China News Service, Qufu, Shandong, September 29th: Question: How do 36 comic strips condense the life of Confucius?
——Exclusive interview with Lu Feng, Director of the Confucius Family Documents Research Center of the Confucius Museum
Author Li Mingrui Li Xin Zhao Xiao
The Ming Dynasty "Confucius' Sacred Relics", a "national treasure" cultural relic formerly collected by the Confucius Mansion and now in the Confucius Museum, completely presents the life of Confucius with 36 silk paintings. It is the earliest and most complete painted comic strip ever seen in China. It is not only a graphic epic of Confucius' life and thoughts, but has been passed down for more than 500 years and has been reborn with the help of digital technology and international exchanges, becoming a unique bridge between the inheritance of Chinese civilization and the dialogue between the East and the West.
On the occasion of commemorating the 2577th anniversary of the birth of Confucius, the contemporary value and communication significance of this set of sacred images have become increasingly prominent. What unique historical information does the Ming Dynasty painting "Confucius' Sacred Relics" provide for the study of Confucius? How do 36 paintings “translate” Confucius’ thoughts and personality through image narrative? How can this set of sacred relics become an image bridge for dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations? Lu Feng, director of the Confucius Family Documents Research Center of the Confucius Museum, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" to explain this.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Service reporter: What unique historical information does the Ming Dynasty painting "Confucius' Sacred Relics" provide for the study of Confucius?
Lu Feng: Confucius is a representative and pioneering figure in the history of Chinese thought and culture. The Confucianism he founded has influenced China's history for more than 2,000 years and has been revered as the "Holy Saint" by later generations.
Then and now, the public wants to know what Confucius looked like. There was no photography technology in ancient times. The images of Confucius that we can understand or see now are mainly records in documents and portraits created after the Han Dynasty, such as the Han Dynasty portrait stone "Confucius Meets Laozi", the Eastern Jin Dynasty Gu Kaizhi's "Training Shadow", Tang and Wu Daozi's "Teacher Confucius's Teaching Portraits", etc., as well as a large number of various versions of "Sacred Relic Pictures" showing Confucius's sacred relics.
There are mainly four types of portraits of Confucius in the old collection of the Confucius Mansion, namely, portraits of Confucius living in a swallow, portraits of Confucius being a scourge, portraits of Confucius teaching, and portraits of Confucius' calligraphy related to Confucius' teaching. In addition, there are woodcut, stone and painted versions of "Confucius' Sacred Relics" that reflect Confucius's life and deeds. As an important category in the Confucius Mansion's collection, Duke Yansheng of all dynasties attached great importance to the protection of Confucius' paintings.
The Ming Dynasty colored painting "Pictures of the Sacred Relics of Confucius" is a first-class cultural relic in the Confucius Museum. It is bound in an album and has a total of 41 pages. It is written in ink on paper with 5 pages of inscriptions and postscripts, and the remaining 36 pages are in color on silk. It uses time as the longitude and deeds as the latitude. The pictures and texts mutually prove it. It is an important carrier for understanding the life and deeds of Confucius and the changes in Confucius' image. It is also a precious object for observing the changes in Confucius' image.
From "Prayer to Nishan" to "Han Gao Sacrifice to Lu", 36 pictures are connected in series with popular allusions such as "Qilin Jade Book", "Ritual Rong of Zu Dou", "Official Officials", "Wen Li Lao Dan", "Jiagu Hui Qi", "Going to Lu because of guilt", "Zai Chen Jueliang", "Abridged Six Classics", "Dream Lay Two Couplets". From birth to youth, middle age, and old age, it completely tells the most core life journey of Confucius.
Reporter from China News Service: As China's earliest "comic book", how do the 36 paintings "translate" Confucius' thoughts and personality through image narrative?
Lu Feng: The Ming Dynasty painting "Confucius' Sacred Relics" is based on classic documents such as "Historical Records", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Confucius' Family Sayings". It transforms text narratives into visual serial images. It is essentially a translation of images into text, which is equivalent to a "picture version of the Chronicle of Confucius". It does not rely on long discussions, but uses a complete set of image language such as picture selection, timing arrangement, character composition, scene design, and mutual support between pictures and texts to translate Confucius's life trajectory, personality, temperament, and Confucianism, so that ordinary people can understand the life of the saint.
The whole book begins with the auspicious "Prayer to Nishan" before Confucius was born, and ends with Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, passing by Lu to worship Confucius. It is worth noting that the album does not end with the death of Confucius, but ends with "Han Gao worships Lu". This arrangement is quite meaningful, as it implies that Confucius' thoughts did not end with his death, but were continued and respected in later generations.
In terms of character composition, the painter used meticulous brushwork and heavy colors to depict the image of Confucius. Confucius always resides in the visual center of the picture, with a dignified face and a calm demeanor, reflecting the sage's demeanor of "gentle but severe, mighty but not fierce, respectful but peaceful". Each painting is like a window, allowing viewers to get a glimpse of Confucius's spiritual outlook at different stages of his life.
