莫高軼事·我的敦煌生涯(七)——千相塔殘塑的整理及第17窟洪辯像的遷移=Mogao Stories——My Life Career at Dunhuang(Ⅶ):About the Organization of the Remaining Statues of the Qianxiang Pagoda and the Removal of Hong Bian’s Statue in Cave 17
This short paper recalls two events. The first event is the disassembly of the Qianxiang Pagoda built by Taoist priest Wang Yuanlu and the further handling of the remaining statues in the pagoda. This paper finds that the statues were damaged due to the careless handling of cultural relics at that time. The second event is about the statue of Hong Bian, which was originally in cave 362 instead of cave 17 where it is today( also known as the fabled Library Cave). The statue in cave 362 was identified to be that of Hong Bian in cave 17,leading director Chang Shuhong to move it back into cave 17 in 1965. The author participated in the removal of this statue at the time and draws on this experience as reference.
