Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t16: Chang Renxia (Chang Jen-hsieh)
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t16
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Chang Renxia (Chang Jen-hsieh)
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Chang Renxia or Jen-hsieh (January 31, 1904 - October 25, 1996) was a Chinese art archaeologist, oriental art historian and poet. He was also called Ji Qing or Mu Yuan. He was born in Xinmiao Village, Huangqiao Town, Yingshang County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province.
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He lost his parents at a very young age and lived in abject poverty since childhood. He studied and recited poems of the Tang dynasty in an old-style privately-un school. He entered Nanjing Fine Arts College in 1922. In 1928, he began to study classical literature at the Literature School of Nanjing Central University, and became a teacher of the school after he graduated in 1931. In the spring of 1935, he went to Japan and focussed on studying oriental art history in the College of Letters, Tokyo Imperial University. In 1936, he returned to China and continued to teach in Nanjing Central University. From 1939 to 1942, he worked as a researcher at the Art Archeological Research Institute of the Board of Directors of the Sino-British Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Fund, during which he organised the Chinese Art History Society and composed the *Analects of Folk Art Archaeology* (1943). In 1943, he served as a professor and academic Dean of Kunming National College of Eastern Language. In the winter of 1945, he accepted the appointment of Visva-Bharati University to teach Chinese cultural archaeology. In early 1949, he returned to China via Hong Kong and took up the post as a Professor of National School of Fine Arts of Peiping. After the establishment of People’s Republic of China (PRC), he served as a Professor and Chief Librarian of China Central Academy of Fine Arts. At the end of 1956, he was assigned by the State Council of the PRC to New Delhi, India to serve as a Chinese Adviser of the International Buddhist Art Exhibition. During the ‘Cultural Revolution’, he was persecuted
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Chang Renxia (Chang Jen-hsieh)
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and was delegated to work at a farm of Ci County, Hebei Province. After the ‘Cultural Revolution’, he returned to China Central Academy of Fine Arts and continued the study of oriental art history. His works that have been published include - ‘*History of Fine Arts Development in India and Southeast Asia*’ (1980), ‘*The Silk Road and Western Culture and Art*’ (1981), ‘*Essays about Oriental Art*’ (revised in 1984), ‘*Selected Papers on Art Archaeology of Chang Jen-hsieh*’ (1984), ‘*The Maritime Silk Road and Cultural Exchange*’ (1985) and ‘*Study on the History of Chinese Costume*’ (1988). His collection of poems ‘*Red Lilies*’ (a) (1994) is also published. He died in Beijing on October 25, 1996.
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During his teaching in Visva-Bharati University, he attended a meeting organised for Mahatama Gandhi’s visit and participated in the discussions on India-China art relations with Indian scholars.
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He followed the path which Xuanzang took in his journey to India to study Indian culture and art to visit Nalanda, Rajagrih, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Pataliputra, Ajanta, among other historical sites and art relics, and gathered abundant materials and data for his studies on Indian art. On the basis of his travels, he also wrote a series of research papers on Indian history and culture, Indian art and India-China cultural exchanges, including Sino-Indian Art Exchanges, *Record of Indian Ajanta Grotto Art*, *Record of Ajanta Cave Temple Art*, *Pilgrimage to Indian Ancient Buddhist Trace and Development and Education Characteristics of Indian Institute of World Art*’ and composed *Sino-Indian Art Contact* (1955) and *History of Fine Arts Development in India and Southeast Asia* (1980). In *Sino-Indian Art Contact*, he collected 11 research papers on the art and cultural exchanges between India, China and Indonesia, and made empirical investigations into Chinese and Indian grotto art, recreation, music and so on. *The History of Fine Arts Development in India and Southeast Asia* is divided into six chapters and introduces the development of Indian prehistoric art, Buddhism art, Hinduism art and Islamic art in line with the evolution of the times. In his paper *Sino-Indian Cultural Exchanges* (*New Construction*, edition 5, 1952), he made a detailed investigation into the art exchanges between India and China from four aspects, namely, music, sculpture, dance and painting, and also studied Indian and Chinese musical instruments, such as Pipa and Konghou, putting forward that the two nations had begun cultural exchanges through Yunnan, Burma and the Western Regions from ancient times. The above-mentioned studies of his have opened up the researches fields of India-China art exchanges and contributed to India-China cultural exchanges.
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(*Li Yuejin*)