A Comparative Study On The Stone Statues Of Northern Qi Dynasty In Qingzhou, Shandong Province And Linzhang, Hebei Province

During the North and South Dynasty, the history of Northern Qi Dynasty which was from 550 A.D. to 577 A.D. was very short. The people of the Northern Qi Dynasty worshipped the Buddha and made Buddhist sculptures everywhere that left a brilliant page in the history of Chinese Buddhism. In recent years, the Buddhist sculptures of Northern Qi Dynasty were excavated in large quantities, especially the Buddhist stone sculptures which were discovered in the Longxing Temple in Qingzhou and the site of Yecheng City in Linzhang. These sculptures were beautifully sculpted with consummate craftsmanship.Yecheng that was the capital of Northern Qi Dynasty and Qingzhou that was the strategic town of Northern Qi Dynasty were both local cultural and Buddhist centers. This article focused on the Buddhist stone sculptures of Northern Qi Dynasty in Qingzhou and Linzhang and analyzd types, syntagmatic relations and styles of two places. Through the compare between Qingzhou and Linzhang, the author found that there were a lot of differences on sculpt, size, pedestal and posture of the Buddhist stone sculptures. Those sculptures which were found in Qingzhou were orderly and regular, in comparison those sculptures in Lingzhang were scattered and individual.In addition to the differences, we should take notice of the similarity between the Buddhist stone sculptures of Northern Qi Dynasty in Qingzhou and Linzhang. The sculptures with the plump face, the succinct lines of clothes and the strong and handsome body of the two places show the new aesthetic conceptions of Northern Qi Dynasty that was totally different from the Northern Wei Dynasty. In addition, the Buddhist sculptures of Qingzhou and Linzhang have common in faith, absorbing other cultures, the relations between Buddhism art and social and political life.