莫高窟欲建主題公園 有人歡喜有人愁

DUNHUANG, China — In the cool shadows of Cave 98, Li Lingzhi watched as workers in blue suits inspected the Buddhist frescoes commissioned in this Gobi Desert cliff grotto more than a millennium ago by a local ruling family.

中國敦煌——李凌志（音譯）站在98號窟陰涼的暗處，看着身穿藍色工裝的工作人員查看洞窟裏的佛教壁畫，這些在戈壁灘崖洞裏的壁畫，是1000多年前由一個統治當地的家族出資創制。

It has taken a decade to restore the cave. Metal scaffolding still surrounds the central statue, a three-story seated Buddha with orange robes.

修復這個洞窟前後花了十年時間。洞窟中心是一座三層樓高、身披橘色袈裟的坐佛，佛像周圍還立着金屬腳手架。

“We’re waiting for an expert to inspect this, and then we will discuss when we can open it to the public,” said Mr. Li, who works on conservation for the Dunhuang Research Academy, which has managed the Mogao Caves for the central government since 1944, even before the Communists took power. “We’re monitoring humidity and temperature now in this cave.”

“我們正在等待一位專家來檢查這座佛像的修復情況，然後再討論何時可以向公衆開放，”李凌志說到，他在敦煌研究院負責文物保護工作。該院自1944年就開始爲中央政府管理莫高窟，當時中國共產黨還沒有掌權。“我們正在監測這個洞窟現在的溼度和溫度，”李凌志説。

Such is the delicate work that goes into preserving these small, centuries-old caves, with nearly 500 of them providing a time capsule of art along the Silk Road and ranking among the world’s greatest Buddhist treasures.

保護這些有成百上千年曆史的小洞窟，正需要這樣細緻入微的工作，沿着昔日的絲綢之路分佈着五百多座洞窟，它們是穿越時間的藝術，是世界上最重要的佛教寶藏之一。

There are statues and figurines and frescoes of Buddha with curly hair and sharp noses, a style common in ancient Central Asian art; Tibetan-style bodhisattvas with a thousand arms drawn in the time of Mongol rule; and disciples wearing Indian dhotis. Most of the caves with art were paid for by royal families seeking a place for private worship. The oldest one dates back 1,600 years.

洞窟中的雕塑和壁畫描繪的佛陀有捲曲的頭髮和筆挺的鼻子，這種形象在古代中亞藝術中比較常見；蒙古統治時期繪製的藏式千手觀音；身着印度傳統服飾托蒂(dhotis)的佛教徒。大部分存有藝術創作的洞窟都是由當時的王族出資建造，作爲私人的禮佛之地。最古老的洞窟可以追溯到1600年前。

The caves marked the western frontier of Chinese empires and the eastern one of Central Asian kingdoms. Camel caravans crossed the Hexi Corridor here laden with spices, silks and scriptures, some of which were deposited in the famous library cave that drew the explorers Sir Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot in the early 20th century. An entire school of scholarship called “Dunhuang Studies” has sprung up in the decades since, and the area has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

這些洞窟曾處在歷代中華帝國疆土和西方的中亞王國接壤的地方。當時穿梭於河西走廊的駱駝滿載着香料、絲綢、經卷，有些經卷原先保存於著名的藏經洞裏，正是這個洞窟吸引探險家奧雷爾·斯坦因爵士(Sir Aurel Stein)和保羅·伯希和(Paul Pelliot)在20世紀初來到敦煌。一大批被統稱爲“敦煌學”的學術研究在之後幾十年陸續涌現。這個地區也被聯合國列入世界遺產名錄。

But the modern era’s threats to the art have been legion: sandstorms, rainwater, local tomb raiders, plundering foreign archaeologists (Messrs. Stein and Pelliot among them), and White Russian soldiers who once lived in the grottoes.

但到了近現代，這些藝術品卻遭遇來自多方面的威脅：沙塵暴、雨水、當地盜墓者和前來捋掠的國外考古學家（包括斯坦因和伯希和），以及曾經住在這些洞窟裏的白俄羅斯士兵。

Scholars and preservationists now warn of an even greater looming threat: tourist hordes, even beyond the thousands of daily visitors who flood the area between May and October.

