Su Bai (; 3 August 1922 – 1 February 2018) was a Chinese archaeologist and bibliographer who served as the first head of the Department of Archaeology of

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

from 1983 to 1988. Known for his pioneering research in the archaeology of Buddhism, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chinese Archaeology Association in 2016.

Early life and education

Su Bai was born on 3 August 1922 in

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

Province. He was admitted to the Department of History of Peking University (PKU) in 1940, and after graduating in 1944, he pursued graduate studies in archaeology at PKU's Institute of Humanities. In addition to archaeology, he studied related subjects under famed scholars who taught at PKU, including history of Sino-foreign relations under (),

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

with Sun Zuoyun (),

oracle bones Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, '' ...

from (), and history of Buddhism from Tang Yongtong. His student , the future president of the Beijing

Palace Museum The Palace Museum (), also known as the Beijing Palace Museum, is a large national museum complex housed in the Forbidden City at the core of Beijing, China. With , the museum inherited the imperial royal palaces from the Ming and Qing dynast ...

, described his knowledge as "encyclopedic." He began teaching at the Institute of Humanities in 1948.

Career

Research

In 1950, Su began working in field research and excavation. In 1951–1952, he led the excavation of three

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

tombs in Baisha,

Yuzhou, Henan Yuzhou ( zh, s=禹州, w=Yü-chou, p=Yǔzhōu) is a county-level city in the central part of Henan, People's Republic of China. Yuzhou City, referred to as "Jun", was called Yangzhai, Junzhou and Yingchuan in ancient times, and also called Xiadu, ...

, and published the excavation report, ''The Song Tombs at Baisha'', in 1957. Combining his expertise in both history and archaeology, the report made incisive analyses of the Song dynasty society and customs based on the discovery, although he failed to consider the possibility that the paintings in the tomb might depict an imaginary spiritual world rather than the occupants' real life. The report remains influential in academia 60 years after its publication. Su was widely recognized as a pioneer and a leading authority in the archaeology of Buddhism. He began studying Chinese Buddhist grottoes in 1947. In 1978, he published an article in the journal '' Acta Archaeologica Sinica'', which questioned the dating and periodization of the

Yungang Grottoes The Yungang Grottoes (), formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes (), are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes built during the Northern Wei dynasty near the city of Datong, then called Pingcheng, in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent exampl ...

by and , Japanese authorities of archaeology of Buddhism. After a few rounds of debate in academic journals, Nagahiro changed his position and accepted Su's arguments. Su also proposed groundbreaking dating of the

Kizil Caves The Kizil Caves (also romanized as Qizil or Qyzyl; ; zh, s=克孜尔千佛洞, l=Kizil Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) are a set of Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township ( zh, s=克孜尔乡, p=Kèzī'ěr Xiāng, labels=no) in Ba ...

in the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

oasis town of

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

, revising the dating by earlier German archaeologists.

Teaching

When Peking University established its Department of Archaeology in 1983, Su was named its first head. Many of his students became renowned archaeologists, including Hang Kan (), head of the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University; Zhang Zhongpei, president of the Palace Museum; Fan Jinshi, president of the Dunhuang Research Academy; An Jiayao, fellow of the

Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Institute of Archaeology (IA; ) is a constituent institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), based in Beijing, China. It was founded on 1 August 1950, as part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its original 20 or so researchers ...

and head of its

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Station. He retired in 2004 after a career lasting more than 50 years. He was known as a strict teacher and a meticulous scholar. Even after Fan Jinshi gained renown as an expert, Su disapproved of the first drafts of her archaeological report on the

Dunhuang Grottoes The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. It took another five years' revision before the report was finally published in 2011.

Book collection

In addition to his archaeological work, Su was a

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

and book collector. Three out of the four rooms in his home, except for the bedroom, were occupied by his book collection, which by 2010 had exceeded 10,000 volumes and included many rare books. In that year he donated all his books to the Peking University Library, which established the Su Bai Reading Room to host the collection.

Death

On 1 February 2018, Su Bai died in Beijing, at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Bai 1922 births 2018 deaths Chinese archaeologists Chinese book and manuscript collectors Peking University alumni Academic staff of Peking University Writers from Shenyang Buddhism in China Chinese bibliographers Educators from Liaoning Scientists from Liaoning