环保大行动:云冈石窟“洗尘”记

DATONG, China — The colossal Buddhist statues in the cliffside caves outside this northern Chinese city, carved from golden sandstone by Turkic-speaking nomad conquerors in the fifth and sixth centuries, were so covered in coal dust that when visitors blew on them, black clouds rose up.

[qh]

中国大同——在这个中国北部城市外的崖边洞窟中有多尊巨型佛像，它们是讲突厥语族语言的游牧民族在五、六世纪在金色砂岩上雕刻而成的。佛像上覆盖着厚厚的煤灰，访客一吹，就会飘起黑色的烟尘。[qh]

Called the Yungang Grottoes, the relics had survived the rise and fall of dynasties, modern wars and the Cultural Revolution. But the scourge of a more prosperous China — industrial pollution — had been eating away at the sandstone.[qh]

这个被称为云冈石窟的遗迹历经朝代兴衰、现代战争，以及文化大革命，而留存下来。但中国的经济繁荣带来的后果——工业污染——却不停地在侵蚀这些砂岩。

[qh]

Chinese officials and preservationists have embarked on an ambitious effort to protect them that could become a model for saving antiquities at other sites. They have not only cleaned the statues here and created a vast park, but also shut down nearby coal mines and removed or regulated other sources of air pollution.

[qh]

中国的官员和保护工作者已经开始采取雄心勃勃的举措，保护云冈石窟，使之在古迹保护方面成为其他遗址的典范。他们不仅清洗了雕像，建造了一个大型公园，还关闭了附近的煤矿，并清除或控制其他空气污染源。[qh]

"You don't know how bad it was before," said Huang Jizhong, the head engineer at the Shanxi Province Cultural Relics Bureau and former research director at the grottoes. "The contrast is very dramatic."[qh]

“你不知道以前有多糟，”山西省文物局总工程师、前云冈石窟研究院主任黄继忠说。“对比非常明显。”[qh]

Vast parts of China have some of the world's worst outdoor air pollution, and ancient sites across the country are falling prey to its effects, officials and scholars say. Among the antiquities damaged by acid rain are the giant Buddha at Leshan in Sichuan Province and an 800-year-old thousand-armed statue of Guanyin, a revered Buddhist figure, at Dazu, according to Chinese news reports. A professor in Guangzhou, a provincial capital in the south, warns that acid rain is also eroding the red sandstone buildings there from the Ming dynasty.[qh]

官员和学者表示，中国广大地区的室外空气污染堪称属于世界最严重的行列，全国各地的古迹都深受其害。根据中国的新闻报道，被酸雨腐蚀的古迹包括四川乐山大佛和已有800年历史的大足千手观音像。中国南部省会城市广州的一名教授警告称，广州的明代红砂岩建筑也遭到酸雨腐蚀。[qh]

Even the terra-cotta warriors of Xi'an, a symbol of Chinese civilization, may be under threat. Lee Shun-cheng, an engineering professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has called for glass walls to be built around the warriors, now protected only by a roof.[qh]

中华文明的象征——西安兵马俑——可能也面临威胁。香港理工大学工程学教授李顺诚(Lee Shun-cheng)曾呼吁在兵马俑周围建造玻璃墙，现在保护兵马俑的只有顶棚而已。[qh]

Experts working on the Yungang Grottoes, in the heart of China's coal country, are now advising officials seeking to preserve sites elsewhere. Mr. Huang visited the mountainside relics at Xiangtangshan and Yaowangshan, both in heavily polluted areas of northern China, and told officials there to shut down or move cement factories. In some cases, officials complied, and where they could not they built glass enclosures around the statues, Mr. Huang said.[qh]

云冈石窟的专家正在为那些寻求保护遗址的官员提供建议。云冈石窟位于中国煤炭之乡的中心地带。黄继忠参观过位于响堂山和药王山山腰上的这片遗迹，这两座山都位于中国北部污染严重的地区。黄继忠建议当地官员关闭或搬迁水泥厂。他表示，官员们有时会遵从建议，而无法关闭工厂时，就在雕像周围建造玻璃围墙。[qh]

At the Dazu rock carvings in Chongqing and the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province, in central China, preservationists are using moisture-monitoring devices that were invented at Yungang.[qh]

在重庆的大足石刻和中原河南省的龙门石窟，保护工作者均在使用云冈石窟首创的湿度监控设备。[qh]

"All these things share something in common: they suffer from the air and the water," Mr. Huang said. "So these places can draw directly from the Yungang experience."[qh]

