One

  Outside the Mogao Caves, there is a river. Across the river, there is an open space with several Buddhist pagodas of varying heights. The towers are round in shape and resemble gourds, covered in white. When I visited, some had already collapsed and not been repaired yet. All that could be seen was the wooden framework inside the tower, while the body of the tower was made entirely of yellow earth piled on a foundation of green bricks. As the sun set in the west and the north wind howled, the entire group of towers looked desolate.

  There is a tower that looks relatively intact, probably because it was built in a relatively recent era. Fortunately, there is a stele on the tower body, and when I stepped forward to read it, I was shocked: its owner was actually Wang Yuanchang!

  Even the smallest figure can leave a long shadow in the desert; even the smallest person can make history sigh heavily. Wang Yuanlun was both small in stature and an insignificant figure. I have seen his photos, wearing a cotton-padded jacket, with a dull gaze, timid and shrinking, just like any ordinary Chinese citizen of that era. He was originally a farmer from Macheng, Hubei Province, served as a soldier in Gansu Province, and later became a Taoist priest to make a living. After several twists and turns, he became the caretaker of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.

  Mogao Caves are mainly Buddhist, how can a Taoist be in charge? China's folk beliefs were originally mixed and integrated. Wang Yuanlun was almost illiterate, not specialized in Taoism, nor resistant to Buddhism, but he would preside over religious ceremonies and solicit donations. It is normal for him to manage this deserted temple.

  However, many seemingly normal phenomena in the world often conceal a terrible black hole. The amazing accumulation of Mogao Caves created a huge cultural gap between Wang Yuande, the guardian, and the object being guarded. This gap is the black hole.

  I once read some books written by Mr. Pan and other Dunhuang scholars, which described the daily life of Wang Daoshi. He often went out to beg for alms, and after getting some money, he would find some local craftsmen who were not very skilled, and first use a brush dipped in lime to erase the exquisite ancient murals, then take up an iron hammer to smash the statues, and pile up mud to build spirit officials, because he was a Taoist. However, he also thought that this was after all a Buddhist site, so he had those craftsmen use lime to whitewash the walls of the lower temple, and paint the story of Tang Dynasty Xuanzang going west to retrieve scriptures. He looked around and felt that each cave was too stuffy, so he had the craftsmen break through them. Large pieces of murals quickly disappeared in smoke, becoming passageways. After finishing these things, he went out to beg for alms again, preparing to continue brushing, smashing, piling, and painting.

  The tone of these accounts is always calm, but every time I read them, my mind is like being brushed with lime, a vast expanse of white. I can hardly move or speak, and the images of those grass brushes and iron hammers keep flashing before my eyes.

  "Halt!" I cried out in my heart, but saw Wang Daoshi turn his face around, full of confusion and perplexity. I even wanted to beg him in a low and humble tone: "Please wait a moment, just wait a moment..." But what was I waiting for? My mind was still a complete blank.

  Two

  June 22, 1900 (26th day of the 5th month in the lunar calendar)

  Wang Daoist learned from a helper surnamed Yang that the wall of a cave seemed to be empty, and there might still be a hidden cave inside. The two dug it open and found a solid and full scripture cave!

  Wang Daoshi was completely unaware that at this moment, he had opened a door that would shock the world. A permanent academic discipline would be established based on this cave. Countless brilliant scholars would spend their entire lives studying this cave. Moreover, from this day on, his actual status had skyrocketed, surpassing many famous museum directors in the world. However, he did not know, and it was impossible for him to know.

  He casually took a few volumes to the county magistrate for identification, and the county magistrate showed them to other officials. Some of the officials who knew something about their value suggested transporting them to the provincial capital, but were reluctant to bear the transportation costs, so they requested that they be sealed on the spot. In this process, news had already spread, some volumes had leaked out, and attracted the attention of some foreigners in Xinjiang.

  At that time, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and other powerful countries were engaged in a great archaeological competition in the northwestern region of China. This situation is closely linked to their attempt to divide up the whole of China. Therefore, we should slightly leave Mogao Caves for a moment and take a look at the overall situation.

