Qiuci language belongs to the northeast dialect B of Centum language family of Indo-European language family, and is written in Indian Sanskrit. In terms of linguistic taxonomy, the northeast language is far from the Indo-Iranian language, the main oriental branch of Indo-European language family, but closely related to the Satem Celtic and Germanic languages of Centum language distributed in Europe, so it occupies an internationally recognized important position in the taxonomic research of Indo-European language family. This makes Qiuci one of the symbolic place names of the farthest distribution point of ancient Indo-European languages in the East.
Buddhism
The statues and murals of the Thousand Buddha Cave in Qizil were painted in Zhiti Cave. Although most of the statues have been destroyed, the murals still preserve about 5000 square meters. The main themes of murals are Buddhism, karma and the story of bunsen burner.
There are two types of Buddhist stories:
One is a biography describing the Buddha, which is mainly arranged on the walls of a square cave, and the Buddha's life is drawn from beginning to end with a continuous grid diagram, thus showing it.
The other is narrative diagram, which is mainly arranged on both sides of the main room of the central column hole. Although it mostly appears in the form of a grid diagram, it is a separate picture, each picture has its own theme, and there is no relationship between the pictures.
The story of karma mainly shows the various offerings of all living beings to the Buddha and the magical power of the Buddha.
Bunsen's story shows all kinds of hardships and asceticism when the Buddha took the Bodhisattva Road in his last life.
These karma and Bunsen stories are mostly arranged in the main room of the central cylindrical grottoes and the coupons of the square grottoes, except for a few paintings on the four walls of the square grottoes. In the form of a single composition, the top of the coupon is divided into many diamonds, and each diamond draws a story. Due to the small size of the diamond, the picture uses a small number of characters and background scenes, and the typical plot that best summarizes the story is chosen to express it, which is very concise and lively. There are 38 kinds of Bunsen Story Paintings at the top of Cave 17.
In addition, the murals also reflect the production, life and folk customs at that time, such as the geisha music pictures painted in Cave 38, where musicians play the pipa, hold the harp or play the flute in various ways, which is full of fun. 175 cave pottery map shows the scene of productive labor at that time, which is a precious material for studying Xinjiang's history, culture and art. Qizil Thousand Buddha Cave occupies a certain position in China Grottoes, which is of great significance to the study of Qiuci's social history, Buddhist culture and cultural exchanges between China and the West.
Qizil Grottoes and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are called "Four Grottoes" in China. However, Qizil Grottoes is the earliest excavated grottoes in China, which was built in the 3rd century, even earlier than the Mogao Grottoes. There are 236 numbered caves, including 35 caves 135 with complete shapes and 80 murals, with a total area of 1 10,000 square meters. Its unique cave shape and murals can represent the level of Qiuci culture and have high research value. 196 1 was listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in China.
Buddhism was probably first introduced to China from Qiuci. The French sinologist Levi pointed out in the article A Textual Research on the so-called Turuyi that Buddhist terms such as Vishnu and Misha in the earliest translation of Buddhist scriptures in China in the 2nd century could not be compared with Vishnu in Sanskrit, but were very close to Saman and Samir in Qiuci, so it was concluded that the Buddhist scriptures in China in the 2nd century must have been translated from Qiuci, and Qiuci was introduced into China as a Buddhist scripture. A famous Buddhist translator, such as Kumarajiva, a Buddhist from Qiuci, went to Chang 'an to organize a translation workshop in April1to translate Buddhist scriptures. There are also Qiuci monks Wang Shizi, Mi, Bofaju, Fotucheng, Lotus and so on.
The Buddhist grottoes in Qiuci are the earliest Buddhist grottoes in China, including six main grottoes: Qizil Grottoes, Kumutula Grottoes, Senmusen Grottoes, Gaha Grottoes in Qizil, Mazabaha Grottoes and TuoHulak Grottoes. Among them, Qizil Grottoes is the earliest built and the largest existing in Qiuci Grottoes, with a total of 236 caves. After Islam conquered the Western Regions, Qiuci Grottoes were buried in barren sand and weeds for nearly a thousand years until they were discovered by later generations.
literature
Mile characters
Manichaean hymn
One hundred and fifty hymns
music
According to the historian Xiang Da's textual research, the seven tunes of Qiuci Pipa originated from the music of the Northern Sect of India. Qiuci Le Di Tori (Gong Sheng) comes from Shadja of northern Indian music, and General Yin (Yu Sheng) comes from Panchama of northern Indian music. Qiuci music was introduced into China and evolved into Buddhist music in the Tang Dynasty.
Su Zhipo and Bai Mingda, masters of Qiuci music, introduced Qiuci music into the Central Plains. As one of the nine songs in Sui and Tang Dynasties, Qiuci music was deeply loved by emperors and the general public in the Central Plains. Among the 10 pieces of music produced by the Sui and Tang Dynasties Palace, there is the Qiuci Music Department. After Qiuci musical instrument, music and dance spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, Myanmar and other countries. There are 65,438+04 musical instruments in North Korea, among which Zheng, Sheng and cymbals are played. It was handed down from China, and the cymbal originated from Qiuci, and it is still popular in Korea for more than 1000 years. Japanese music Daqu and China's music "Spring Warbler", "Thanksgiving Emperor" and "Somoza" all originated from Qiuci music.