“这些东西有共同之处：它们都受空气和水的影响，”黄继忠说。“因此，这些地方可以直接借鉴云冈的经验。”[qh]

A large part of the problem is coal. Burning coal emits sulfur dioxide, which further oxidizes in the atmosphere and then combines with water to produce sulfuric acid.[qh]

问题的很大部分在于煤。燃煤过程释放二氧化硫，而二氧化硫在大气中进一步氧化，然后与水汽结合产生酸雨。[qh]

In the 1980s and 1990s, as the coal industry here in Shanxi Province powered growth throughout China, the impact of acid rain and air pollution on the statues in the Yungang Grottoes was "severe," said Liu Xiaoquan, a senior manager at the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute. A national highway ran in front of the grottoes, where 51,000 statues stand in 254 niches and caves. Up to 20,000 coal trucks passed each day. Villagers burned coal for cooking and heating.[qh]

云冈石窟研究院高级管理人员刘晓权表示，20世纪八九十年代，随着山西省的煤炭工业为全国各地的发展提供动力，酸雨及空气污染对云冈石窟雕像的影响“非常严重”。一条国道从云冈石窟前穿过。云冈石窟的254个洞窟中有5.1万尊雕像，而每天经过的运煤卡车最多达两万辆，村民们也要烧煤，来做饭、取暖。[qh]

Restoration efforts, prompted by a bid for Unesco World Heritage List status, started in the late 1990s. Officials moved the highway in 1998 and barred coal trucks from using it. About 10 small coal mines were ordered shut, Mr. Huang said. Officials also moved six villages from the area, a total of 4,750 households, over the reported objections of some villagers, who said the compensation was too low.[qh]

为了使这里的雕像进入联合国教科文组织世界文化遗产名录(Unesco World Heritage List)，相关部门从20世纪90年代晚期开始努力展开修复工作。1998年，官员们迁移了高速公路，并禁止运煤卡车经过云冈石窟。黄继忠表示，大约有10家小型煤矿被要求关闭。官员们还将六个村庄迁出该地区，其中涉及4750户家庭，有报道称，一些村民拒绝搬迁，他们称赔偿金太少。[qh]

Workers used soft brushes to remove the coal dust that coated the statues. Many of the Buddhas now appear in the golden glory envisioned by their creators. On some statues, vivid paint added during later dynasties is visible again. The biggest Buddha, a seated statue 56 feet tall, has a thin layer of gold paint on its face.[qh]

工人们利用软毛刷清扫雕像上覆盖的煤灰，很多佛像如今金光闪闪，就像其创建者想象的那样。后来的朝代在一些雕像上添加的鲜艳涂料又变得清晰可见了。最大的佛像——56英尺（约合17米）高的坐像——面部有一层薄薄的金色涂料。[qh]

The grottoes were designated a World Heritage site in 2001, and further work began in 2008, including the banning of tour buses from the nearby national highway, expanding the park that includes the grottoes to six times its original size and planting trees. In a courtyard is a shiny copper statue of Tan Yao, a monk from the Northern Wei dynasty who oversaw the building of the first grottoes for the imperial rulers.[qh]

2001年，云冈石窟列入世界遗产名录。进一步的保护工作于2008年开始施行，包括附近的国道禁止旅游巴士通行，将石窟群所属的景观区扩建至原规模的六倍，以及植树种草。一座庭院里坐落着昙曜的铜像，熠熠发光。这位北魏时期的高僧负责为帝王们督建了首批石窟。[qh]

The numbers of Buddhist pilgrims and other tourists have grown. On a recent afternoon, dozens of nuns in gray robes arrived on tour buses. The park has 1.5 million to 2 million annual visitors, up from half a million a year less than a decade ago, Mr. Liu said.[qh]

慕名前来朝拜的佛教徒与游客人数逐年增长。不久前的一个下午，数十名身着灰袍的尼姑乘坐旅游大巴到达。刘小泉表示，景观区每年接待150万到200万游客，而不到10年前，每年仅为50万。[qh]

The most intense preservation and restoration work is underway at four of the most stunning caves. Workers are building wooden roofs to shield the statues from rain. After that, experts from the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, another sanctuary of Buddhist art, are expected to restore some of the paint. The last time the cave was painted was in the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from the 17th century to the early 20th century.[qh]