  Just a few days before Wang Daoist discovered the Scripture Cave, in Beijing, the diplomatic missions of Britain, Germany, France, Russia and the United States collectively presented a note to the Qing government, demanding severe punishment for the Boxers. Coincidentally, on the day Wang Daoist discovered the Scripture Cave, the powers decided to jointly send troops - this was the later "Eight-Nation Alliance" that captured Beijing, forced the imperial court to flee, and ultimately forced China to pay 450 million taels of silver in compensation.

  Time, how can it be so coincidental?

  It was probably a decision made in the foreign embassies of Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing that immediately stung the nervous system of a huge organism. Suddenly, the door of a cave in the northwest desert opened instantly.

  More coincidentally, oracle bones were also discovered just a few months ago.

  I think that the Dunhuang Caves and Oracle Bones are the same, they can best reflect a nation's cultural confidence. Therefore, it must suddenly appear at the moment when this nation is about to lose its confidence.

  Even if it's just a coincidence, it's a great one.

  Unfortunately, Chinese scholars cannot decipher the scriptures in the cave like they did with oracle bones, because the scrolls there have been quietly relocated.

  Three

  The result was caused by the meeting of three men in Mogao Caves.

  The first is "master" Wang Yuanyue, no more words.

  The second was Stein, a Hungarian who had recently acquired British nationality and was now commissioned by the Government of India and the British Museum to explore the north-western parts of China. He was erudite, hardworking, clever and capable; his professional standards as an archaeologist were among the best in the world, but he also possessed the cultural arrogance of a colonialist. He spoke seven or eight languages fluently, but did not understand Chinese, which is why a third person - interpreter Jiang Xiaowan - was brought in.

  Jiang Xiaowan was slender and weak, from Xiangyin, Hunan. He was one of the comprador class that emerged in China in the late 19th century. This group often suffered mental anguish in the process of communicating between two civilizations and was disliked by both sides. I have always suggested to artists that when depicting modern Chinese themes, they should not miss this bridge-like tragic model. However, Jiang Xiaowan seemed to be an exception in this group, as he hardly felt any mental anguish.

  When Stein arrived in Kashgar, Xinjiang, he found that the foreign archaeologists gathered there had a consensus, which was never to cooperate with Chinese scholars. The reason is that when Chinese scholars reached a critical moment, such as when it came to the ownership of cultural relics, they would always produce a sensitive "Huayi defense" in their hearts, bringing all kinds of obstacles to foreigners. However, Jiang Xiaowan was not like this at all. Those foreigners told Stein: "As long as you bring him with you, the Dunhuang affair will definitely be successful."

  It turned out to be the case. On the long journey from Kashgar to Dunhuang, Jiang Xiaowan kept telling Stein about the ways of Chinese officialdom and folk customs. When they arrived at Mogao Caves, all the liaison, espionage, and persuasion of Wang Yuanlu were done by Jiang Xiaowan.

  Wang Yuanlu had been wary, evasive and dismissive of Stein from the start. Jiang Xiaowan deceived him by saying that Stein came from India to return the scriptures taken away by Xuanzang, and was even willing to pay some money for it.

  Wang Yuandao, like many ordinary Chinese people, was both familiar with and revered the story of Xitian's acquisition of scriptures in "Journey to the West". When Jiang Xiaowan vividly told him about it, and he saw Stein solemnly burning incense and worshipping Buddha several times, his heart was moved. Therefore, when Jiang Xiaowan proposed to first "borrow" a few "samples" to take a look, Wang Yuandao hesitated and was ambiguous for a long time, but finally handed over a few scriptures to him.

  Then, it was Jiang Xiaowan again, who stayed up all night to study those few volumes of scriptures. He found that they were actually the translated versions of the scriptures brought back by Xuanzang. Those few volumes, which had been casually picked up by Wang Yuande, surprisingly turned out to be related to Xuanzang after all. Wang Yuande looked at his own fingers with excitement, as if he had heard the Buddha's will. The door of the cave was opened to Stein.

  Of course, after that, Stein himself did not understand Chinese, and it was Jiang Xiaowan who went through the stacks of scriptures page by page to select them.

