Category: Fieldwork

FWO PhD student Mengqiu Tian spent two months conducting fieldwork in Dunhuang, one of the key Buddhist sites in northwestern China. Below, she reports on her research experience:

Dunhuang is one of the most important sites for the study of Buddhist art and visual culture along the Silk Road, renowned above all for the Mogao cave complex and its exceptionally rich corpus of mural paintings spanning several centuries. Between September and October this year, I conducted two months of fieldwork in Dunhuang, supported by an FWO Long Stay Abroad grant, with the primary aim of studying mural representations of Maitreya’s paradise dating from the eighth to the tenth centuries, with particular attention to compositions that incorporate narrative vignettes from the Buddha’s life.

The core of my research was carried out at the Mogao Grottoes, supplemented by a one-day research visit to the Yulin Grottoes. During my stay, I commuted daily by shuttle bus between my apartment in Dunhuang city and the Dunhuang Academy. Mornings were typically devoted to on-site examination of murals, often conducted in collaboration with a colleague from the Institute of Archaeology at the Dunhuang Academy, while afternoons were spent consulting secondary literature and visual materials at the Academy’s library. I benefited greatly from the library’s outstanding holdings, which include a remarkably rich collection of monographs, journals, painting albums, and manuscript reproductions related to Dunhuang Buddhist art and cave temples.

Beyond access to primary materials and research infrastructure, the Dunhuang Academy also offers an excellent platform for international scholarly exchange. During my stay, I participated in several academic activities, including The Workshop on New Directions in the Study of Silk Road Material Culture, jointly organized by the Dunhuang Academy and Fudan University. I also visited The First Exhibition of Reproductions of Dunhuang Polychrome Sculpture and delivered a lecture entitled “Chinese influence on the 絵過去現在因果経 (Illustrated Sūtra of Cause and Effect in the Past and Present).” These activities allowed me to engage with specialists from a wide range of disciplines, thereby not only deepening my expertise in Buddhist art history but also broadening my scholarly perspective.

In sum, this fieldwork period proved to be immensely productive. The combination of direct engagement with mural material, access to exceptional research resources, and opportunities for academic exchange has laid a solid foundation for future publications, and I am confident that the research conducted in Dunhuang will lead to concrete scholarly outcomes in the near future.

Dr. Mariia Lepneva conducted fieldwork in China from March 16 to April 5, 2025, as part of her FWO-funded postdoctoral project, “Vinaya Revival on Baohua Mountain in Ming–Qing China.” The primary objectives of this research trip were threefold: to strengthen academic ties with colleagues in Chinese institutions, to visit monasteries associated with the Vinaya (monastic discipline and rituals) tradition during the seventeenth century, and to collect both primary and secondary sources for ongoing research. Further details can be found in Dr. Lepneva’s report below.

The first stop on my journey was Beijing, where I stayed from March 16 to 23. During this time, I was able to visit all six monasteries that conducted monastic ordinations during the late Ming and early Qing periods: Fayuan 法源寺, Guangji 广济寺, Guanghua 广化寺, Tanzhe 潭柘寺, Jietai 戒台寺, and Tianning 天宁寺. Fayuan and Guangji Monasteries experienced a relatively swift revival following the implementation of the Reform and Opening-Up policy in the late 1970s. These sites played important roles in fostering unofficial ties with Buddhist countries across Asia, as the People’s Republic of China sought broader international recognition. As a result, both monasteries became repositories of cultural artifacts. Guanghua Monastery is usually closed to the public; however, I had the rare opportunity to enter during a religious festival celebrating the birthday of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. As for Tianning Monastery, only the pagoda courtyard remains, now reduced to about one-tenth of its original size. Interestingly, the site once functioned as a factory for producing gramophone records, but it has since been repurposed as a nunnery.

Located in the Western Hills, about an hour’s drive from central Beijing, Tanzhe and Jietai Monasteries have become popular weekend destinations for residents of the capital. Although managed by tourism companies, both monasteries are still home to active monastic communities. Each site preserves a historical ordination platform, though these are no longer in use. Currently, monastic ordinations in the capital region are only permitted at Baipu Monastery 白瀑寺, located in the Mentougou district, with the next ordination scheduled for June 2025.

During my stay in Beijing, I engaged in a number of fruitful scholarly exchanges. Most notably, I delivered a lecture at Peking University, hosted by Professor Wang Song 王颂. In my presentation, I discussed the institutional transformation of Guangji Monastery during the early Qing dynasty, highlighting the emergence of a new power structure that elevated the role of Vinaya monks.

In addition, I had the opportunity to meet with several renowned scholars, such as Professor Sheng Kai 圣凯 of Qinghua University and Professor Xuan Fang 宣方 of Renmin University, as well as Professor Ju Xi 鞠熙 of Beijing Normal University, who is co-leading a project on publishing all stele inscriptions within the inner city walls of Beijing.

The second stop on my journey was Nanjing, where I stayed from March 23 to 30, including a one-day visit to Shanghai on March 26. Both Nanjing and Shanghai Universities maintain joint teaching programs with our Department of Languages and Cultures, so I was especially pleased to take this opportunity to strengthen ties with our academic partners in both cities.

At Nanjing University, I delivered a lecture on the conceptualization of the Vinaya tradition of Baohua Mountain by its seventeenth-century abbot. The event was hosted by Professor Hu Yonghui 胡永辉, the coordinator of the university’s cooperation with Ghent. It was also a great pleasure to reconnect with several PhD students from Nanjing University whom I had previously met in Ghent during their exchange year.

