【08.12.01华尔街日报】秦始皇和他的兵马俑

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【08.12.01华尔街日报】秦始皇和他的兵马俑

【原文标题】China, Clay and Qin Shihuangdi

【中文标题】秦始皇和他的兵马俑

【登载媒体】美国华尔街日报

【来源网址】http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122877766995389461.html

【译者】yangfuguang

【原文】


                                                Clay and Qin Shihuangdi
By TAYLOR HOLLIDAY

Atlanta and Xi'an, China

To see where the first emperor of China ruled the land he unified from 221 to 210 B.C., as well as where he made plans to rule the universe for all of eternity from his massive tomb complex, you'll need to travel to the city of Xi'an in western China. This is where you'll see the life-size terra-cotta army -- one of the world's great archaeological finds and a singularly awe-inspiring sight -- that stands in battle formation near the tomb, ready to protect the emperor from anyone who would dare stop him in the afterlife.

The figures are only part of what makes the Atlanta show compelling.

But if you want to understand the achievements and significance of this great leader, the man who as king of the state of Qin conquered the other Warring States and first formed the China we know today (inspiring its Western name), then you'll want to head to Atlanta.

Because while Qin Shihuangdi may have created China's centralized government, unified its code of law, currency and written language, and built the first Great Wall, he is also believed to have been a murderous tyrant and is an eternally controversial figure, both admired and despised by the Chinesethroughout history. So you won't hear much about him at Xi'an's Museum of the Terracotta Army, which focuses squarely on the production of the army and its similarly painstaking excavation.

At Atlanta's High Museum of Art, on the other hand, "The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army" presents both an up-to-date report on the excavation of the entire tomb complex and a thorough reassessment of the first emperor. It sheds new light on the man behind the army, seeking to enlighten Westerners about what the exhibit calls one of the greatest military and government leaders of all time.

The traveling exhibition boasts weapons, coins, architectural artifacts and exquisite bronze works of the period but only a tiny fraction of the terra-cotta warriors -- nine, plus six additional terra-cotta figures. Yet it's a miracle and a rarity that these heavy, fragile sculptures travel at all, and it required much negotiation on the part of the British Museum, which curated and originated the exhibition in 2007.

(The High is the only other venue for this particular show, curated by Jane Portal, though the objects themselves have or will be seen in the context of a different curatorial framework at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, Calif., the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the National Geographic Society Museum in Washington.)

Of course no museum exhibit can replace the thrill of walking into Pit 1 in Xi'an, as I did in September, and coming in direct (if overhead) contact with hundreds of warriors -- infantrymen, cavalrymen, charioteers and horses -- lined up in neat columns between mud walls, facing east and ready to charge. They are imposing as an army and endearing as individuals, each so detailed and -- most amazingly -- so different, with varying clothes, armor, hairstyles, facial hair, ethnic features and facial expressions. (It is intriguing how many of them are smiling serenely.) There are an estimated 7,000 warriors spread throughout three pits, one learns, and no two look exactly alike.

How did they pull this off, at a time when the art of sculpture was nascent in China? The Xi'an museum helps the visitor understand this with a filmed re-enactment of the assembly-line production of the clay soldiers as they were molded, then carefully reworked and individualized by hand with a second layer of clay before being fired in a kiln and painted in bright colors. It also re-enacts their looting and burning in the uprisings shortly after the first emperor's sudden death and entombment.

The thrill of encountering the army can turn to mild disappointment upon realizing that roughly two-thirds of the main pit has yet to be excavated. But then, as you continue along the ramp overlooking the pit, you get to a dig in progress and another kind of awe sets in. There are the warriors and their horses lying on the ground in a big, chaotic jumble, as they were found, each in dozens if not hundreds of pieces, waiting to be put together again like a giant jigsaw puzzle. No wonder archaeologists have managed to excavate and restore only 1,100 of the 7,000 warriors since the first pit was accidentally discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. (Until then they were entirely unknown, absent from the historical record.)

And the warriors are only the beginning. What wasn't clear to me at the Xi'an museum was how much more there is to the first emperor's underground empire than the terra-cotta army. There are now more than 600 pits spread out over an area of 23 square miles, and in Atlanta one gets to see recent discoveries from this underground universe of palaces, offices, stables and cultural venues that was built by 700,000 conscripts and filled with both pottery humans and sacrificed real ones.

In 2000, archaeologists discovered a pit of bureaucrats (someone had to manage the empire), and the High exhibit includes one of these life-size terra-cotta officials with a particularly self-satisfied grin on his face. They also discovered a pit of acrobats and strongmen. And the most recent find, in 2001, included terra-cotta musicians and graceful life-size bronze swans and cranes (also seen at the High) found next to a diverted underground river. Archaeologists surmise that the trained birds would dance as the musicians played, all for the entertainment of the emperor in the afterlife.

In its closing wall text and drawings, the High exhibit addresses the final dwelling place of the emperor himself, which has not and will not be opened until excavation and conservation techniques progress. Out of respect for the first emperor, the Chinese refuse to take any risks exploring his tomb, though testing suggests it is still intact and unlooted. (Officials are cautious, perhaps, after unearthing the first warriors and seeing their 2,000-year-old paint disintegrate on contact with the air.) Perhaps by the time they do, his reputation will be further rehabilitated by scholarship such as that in "The First Emperor," which proposes that his cruelty may have been exaggerated in the written record by later historians from rival dynasties with a political ax to grind.