There are many kinds of musical instruments involved in Qiuci culture, including cricket, pipa, banjo, flute, sheng, cymbals, waist drum, Jie drum, belly drum, bronze plucked string, Zheng, etc. 19 kinds. Qiuci music has made an indelible contribution to the development of China music.
dance
Sui Shu: Dance music Xiaotian, Shule Salt, Old Tang Book: Four dancers, red forehead, blushing, white trousers and black shoes.
On behalf of China Folk Art Troupe, Xinjiang Qiuci Song and Dance Troupe went to Europe to participate in the International Folk Art Festival, giving nearly 100 performances and winning the praise of cultural messengers. The large-scale music and dance "Qiuci 100 1" follows the long-standing artistic expression of music and dance in Qiuci area, taking the stories and plots in cave murals in Qiuci area as the main line, relying on the collision and fusion of various cultures in Qiuci area, and taking Su Mu Huteng Dance and Hu Xuan Dance in the unique Qiuci rhombus as the performance contents, artistically recreating the unique charm of Qiuci culture. From June 5 to 10, 2007, the large-scale music and dance "Qiuci 100 1" went to Shanghai to perform at the 8th Shanghai International Art Festival, which further enhanced the popularity of Aksu, the hometown of Qiuci.
The name of the large-scale music and dance "Qiuci 100 1" is profound: according to legend, in ancient times, a craftsman dug 999 caves on the cliff in order to get his beloved princess, and when he dug the1000th cave, he was exhausted. When the princess heard the news, she cried her eyes out when she saw her beloved die. Up to now, there is still a fountain of tears, through which water drops pass. The large-scale music and dance "Qiuci 100 1" named after this beautiful legend also implies a "Qiuci Art Cave" and a "Qiuci Music and Dance Cave" outside the Thousand Buddha Cave.
art
Qizil Thousand Buddha Cave in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Around the beginning of AD, Indian Buddhism passed through Daxia (now northern Afghanistan), Rest in Peace (now northeastern Iran) and Da Yue (now Amu Darya River Basin), crossed the Green Ridge (now Pamir Plateau) and was introduced to Qiuci. Qiuci Buddhism is dominated by Hinayana and Mahayana. In the middle of the 3rd century, Qiuci Buddhism entered its heyday. "Biography of Four Yi in the Book of Jin" said: "Qiuci is 8,280 miles west of Luoyang, with triple cities and thousands of pagodas." After the Western Jin Dynasty, Qiuci's Buddhism became quite popular. In the first year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (627), Xuanzang, a famous monk, went to India to learn Buddhist scriptures. In the Records of the Western Regions of Datang, he described the Buddhism in Qu Zhi (that is, Qiuci) as follows: "There are more than 100 schools in Galand. More than 5000 monks and nuns learn Hinayana Buddhism and teach them that everything has its own part. Take India after teaching the law. "
Bows and arrows have long been invented.
As early as the Paleolithic Age in matriarchal clan society, Qiuci people were able to make necessary production and living utensils with stone tools and bone implements, and invented bows and arrows. After the matriarchal clan society entered the paternal clan society in the Neolithic age, animal husbandry developed greatly. A vivid picture of hunting, grazing and animals being chased in Qiuci primitive society can be seen from the rock paintings discovered by Xiao Kuzi Bayi in Baozidong Town, Tianshan Mountain, north of Wensu County. Located at the northern foot of Qiuci Tianshan Mountain, No.1 Cemetery, Chaerhugou, Hallmo Town, Jingxian County. There are also a large number of livestock utensils, livestock bones and a large number of pottery with spout for holding milk. A camel is painted on a broken pottery jar. According to the analysis of these unearthed cultural relics, about 3000 ~ 2000 years ago, people living here at that time were mainly engaged in animal husbandry, agriculture, hunting and handicrafts.
On the rock paintings of Xingdi Mountain in the north of Lop Nur, we can see the grand occasion of hunting and nomadic development at that time. One of the camel grazing maps depicts 1 1 camel, a goat and two camel herders, while the other camel pack map depicts five camels, followed by a camel rider, a horse and a dog. It shows that since ancient times, camels have been an important tool for the ancestors of Qiuci people on the road from Lop Nur to Qiuci, and it also implies that in Qiuci, oasis civilization and nomadic civilization have been in contact and integration for a long time.
The integration of agriculture and nomadic civilization
Prehistoric culture of the integration of East and West.
Culture is created by people. Residents of different races, blood ties and cultural backgrounds often create different types of cultures. In the Bronze Stone Age after the Micro-Stone Age, the micro-stone "Oriental Culture" represented by the stone core tools at the bottom of the ship with the cultural characteristics of the Central Plains and the stone culture represented by the geometric tools with the cultural characteristics of Central Asia entered the Qiuci area together, where the two cultures merged and formed the splendid prehistoric civilization of ancient Qiuci. Up to now, four sites with copper and stones have been found in Qiuci Ancient: Keping Site, Aksu Chengdong Site, Karayur Site, and Haladun Site in the southern suburb of Kuqa County.