辽代佛教美术

The Liao Empire (907-1125), founded by the Khitan people in northern China, has created some of the most extraordinary Buddhist monuments in Asia. “Buddhist art and architecture of the Liao Dynasty” is an academic research workshop that brings together research from emerging scholars that explore the social and political contexts, cultural exchanges, religious imaginations, and symbolic rituals behind the material culture, architecture, and city planning of the Liao dynasty. 

The workshop was organized at the occasion of the launch of CAMLab project “Embodied Architecture: Liao Pagodas”, an immersive exhibition that transports modern audiences into the imaginary universe of the cultural heritage sites of the Liao dynasty.

Workshop Program

Opening Remarks |  Bo Sun, Chenchen Lu

Panel 1 | Monastery in Space and Space in Monastery

Chair: Bo Sun

• Political Expression and Religious Landscape along the Axis of the Liao Upper Capital
  • Yifeng Xie (Hunan University)

• The Xishanpo N.1 Pagoda Foundation in the Liao Upper Capital and the Pavilion-style Pagoda of the Liao Dynasty
  • Ying Wang (Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

• Evolution of Space in Tang and Liao Buddhist Monasteries
  • Zhu Xu (Harbin Institute of Technology)

• Multiple Voices in a Multicenter Age: Two Bronze Basins with Arabic Inscriptions in the Khitan Aristocratic Tombs of the Liao Dynasty
  • Qi Lu (Beijing Film Academy)

• Discussant: Tianyue Wu

Panel 2 | Image and Ritual 

Chair: Qi Lu

• Integrating the Esoteric and the Exoteric: The Spatial Structure and Visual Style of the Ten Thousand Buddhas in the Cave 2 of Zhenji Monastery of the Liao
  • Ling Cui (Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)

• The Art of Esoteric Buddhism in the Mural of the Jueshan Monastery Pagoda
  • Bo Sun (National Museum of China)

• A Study on the Gilded Pagoda of Dharma Relic Decorated with Pearl-Holding Phenix Excavated from the Heaven Palace of White Pagoda of Qingzhou
  • Suhyoung Sung (Mokwon University)

• A Comparative Research on the Nirvana Imageries of Liao, Song, and Xi Xia
  • Bo Yu (Shandong Normal University)

• Discussant: Mingwu Zhang

Panel 3 | Mantra in Material

Chair: Zhu Xu

• A Comparative Study of the Woodblock Prints of The Dharani Sutra Of Casket Seal in Liao, Wuyue, and Goryeo
  • Tianye Wu (Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts)

• The Seven Past Buddha Motif and Dharani Pillar in the Liao Funerary Practice
  • Yun Gu (Central Academy of Fine Arts of China)

• The Evolution of Dharani Pillars in the Liao and Jin Dynasties
  • Mingwu Zhang (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

• Discussant: Yifeng Xie