  Jiang Xiaowan's work day and night can also be said to be a kind of important cultural deciphering, because after all, it is the first grand encounter between millennium artifacts and people who can understand them. Moreover, facts have proven that Jiang Xiaowan has extensive knowledge and profound foundation in traditional Chinese culture.

  On those cold desert nights, Stein and Wang Yuanlu were asleep, only he was busy. The two sleeping parties did not understand the contents of these piles of paper, only he understood, and he made the decisions on what to take and what to leave behind.

  And so, the most unfair "transaction" in the world began. Stein used very little money to acquire a large number of cultural relics from Chinese civilization that spanned several centuries. Moreover, this set a precedent, and adventurers from various countries flocked to China, leaving with their loot.

  One day, Wang Yuanlu felt that Stein was getting too much, so he moved some of the selected cultural relics back to the Cave of Scriptures. Stein asked Jiang Xiaowan to negotiate and exchange forty pieces of horseshoe silver for those cultural relics. As a result of Jiang's negotiation, it only took four pieces to solve the problem. Stein immediately praised him, saying that this was another victory in "Sino-British diplomatic negotiations".

  Jiang Xiaowan was delighted when he heard this. I felt a bit disgusted with his delight. Because he should know what the so-called "Sino-British diplomatic negotiations" meant since the Opium War. I didn't expect him to feel any shame for the already very poor motherland at that time, but just thought that if such a bridge-like person completely destroyed one side of the riverbank, what could they do in the future?

  From this, I think we should take a closer look at the three men in Mogao Caves on those days. The first two have always been criticized by the world, while the last one has always been let off lightly.

  What surprised me more than Jiang Xiaowan is that in recent years, some commentators in the Chinese cultural circle have repeatedly claimed that Stein's removal of artifacts from the Dunhuang Caves as an archaeologist was not wrong, but a just and glorious undertaking. Meanwhile, people like me who still harbor resentment are accused of being "narrow-minded nationalists".

  Is it "open and above board"? Let's look at Stein's own recollection:

  In the dead of night, I heard faint footsteps. It was Jiang doing reconnaissance to see if anyone was around my tent. A little while later, he came back carrying a large package containing everything I had picked out during the day. Wang Daoshi plucked up the courage to agree to my request, but on very strict conditions: no one else could know about this transaction, not even a hint, except for the three of us.

  Can't you see what they're doing from this gesture and movement?

  Four

  Stein finally obtained more than 9,000 volumes of scriptures and more than 500 paintings. It took seven whole days to pack them into boxes. In the end, they were packed into twenty-nine large wooden crates. The camels and horses brought from before were not enough, so five big carts were hired, each tied with three horses to pull.

  It was a dusk, the convoy set off. Wang Yuene stood by the road, respectfully seeing them off. The price Stein paid to Wang Yuene for "buying" these twenty-nine precious cultural relics, I have been reluctant to write out all along, but now I have to say it. That is, thirty pounds! However, this amount of money was still much more than what Wang Yuene usually got from begging in the countryside and wilderness. Therefore, he thought that Mr. Stein was a "donor".

  Stein beckoned him over and lifted his head to look at the sky.

  A young poet wrote that what Stein saw was a desolate sunset. There, the wound of an ancient nation was bleeding.

  I thought of another young poet's poem - his name is Li Xiaohua, and the poem was written for Lord Elgin who ordered the burning of Yuanmingyuan:

  I'm so angry

  I regret I wasn't born a century earlier

  Allow me to stand facing you

  Dark and gloomy ancient castle

  Morning light reveals the vast wilderness

  Either I pick up the white glove you threw down

  Either you catch the sword I throw at you

  Either you ride one war horse or I do

  Far away from the majestic banner that covers the sky

  Leaving the battlefield like a fleeting cloud

  Decide victory or defeat under the city wall

  For Stein and these scholars, these verses may be too hard. But what other way is there to stop them?

  I can stand without a sword and horse, just stretch out both hands to make a blocking gesture, standing in the middle of the desert, right opposite their convoy.

  The one walking up with a smile all over his face must be Jiang Xiaowan. I turned my head and ignored him, only staring at Stein to argue with him.