In the meantime, traveling to both Xi'an and Atlanta gives the fullest picture now possible of the first emperor of China. Yes, Xi'an is very far away, on top of being one of the most unattractive, polluted cities in China. But it's the only place to feel the full force of the terra-cotta army. And should you desire your own full-size replica of a Qin general, in Atlanta you'd have to pay $1,800 (plus crating, shipping and tax). Whereas in Xi'an you can get one, insured and delivered to your front door in the U.S., for a mere $1,000.

Ms. Holliday writes about travel and the arts.

                                 秦始皇和他的兵马俑

                                                         ——泰勒·霍利德

亚特兰大和中国西安

   

    如果你想亲眼看看公元前221年到210年统一中国的第一位皇帝在哪里统治他的国家，如果你想目睹他在哪里建造了皇陵，并想要千秋万载统治中国，那么你就要到中国西部的一个城市：西安。

   

    在亚特兰大展出的只是中国兵马俑的一小部分。但是如果你想了解这位秦国的国王，他曾经在战国时期征服了其他诸侯国，第一次统一了我们现在所知道的中国，那么你肯定会前往亚特兰大。因为即便他使中国成为一个中央集权的国家，并统一了法律、货币和文字，修建了中国最早的长城，他也被认为是一个暴君，并且在中国的历史上也是一个饱受争议的人。所以你在西安兵马俑博物馆不会听到太多关于他的事情，在那里主要是关于兵马俑的制作和同样辛苦的考古挖掘。

    在亚特兰大的高级艺术博物馆里，却是另外一种情况，“第一位皇帝和他的兵马俑”展示了复杂的王陵里出土的文物和被重新审视的第一位皇帝。这个展览重新审视这位皇帝，想要找到让西方人明白是什么造就了这么一个伟大的君王的原因。

这个展览展出了秦始皇军队使用的武器，当时的钱币，陶器和精美的青铜制品和一小部分的陶制勇士。这些沉重、脆弱的展品能到美国展出是一个奇迹，它需要和大英博物馆做很多的沟通，因此从2007年就开始筹划这个展览。（由简·波特尔创建亚特兰大高级艺术博物馆是唯一一个可以准备这种展览的博物馆，虽然相同的展出可以在加利福尼亚圣安娜的鲍尔斯文艺博物馆、休斯顿自然博物馆和华盛顿的国家地理博物馆出现。）

   

    当然没有博物馆能够取代走在西安兵马俑一号坑道时面对成千上万的兵马俑时的兴奋。他们栩栩如生，让你认为他们就是威武的军队，而且他们在衣着、发型、铠甲、胡须和面部表情是千差万别的。（耐人寻味的是，他们中很多人都保持着安详的微笑。）在这些坑道中估计有7000个陶俑，但是据说没有哪两个看起来是一样的。

    在雕塑艺术刚刚诞生的中国，他们是怎样制作出这些精美绝伦的陶俑的呢?西安博物馆制作了一个再现当时陶俑制作过程的电影，显示他们是先被制作成统一的泥塑模型，然后在烧制之前再由工匠们小心地在给他们涂上一层黏土，然后再涂上亮丽的颜色。它也再现了在皇帝死后的暴动中兵马俑被抢劫、焚毁的过程。

   

    当你知道约有三分之二的坑道尚未被挖掘时，面对这支军队的巨大喜悦可能会夹杂些许的遗憾。但是当你继续前进，深深的敬畏之情便会袭上你的心头。那些兵马俑杂乱无章地躺在坑道中，依然保持他们最初被发现时的样子，有些破碎成很多块，就像等待被重新拼装的拼版。难怪考古学家从第一次由农民意外发现它时到现在只恢复了7000陶俑中的1100个。（在那之前，他们是完全不被外人知道的。）

那些陶俑只是一小部分。我想知道的是在这位皇帝的地下王国里还有多少这样的勇士。现在在大约23平方英里的区域有600多个坑道，在亚特兰大的展品是从由700,000人建造的由宫殿，建筑和文化场所组成的地下王国发掘出来的，在这个王国里不仅有陶制的人偶，还有殉葬的人们。

   

    在2000年考古学家发现在一个官员墓坑，陪葬品包括那个和真人大小的面带微笑的陶俑官员，同时还发现一个有杂技演员的坑道。最近的一次发现是在2001年，在一个改道的地下河流旁发现陶制的音乐家，精美的青铜仙鹤。考古学家推测那些鹤是受过训练的，可以在乐师的伴奏下翩翩起舞，这些都是为了皇帝在死后可以继续享用而特意制作的。

    在最后的结语中，标注了这位皇帝最终的居住地，在先进的发掘技术产生之前，它是不会向公众开放的。出于对这位皇帝的尊重，中国方面不会去冒险发掘他的陵墓，尽管探测显示它是完好无损的。也许当他们这样做的时候，这位皇帝的头衔就不只是第一位皇帝了，或许这位皇帝的严酷是被居心叵测的对手夸大了。

    往来于西安和亚特兰大之间给了我关于这位皇帝最全面的图景。是的，西安是很遥远的，是一个在中国很不起眼的污染严重的城市。但是在那里你也许会很满意得到一个全尺寸的秦朝将军的复制品，在亚特兰大有要付1800美元（包括运费和税费）。不管在西安的哪个地方，你都可以弄到一个，运到你的家门口只需要1000美元。

（霍利迪女士的游记）