Reporter from China News Service: From static ancient paintings to "alive" digital experiences, how can this set of sacred monuments enter the vision of contemporary people?
Lu Feng: The original Ming Dynasty painting "Confucius' Sacred Relics" is fragile and cannot be exhibited frequently for a long time. To this end, the Confucius Museum has carried out high-definition scanning and color calibration of these 36 painted paintings of Confucius’ sacred sites, completely preserving the texture, coloring, and inscriptions on the silk, and building a digital resource library of cultural relics to provide reliable materials for AR interaction, animation production, online reading, etc.
There is a special exhibition hall "Sacred Relics Hall" in the Confucius Museum, which adopts an exhibition mode that combines original cultural relics with digital interpretations. It displays 36 different versions of "Confucius' Sacred Relics" since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The dynamic long scroll projection adopts the core picture and connects 36 separate ancient paintings of "Confucius' Sacred Relics" in Ming Dynasty into a continuous dynamic scroll. Originally independent ancient paintings, through animation interpretation, the audience can immersively experience the life of Confucius while standing in front of a huge screen. In addition, there are also immersive experience activities such as "Confucius Code" and "Confucius Golden Kite Wonderland", which use digital technology to release the value of cultural relics.
Digital technology has allowed this precious album, which has been stored deep in the warehouse, to step outside the walls of the museum. Nowadays, even if audiences at home and abroad cannot visit Qufu in person, they can still have a glimpse of the sacred relics of Confucius through online platforms. Cultural relics move from "being viewed" to "being experienced", which is an important leap in the spread of traditional culture in contemporary times.
Reporter from China News Service: When Westerners “see” Confucius, how can this set of sacred relics become an image bridge for dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations?
Lu Feng: "Pictures of Confucius' Sacred Relics" relied on the Confucian cultural circle to spread outwards, and it was first spread in East Asia. Under the influence of the unique political and cultural environment and local culture of each place, a rich variety of foreign editions have been derived through copying, re-publication and even localization.
In the 17th century, Shimazu Iehisa, the lord of the Satsuma Domain in Japan, presided over the publication of the "Pictures of Confucius' Sacred Relics", which was called the "Iehisa". Under its influence, different versions of "Confucius' Holy Relics Pictures" such as the Jiaxiu version appeared in Japan.
In the 18th century, "Confucius' Relics Picture" spread to Europe. French Jesuit missionary Qian Deming obtained a batch of pictures of Confucius' life and deeds during his stay in China, and later compiled "Pictures of Confucius' Sacred Relics" based on them. The book was engraved into 24 etchings by the French etching artist Hermann and published in Paris in the 1880s. These copper engravings blended Chinese and Western artistic styles and spread widely in France, inspiring Sinological research and the spread of Confucianism to the West.
In modern times, "Pictures of Confucius' Sacred Relics" has been translated and annotated in Spanish, English and other foreign languages, achieving wider dissemination at home and abroad. For example, "Pictures of Holy Relics" published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1914 was a printed version in Chinese and Spanish. After that, the Commercial Press published "Pictures of Holy Relics" in Chinese and English in 1935. These different versions of "Confucius' Sacred Relics" are important witnesses to the overseas spread of Confucius' thoughts and Confucian culture.
The spread path of "Confucius' Sacred Relics" clearly outlines the trajectory of Confucian culture to the world. When Westerners get to know Confucius through this set of images, they see not only the life of an Eastern philosopher, but also an ancient civilization's unique understanding of ideal personality and social order. The image transcends language barriers and allows people with different cultural backgrounds to "see" Confucius. This is the simplest and most powerful starting point for civilized dialogue.
Interviewee profile:
Lu Feng is the director of the Confucius Family Document Research Center of the Confucius Museum and associate research librarian. His main research directions are Confucius archives and the culture of the Confucius family. He has published 10 papers in journals such as "Historical Archives" and "Cultural Relics World"; he co-authored "Interpretation of Confucius' History and Culture" and won the second prize of the 13th Outstanding Academic Achievement Award of the Shandong Provincial Museum Society; he presided over or participated in the compilation of "Chinese Ancient Books and Rare Books Series·Confucius Museum Volume" (23 volumes), "Compilation of Confucius' Sacred Relics" (18 volumes), "Compilation of Confucian Archives·Quzhou Confucius Volume", and more than 10 special exhibitions; planned and held more than 10 special exhibitions such as "Roots and Souls - Exhibition of Rubbings of Han and Wei Steles from the Collection", "The Same Origin of Si and Zhejiang - Confucius Culture Theme Exhibition", "Lubi Chongguang: Special Exhibition of Precious Ancient Books of Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties".