如今，學者和文物保護者擔心一個更爲嚴重、日益突出的威脅：成羣結隊的遊客，這遠不止五月到十月間令這裏人滿爲患的成千上萬名遊客。

Officials in Gansu Province, which includes Dunhuang, and a company in Beijing have drawn up plans for a sprawling theme park connecting the caves with a separate area of sand dunes that already exists as a tourist playground (think dune buggies and camel rides). The connecting strip of desert would be filled with faux temples, folk villages and souvenir stands.

敦煌所在的甘肅省政府和一家北京公司已經在規劃建設一個巨大的主題公園，將敦煌石窟和另一片沙丘連起來，那裏已經是一個觀光樂園（提供沙漠越野車和駱駝騎行之類的項目）。中間相連的狹長沙漠地帶將會建起假寺廟、民俗村和紀念品商店。

“We hope it won’t become reality,” said Fan Jinshi, 76, known as the “Daughter of Dunhuang,” who has worked at the academy since 1963 and directed it for 17 years, until March. “The Mogao Caves are irreplaceable and nonrenewable. Not only do the caves have to be respected, but the atmosphere around them must be protected, too. The atmosphere around them is part of their integrity.”

“我希望它不要變成現實，”76歲的樊錦詩說到，她被稱爲“敦煌的女兒”，自1963年就開始在敦煌研究院工作，擔任該院院長17年，直到今年三月退休。“莫高窟無可替代，一旦破壞也不可恢復。我們不僅要保護洞窟本身，還要保護其周邊環境。周邊環境也是這個整體的一部分。”

He Shuzhong, founder of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a nonprofit preservation group, expressed his concerns in an essay in the March issue of World Heritage Magazine, a publication of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

非盈利保護機構北京文化遺產保護中心發起人何戍中今年三月在中國外交部主管的《世界遺產》雜誌發表了一篇文章，也表達了這方面的擔憂。

“For 20 years, the city has never stopped trying to exploit the caves for money,” Mr. He said in an interview. “The plan would destroy the environment of the caves.”

“過去20年，這個城市一直在利用洞窟斂財，”何戍中在一次接受採訪時說到。“這個項目會毀掉洞窟的環境。”

The plan, requested by Gansu officials, was completed last October by the Boya Strategy Consultation Group, a Beijing-based company that develops commercial tourism sites across China. The proposal has circulated among Gansu officials and the Dunhuang Research Academy, but it has not been publicly released.

應甘肅省官員的要求，在全國參與多個商業旅遊景區開發的博雅方略諮詢集團已經在去年十月完成了這個項目的策劃。這份策劃書已經在甘肅官員手上和敦煌研究院裏傳閱，但還沒有對外公佈。

In the plan, Boya designers list various shortcomings in the area around the Mogao Caves, including a lack of hotels, live entertainment, large shopping areas and bus parking lots, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times.

《紐約時報》獲得的一份策劃書複印件顯示，博雅公司在其中列舉了在莫高窟周邊建景區的各種弊端，包括缺少配套酒店、娛樂設施、大型購物區和大巴停車場。

The plan proposes building a trailer park and campground complete with a drive-in movie theater, a vineyard and wine cellar, and a “Silk Road Village” between the caves and the sand dunes with hotels, shopping malls, museums, performance halls, restaurants, bars and movie theaters.

策劃書建議在周邊建立旅行拖車公園、帶汽車影院的露營地、一個葡萄園和酒窖，以及在沙丘和洞窟之間建一個有配套酒店、購物中心、博物館、表演場所、餐廳、酒吧和影院的“絲綢之路村”。

Its authors give generous estimates of potential income. By 2017, it says, the main tourism zone will attract more than 2.13 million tourists a year, with revenue of 496 million renminbi, or $80 million. By 2020, the revenue will grow to $123 million.

據策劃者估算，這個商業項目的潛在收入將非常可觀。策劃書中寫道，2017年主旅遊區每年將會吸引213萬遊客，創造4.96億人民幣（或8000萬美元）的營收。至2020年，收入將增至1.23億美元。

“The concept of the tourism zone was suggested by the provincial government after it established a tourism industry leading group,” said Dou Wenzhang, a Peking University business scholar who founded Boya. “The goal is to establish 20 of these zones across Gansu Province.”