有四座蔚为壮观的石窟正在进行力度最大的保护与重建工作。工人们在修建木质顶棚，以防止雨水侵袭石像。完成后，从另一处佛教艺术圣地——敦煌莫高窟——请来的专家将重新画上部分彩绘。上次石窟着色还是清朝的时候，而清朝统治中国的时间为17世纪到20世纪初。[qh]

Workers are also trying to make digital recordings of all the artwork. Those would help with construction of three-dimensional renderings of the caves that visitors and scholars can view.[qh]

修复工作者还在努力对这里全部的艺术作品进行数字备份。这将有助于构建石窟的三维渲染图，供游客与学者查看。[qh]

A mine run by the Datong Coal Mining Group, a state-owned enterprise, is still operating within sight of the grottoes. But the company has closed some shafts, and "they do well with dust and pollution control," Mr. Liu said.[qh]

在云冈石窟的可见范围内，仍有国有企业大同煤矿集团公司旗下的一座煤矿在运行。不过，刘小泉表示，公司已经关闭了一些矿井，而且“他们在煤粉灰和控制污染上做得不错”。[qh]

On a recent morning, two photographers were setting up lighting equipment inside the first cave to take photos for the research institute. The cave has a stone pagoda in the center, typical of a sculpture in the middle period, said Ma Yexia, an official guide. A nearby twin cave also has a pagoda, though its base has been eroded by water that once filled the bottom of the cave. The water was pumped out sometime after 1949, when the Communists took over, Ms. Ma said.[qh]

不久前的一天上午，两名摄影师在第1窟里调试灯光设备，以便为研究院拍摄图片。这座窟里的正中雕有一尊方塔，官方导游马叶霞（音）称，这是典型的中期雕刻作品。附近的双窟也有一座塔，不过它的基座因为洞穴底部以前充盈的流水而遭侵蚀。马导游称，共产党1949执政后，抽干了其中的水。[qh]

Running water, which can damage sandstone carvings, has been a danger for centuries. During the Jurchen Jin dynasty, in the 12th and 13th centuries, a river that ran in front of the caves threatened the statues, and a great warrior ordered the river to be redirected, she said.[qh]

流水能侵蚀砂石雕像，多个世纪以来一直是个威胁。马导游说，在十二三世纪的金朝，流经石窟前方的一条河直逼这些石像，于是一位伟大的将军下令河水改道。[qh]

Cave numbers 16 through 20 have the oldest statues, built by the monk Tang Yao. The simple Buddhas here were carved from rock at the rear of the caves. Ms. Ma said one enemy was the rainwater, which makes the sandstone brittle and more vulnerable to the wind. The wall surrounding the entrance of cave number 20 has collapsed, leaving the sitting Buddha there exposed.[qh]

第16到20窟拥有最古老的雕像，为高僧昙曜督建。这几座窟里的佛像颇为简朴，从后方的岩石中开凿而出。马导游表示，雨水构成了一大威胁，会让岩石疏松，更易于被风化。本应环绕第20窟入口的前壁已经坍塌，让端坐其中的佛像暴露在外。[qh]

The oldest caves were used by the early Tuoba rulers of the Northern Wei to help spread the idea they had the divine right to rule over the conquered locals, Ms. Ma said. The Tuoba eventually moved the seat of their dynasty south to Luoyang, in present-day Henan Province. There, they built more grand Buddhist statues at the Longmen Grottoes. Officials at Longmen, which is also a Unesco site, have been carrying out preservation efforts similar to those at Yungang, following what is becoming standard practice for local governments that have sought international recognition.[qh]

马导游说，最古老的石窟被北魏前期的拓跋氏帝王用来宣扬，他们拥有天赋神权来统治被征服的当地人。拓跋氏最终将都城南迁至位于今天的河南省境内的洛阳。在那里，他们开凿了龙门石窟，建起更多宏伟的佛像。龙门石窟同属世界遗产，那里的管理者也在进行与云冈类似的保护工作。这种做法正在成为惯例，为那些寻求国际认可的地方政府所遵循。[qh]

What Chinese officials have been unable or unwilling to control are the stratospheric levels of air pollution. Xinhua, the state news agency, reported that acid rain hit 135 cities in early 2013. Of those, 23 were severely affected. Mr. Huang said, "The current air pollution still poses a threat."[qh]

不过，严重的空气污染，官方还没能控制，或者说不愿控制。官方媒体新华网曾报道，2013年上半年，有135座城市属酸雨城市，其中23座属重酸雨城市。黄继忠说，“当前的空气污染仍然构成了威胁。”[qh]