  I want to tell him that taking all the cultural relics away from their native land and transporting them to the other end of the earth for collection and exhibition is a two-way loss, a lose-lose situation for both the cultural relics and the land. I also want to tell him that using the excuse that others can't take care of their own property to seize it for oneself is a kind of plunder...

  I believe that there is also a possibility, although the probability is extremely low - my passion and logic finally overwhelmed Stein, and the convoy was indeed stopped by me.

  So what should be done next? Of course, it should be handed over to the capital. But at that time, wasn't there a batch of scriptures sent to Beijing from the cave? The situation was that there were no wooden boxes, only straw mats tied up, and officials along the way would reach in and take away a handful. Some officials even drove their carts into their own courtyards to carefully select and steal the best ones. After stealing, they were afraid of being discovered when they arrived in Beijing, so they tore the long scrolls into several short ones to make up for the numbers.

  Of course, the bigger trouble was that at that time China was plagued by warlords everywhere, and Beijing was in a state of utter chaos. In the midst of the flood of soldiers and refugees, no one knew which family's military flag would be planted on the land under their feet tomorrow. How could several carts loaded with ancient scriptures get through? How could they reach their destination?

  So why not call Stein, or have him hauled off to a museum in London? But of course I wouldn't do that. I knew Stein had seen my predicament, because I noticed he kept turning back to look at me as he was forced to stay behind and leave the convoy.

  I pretended not to see, only using the corner of my eye to silently send him and Jiang Xiaowan slowly away, finally disappearing behind the sepia-colored hills. Then, I turned back around again.

  A long line of cars, all stopped in the vast night, under my control. But tomorrow, where should I go? Here is difficult, there is also difficult, I think left and right, finally can only kneel down in the desert, cry loudly. The crying sound, like a wounded wolf howling in the dark night.

  Five

  On October 26, 1943, Stein died in Kabul, Afghanistan at the age of eighty-two.

  It was at this time that China's War of Resistance Against Japan was going through its most difficult days. China, once again, stood at the crossroads of life and death, recognized by the world and by itself.

  The day before Stein's death, a "China Day" was held in London, and the Dunhuang relics in the museum once again caused a stir.

  On the same day Stein died, the Chinese Historical Society was founded in Chongqing.

  I know Stein, who was on his deathbed, could not have heard these two pieces of news.

  There is one small thing that strikes me as odd, namely Stein's epitaph:

  Mark Aurel Stein

  Member of Archaeological Survey of India

  Scholar, explorer and writer

  Through extremely difficult journeys through India, Chinese Turkestan, Persia and Iraq, he expanded his field of knowledge.

  The greatest sensation he brought to the Western world was the Dunhuang Caves of Buddhist Scriptures. Why did he deliberately avoid mentioning it in his epitaph and only mentioned "Xinjiang, China"? Dunhuang is not located in Xinjiang but in Gansu.

  I roughly know the reason. That is, his actions in Mogao Caves have been subject to increasingly severe condemnation from the civilized world.

  Kabul, Afghanistan was a very unfamiliar place for Stein. For forty years he had wanted to get in and was not allowed, just been allowed to enter, but nothing was seen before leaving the world.

  He was buried in a foreign Christian cemetery on the outskirts of Kabul, but how could his soul rest?

  Even today, it is still surrounded by poverty, war and religious extremism. Moreover, the religious extremism that has spread all around is in complete contrast to the religion he believed in. The small cemetery is so lonely, desolate and fragile.

  I think what his soul yearned for most was to find a dusk, a dusk just like the one when he drove away with his team of horses, and sneak back to Dunhuang to take another look.

  If there really was such a dusk, then when he saw that Taoist pagoda, what would he say to Wang Yuanyue?

  I think Wang Yuanyue won't complain to him about anything, but will appear slightly arrogant in front of him. Because in front of the Taoist temple, there are crowds of tourists every day, although no one has ever cast a respectful glance. While Stein's grave is forever deserted and empty.

  As for another man, where is Jiang Xiaowan's tomb, I completely don't know. Does anyone who knows tell me?