“這個旅遊區的概念是省政府在成立了一個旅遊產業領導小組之後提出的，目標是在甘肅省內建起20個這樣的景區，”博雅方略創始人、北京大學經濟學者竇文章說到。

Jiang Jianhong, director of daily operations at the Dunhuang City Tourism Bureau, said, “There is no timeline as to when construction will start on the tourism zone.” He added, “Protection of the caves is of the highest importance.”

敦煌市旅遊局姜建宏表示，“對於何時開始建設這個旅遊區，我們還沒有具體的時間表。”他還說，“洞窟的保護是最重要的。”

Perhaps most worrying to the Dunhuang Research Academy, the plan calls for the creation of a provincial government commission to oversee tourism, potentially stripping the academy of some or all of its authority. Mr. Dou argued that the academy would retain much of its power and that its rules on tourism would be respected.

最讓敦煌研究院擔心的恐怕是，該計劃需要省政府建立專門委員會來監督旅遊業發展，這可能會部分削弱或完全剝奪研究院的權力。竇文章認爲政府會保留研究院的很多權力，他們對景區旅遊的管理權也會得到尊重。

In the eyes of Ms. Fan and her colleagues, the imperatives of preservation must be placed well above tourism. Already, the number of tourists generates anxiety at the academy. After 1979, when the caves were opened to the public, 10,000 to 20,000 people visited annually. In recent years, the crowds have sometimes reached that number in a single day in the peak season, with a total of 810,000 last year.

在樊錦詩和她的同事看來，文物保護的重要性一定要高於旅遊開發。單是大量遊客到來已經讓他們倍感焦慮。1979年敦煌莫高窟對外開放後，每年有一兩萬人到訪。最近幾年，旅遊旺季一天的遊客人數就能達到這個量，去年的遊客總數已經達到81萬。

Ms. Fan and her colleagues worked for years on a plan to control tourism that is just now taking effect. The academy built a new visitors’ center about 10 miles north of the caves. People park there and are required to watch two 20-minute films about the caves before taking shuttle buses to the site. There, guides lead groups of 25 people in tours of one to two hours through about eight caves, with a limit of 6,000 visitors a day.

樊錦詩和同事們爲一項控制遊客數量的計劃努力了多年，最近剛剛開始實施。研究院在洞窟北面10英里（約合16公里）處新建了一座遊客中心。遊客在那裏換乘班車前往景區之前，需要觀看兩段時長20分鐘的有關洞窟的影像資料。景區日接待遊客總量控制在6000人內，旅遊嚮導每次帶25人入窟，一兩小時內觀看完八個洞窟。

One of the films, in 3-D, is projected on the inside of a dome that brings the viewer into six caves, including one with an 85-foot-high sitting Buddha.

其中一段是3D影像，在一個穹頂結構牆面上放映，可以讓遊客立體觀看六座洞窟內的景象，其中一個洞窟裏有一座高達85英尺（約合26米）的坐佛像。

“The point is to have people look at the art but without going into the caves,” Ms. Fan said. “This is the first place in all of China to experiment with this method.”

“這樣做的目的是讓遊客不必進入洞窟就可以觀賞洞窟藝術，”樊錦詩說到。“這裏是全中國第一個嘗試用這種方法的地方。”

About 80 percent of the caves are less than 85 square feet and cannot accommodate many visitors, yet 1,187 people bought tickets for the tour one recent day.

80%的洞窟面積不到85平英尺（約合8平方米），無法容納太多遊客，而最近一天就有1187人購買了門票。

Their mere presence can be harmful, raising the temperature and levels of carbon dioxide and humidity. Sensors in the caves send readings to the academy’s control rooms. If those exceed recommended levels, the academy temporarily closes the cave.

這些人哪怕什麼也不做，只是出現在洞窟裏，也會帶來危害，他們會增加窟內溫度、二氧化碳濃度和溼度。窟內安裝的感應器會向研究院的控制室發送檢測數據。如果數據超過了一定範圍，研究院就會暫時關閉洞窟。

“If there are too many tourists, the already existing conditions will worsen,” Ms. Fan said. “If you develop just the tourism industry and sacrifice cultural relics protection, the profit will run out quickly.”

“遊客數量過多，情況會比現在的更糟，”樊錦詩說到。“如果只追求旅遊開發，而犧牲文物保護，這種利潤很快就會耗盡。”