Kicking off with an episode of the Hexi Corridor
13 April 2025
Our pet goldfish Shaoqi just passed away, sadly. Thank you for the one year you spent with us Shaoqi. Named after the brave leader of the China Liu Shaoqi, he was an active member of our household. I`m kicking off this blog with a post here on Sunday night. Waiting for the Hexi corridor episode to begin. I find the producton quality questionable, but it illustrates some key parts of Chinese history that took place in this strategic area of the Chinese mainland. This episode was about Buddhist statues and grottos in the Hexi coridor. The episode began by focusing on a monk named Kumarajiva who travelled from the West and got stuck in the Hexi corridor for about 17 years as he was under suspicion by the government of the time. Eventually he was taken to Changan by a more likeminded emperor and set to work translating all the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. After that, the episode focussed on the development of Buddhist grottoes along the corridor. One interesting piece of information I learnt was that up until the invasion of the East by Alexander the Great, there were no human likeness sculptures of Shakyamuni, the Buddha. It was only the bringing of Greek statues to Gandahar- present day Kashmir - that people began sculpting likenesses of the Buddha because they found the Greek sculptures brought by Alexander and his men so beautiful. I hope I get the chance to visit some of the grottes when I visit the Hexi corridor this year.