The Treasure House of Oriental Culture—Xi’an Beilin

Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles

Xi’an Beilin Forest of Stone Steles, located in Sanxue Street, Xi’an (which literarily means “three academies” as it was close to the Chang’an Academy, Fu Academy and Xianning Academy of the Qing Dynasty) was built in the second year of Yuanyou Period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1087AD) by the Minister of Water Transport, Lv Dazhong, to preserve the Stone-base Classic of Filial Piety and The Kaicheng Stone Classics, as well as the famous steles with Yan Zhenqing’s and Liu Gongquan’s calligraphy being abandoned in the marketplace due to the war of the Five dynasties after the Tang Dynasty. Its size was expanded and the number of steles preserved was increased through the maintenance and expansion of the Jin, the Yuan, the Ming, the Qing and the Republic of China. “Forest of Stone Steles” got its name because of the numerous and spectacular steles presented the scene as a forest. In 1961, the Forest of Stone Steles was listed on the group of the most important heritage sites to be firstly protected by the State Council. Currently, there are eight stele pavilions, four stele rooms, four stele passageways and a collection of 3,000 steles and epitaphs dated back to the Han Dynasty. The number of steles and epitaphs in the Forest of Stone Steles is the largest in the country, and the time span is so complete, extending about 2,000 years. However, the Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles is famous not just for its long history, the large number of steles housed and its spectacular scale, but more importantly, for the precious historical and calligraphic value of the characters on the steles.

Kaicheng Stone Classics

A lot of the steles in the Forest of Stone Steles are important ancient documents with high academic value. For example, The Kaicheng Stone Classics was a stone sutra carved in the second year of Kaicheng Period of the Tang Dynasty (837AD), which took about seven years to complete and included twelve kinds of scriptures, such as six volumes of the Book of Changes, 13 volumes of The Classic of History, 20 volumes of The Book of Songs, 11 volumes of Rites of Zhou, 17 volumes of Etiquette and Rites, 20 volumes of Record of Rites, 30 volumes of Spring and Autumn Annals—Commentary of Zuo, 12 volumes of Spring and Autumn Annals —Commentary of Gongyang , Volume III of Er Ya, and Spring and Autumn Annals—Commentary of Guliang, Classic of Filial Piety, The Analects of Confucius, etc. The classics, with more than 650,000 characters, were engraved double-sided on 114 stone tablets. These were not only the books intellectuals must read, but also the standards for scripture readers to transcribe and review.

This stone sutra is the best preserved one among all the seven ancient stone sutras and a large stone library which played an important role in the preservation and dissemination of the culture prior to the invention of printing. The Memorial of the Propagation in China of the Luminous Religion from Daqin recorded the situation of one school of Christianity, Nestorianism, introduced from Central Asia to the Tang Empire in both Chinese and Syrian languages, which provides valuable historical information in the research of religious history and the cultural exchange between ancient China and Western countries. It is an important monument which attracts the whole world’s attention and has had a great impact. The Monk Bu Kong Stele, written by the Tang calligrapher Xu Hao, is also of great value for the study of the spread of Esteric Buddhism (Vajrayana) and the history of the cultural exchange between Sino-Japan and Sino-India.

There is also a collection of over 900 pieces of epitaphs from the Jin State to the Qing Dynasty in Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles. The epitaph is used to carve the deceased’s name, birth place, official position, life stories, burial site, etc. on the stone and bricks to avoid any loss of information during nature changes and the lapse of time, so that future generations could ascertain the original information of each tomb. The facts recorded on the epitaph could be used to verify the similarities and differences in the historical records, add missing historical records, study the communication between various nationalities and countries, check the locations of ancient counties and villages, and get information about people’s lifestyle at that time and so on.

What attracts people most is that there are chirographies of Zhuanshu, Lishu, Kaishu, Xingshu and Caoshu as well as numerous calligraphy masterpieces from outstanding calligraphers. “Cao Quan Stele” of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with a beautiful and smooth calligraphy style, is the best preserved and most precious stele in China. The fragment of Xiping Stone Sutra of the Han Dynasty engraved with the Book of Changes is said to be the Lishu calligraphy works of Cai Yong, a celebrated calligrapher, and the model of the Han Dynasty Lishu calligraphy works. The Sima Fang Fragmental Stele and Guangwu Generals Stele of the Wei, the Jin, and the North and South dynasties, and Huifu Temple Stele of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Wei epitaphs of the “Yuanyang Qi Zhi Zhai Cang Shi”, carefully collected by Mr. Yu Youren and donated to the Forest of Stone Steles in the 1930s, all enjoy a high reputation in the art of calligraphy. Among the steles preserved in the Forest of Stone Steles, the most prominent ones are the steles of the Tang Dynasty. We may say that these are the representative masterpieces of Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Zhang Xu, Huaisu and other celebrated calligraphers in the Forest of Stone Steles. For example, Confucius Temple Stele of Yu Shinan, Huangpu Dan Stele of Ouyang Xun, The Preface to the Holy Buddhist Scriptures in Tongzhou of Chu Suiliang, The Stele Inscription of Master Monk Daoyin of Ouyang Tong, Incomplete Thousand Character Classic of Zhang Xu, Records of Three Tombs of Li Yangbing, Thousand Character Classic of Huaisu, Xuanmi Tower Stele of Liu Gongquan and The Preface to the Holy Buddhist Scriptures of Wang Xizhi, all collected by the Monk Huairen. Especially the seven steles of Yan Zhenqing, Duobao Tower Stele written at the age of 44, Zang Huailuo Stele written at the age of 54, Guo’s Temple Stele and Letter to Premier Guo, written at the age of 55, Yan Qin Li Stele at the age of 70, Ma Lin Broken Stele, written at the age of 71, Yan’s Temple Stele at the age of 72, enable us to see the development process of the Yan Style from sharp and elegant to strong and thick. The Monk Huairen spent 24 years carving The Preface to the Holy Buddhist Scriptures from the ink set of Wang Xizhi collected in the Imperial House which depicts the great calligraphy master Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy style: shape, strong, refined and like the beauty of a lady. With a preface from the outstanding emperor of Chinese history, Emperor Taizhong of the Tang Dynasty, and postscripts from his son, Emperor Gaozong, it praised the outstanding Buddhist scholar, traveler and translator, Monk Xuan Zang, and was later described as San Jue Stele. There are also the precious works of Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Zhao Ji, Zhao Mengfu, Dong Qichang, He Shaoji from the Tang Dynasty as well as the modern Yu Youren and so on. The Song Chunhua Ge Tie, re-carved by Fei Jia in the Qing Dynasty, was the first cluster of copybooks collecting China’s ancient calligraphy works of all dynasties, which facilitated the study of the class and evolution of the art of calligraphy in China.

In addition to monumental epitaphs, Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles also preserves stone works of art, mainly stone works from the Han and Tang dynasties, such as stone animals and portrait stones from the Eastern Han Dynasty as well as squatting lions and rhinos from the Tang Dynasty. Four of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling Mausoleum are preserved here as well.

Hitching Post—one of the most representative arts of folk culture in Shaanxi, mostly carved from bluestone

Since Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles has such a vast collection of excellent calligraphy with super artistic value, and rich cultural connotations, it is called the “treasure house of oriental culture”, “cradle of calligraphy”, “palace of the Han and Tang stone masterpieces” and “the oldest stone stacks” in the world. As the most valuable heritage of Xi’an and one of China’s most famous historical and cultural units, it attracts millions of tourists every year. Today, Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles has become an important part of the world’s cultural heritage and a vital window to promoting the traditional Chinese culture.