pass) near present-day Datong in Shanxi Province remains one of the three most well-known and visited cave-temple sites in China. The other two are the Mogao caves near the city of Dunhuang in Gansu and those at Longmen outside Luoyang in Henan Province. Established around A.D. 460 under the patronage of the powerful Northern Wei dynasty (A.D. 386–534), Yungang consists of 45 major caves, not all of which are completely preserved, and approximately 1000 small niches. Many of the caves and niches contain sculptures that were at one time painted. The human-constructed cave-temples at this site have been the focus of Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholarship since the first decades of the twentieth century, yet the dating of the grottoes and the identification of their patrons remain somewhat controversial. Both topics, as well as a reexamination of Yungang's politico-social and liturgical functions, are the focus of the recent interesting monograph by Joy Lidu Yi. Yi begins with a useful overview of previous studies, in varying languages and from art historical, epigraphic, historical, and archaeological perspectives. She subsequently discusses the impact of recent excavations at the site, focusing on the discovery of a monastery and residence halls above the caves which served as a center for translation and practice. Yi also incorporates new finds from tombs and other sites in Datong (formerly Pingcheng) and the Northern Wei capital from A.D. 386 to 494. Her suggestions regarding similarities between funerary sculptures of figures from tombs in the capital and representations of donors in the secondary imagery at Yungang are useful, but the analysis is marred by a discussion of these people and their clothing as typifying foreigners (hu ren). The clothing [End Page 406] and the physiognomies reflect those of the Xianbei, a formerly nomadic people who established the Northern Wei dynasty. The clothing thus represents court and local styles rather reflecting that of the many foreigners, including Sogdians, who lived in the capital.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10125/76792

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Asian Perspectives, 2019 - Volume 58, Number 2 (Fall)

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