角色轉換與歷史記憶--莫高窟第323窟張騫出使西域圖的藝術史意義=Role Reversal and Historical Memory: Artistic Significance of the Wall Painting of Zhang Qian Exploring the Western Regions on a Diplomatic Mission in Mogao Cave 323
As an original Early Tang cave at the Mogao Grottoes, cave 323 is the only Dunhuang cave to use Buddhist historical paintings as its theme. More particularly, the picture of Zhang Qian exploring the Western Regions on a diplomatic mission, which was a political and diplomatic event in Chinese history, was adopted as the earliest fact about the dissemination of Buddhism in the Central Plains. The "role reversal" of Zhang Qian’s diplomatic mission in this picture became an image of "historical memory" at least in the Tang dynasty, which reflects the dissemination of Buddhist images into the Central Plains. An investigation of the wall paintings and sculptures in this cave indicates that the designers or painters of this cave might have been monks who intended to entrust the mission of "searching for the name of the Buddha" to Zhang Qian, a pioneer in opening up the traffic route between China and the West. In other words, "role reversal" appeared in the historical event of Zhang Qian’s diplomatic mission. It was turned from a political image into a Buddhist theme and finally was fixed as special visual material endowed with the function of "historical memory," thus playing an important role in the history of Buddhism. Therefore, this unique and original cave is important in the history of art, while the non-Chinese iconographic elements suggest that the owners of this cave might have been immigrants from the Western Regions.