In addition to my academic activities at Nanjing University, I also visited Professor Wang Jianguang 王建光 at Nanjing Agricultural University. A leading expert on the history of the Vinaya tradition in China, Professor Wang provided valuable insights relevant to my research and also shared that his new book, Continuation of the General History of Vinaya School in China 中国律宗通史续篇, will soon be published as part of Jiechuang Buddhist Studies Series 戒幢佛学论丛. During my visit to Shanghai, I met with Professor Cheng Qing 成庆 of Shanghai University, who is currently serving as co-promoter of a project focused on publishing rare Buddhist sources from the early seventeenth century.

With the kind help of my new and old friends in Nanjing, I was able to visit the major site I am investigating within the framework of my current research project: Baohua Mountain. Longchang Monastery 隆昌寺 it houses is still a well-know Vinaya centre, which hold regular monastic ordinations and supplies staff for similar ceremonies elsewhere in China. I was pleased to learn that the resident monastic community is actively engaged in collecting, preserving, and publishing materials related to the monastery’s history, Vinaya studies, and ordination practices.

On the same day, I explored the pagoda yard of Tianlong Monastery 天隆寺, where one can see the pagoda of the famous reviver of monastic ordinations in the early seventeenth century, Guxin Ruxin 古心如馨  (1541-1616) (the structure likely dates to a renovation carried out in the early twentieth century). I also visited Jiming Monastery 鸡鸣寺 and Qixia Monastery 栖霞寺, which currently host female and male Buddhist seminaries, respectively. The library of Jiming Monastery is managed by Nanjing Normal University and has a catalogue available online.

The final stop of my fieldwork trip was Guangzhou, where I met with two scholars whose work has been particularly relevant to my research. The first was Dr. Li Fubiao 李福标 of the library of Sun Yat-sen University, whose pioneering studies on monastic ordinations in seventeenth-century Guangzhou—and the broader Lingnan (southern China) region—have been invaluable. The second was Professor Zhang Dewei 张德伟, author of the influential monograph Thriving in Crisis: Buddhism and Political Disruption in China, 1522–1620, which has long served as a major source of inspiration for my own work.

Professor Zhang hosted my talk at Jinan University, where I presented an analysis of late Ming and Qing monastic networks. With the generous support of both colleagues, I visited Dinghu Mountain 鼎湖山, a key center of Vinaya studies in southern China during the seventeenth century. I also had the opportunity to visit several historic monasteries within the city of Guangzhou, including Guangxiao Monastery 光孝寺, Wuzhuo Temple 无着庵, and Haichuang Monastery 海幢寺.

From April 1st to 18th, 2025, our PhD student Massimiliano Portoghese undertook a rich and immersive fieldwork journey across India, engaging directly with key sites of Buddhist heritage and scholarship.

His itinerary began in New Delhi, where he visited the Stein Collection at the National Museum, an essential archive for scholars of Buddhist history and archaeology. From there, Massimiliano continued to Sarnath, one of the most revered Buddhist pilgrimage sites and the location of the Buddha’s first sermon.

The next stage of his journey took him to Nalanda, where he explored the archaeological site of the ancient monastery-university, once a vibrant center of Buddhist learning. He also visited the modern Nalanda University campus, where he had the opportunity to connect with Elora Tribedy, Assistant Professor, for a valuable academic exchange.

Continuing on the trail of Buddhist heritage, Massimiliano made his way to Bodh Gaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, to study the Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a living center of devotion and study.

His fieldwork concluded in Kolkata with a visit to the Bharut Gallery at the National Museum, where he examined early Buddhist art and iconography critical to his research.

Massimiliano’s fieldwork in India provided an invaluable firsthand encounter with key sites, objects, and scholars, deepening his engagement with the historical and material cultures of Buddhism.

Venerable Hui Wen, a Phd student at GCBS, has just completed a field trip to the Mogao 莫高 caves in Dunhuang 敦煌, Gansu Province, in the framework of her research on the iconography and symbolic representations found at the center parts of the ceilings of Mogao caves. She also met the researchers of Dunhuang Academy, including her co-supervisor Prof. Neil Schmid, and worked in the academy’s library.

In April, final meetings of the various Research Clusters of the FROGBEAR project hosts the final meetings of its various Research Clusters under the general title “From the Ground to the Cloud: Insights from Seven Years of Fieldwork, Training, and Data Collection”. Among these is the concluding session of the Cluster 3.4 “Typologies of Text-Image Relations”, led by GCBS’s Prof. Christoph Anderl, which will convene on April 20th. If you are interested to participate, please register as soon as possible.

Time: 6:00-8:00am Vancouver | 9:00am-11:00am New York | 3:00pm-5:00pm Brussels | 9:00pm-11:00pm Beijing

Among else, the session includes presentations by three GCBS members:

Prof. Christof Anderl’s introductory talk “From the virtual to the physical, and back to the digital: Redefining fieldwork during and after the epidemic” will sum up the activities and research results of Cluster 3.4 during a period characterized by unpredictability and severe restrictions on physical mobility. The emphasis will be on the experiences made during the “virtual fieldwork” which was organized as response to severe travel restrictions during the lock-down periods. This will be contrasted to our “physical” presence in Bangkok when the research objects could be experienced with all our senses, rather than being projected on a two-dimensional screen. Both types of fieldworks naturally necessitated different approaches, as well as modifications in the scholarly and pedagogical methodologies applied in radically different contexts. However, both approaches eventually merged in the form of the digital data produced during and after the fieldwork activities, eventually being integrated in the Frogbear Database of Religious Sites in East Asia housed at the UBC Library.

Anna Sokolova and Massimiliano Portoghese will share their impressions from conducting fieldwork in Bangkok. In this presentation, actual “fieldworkers” will share their manifold experiences during their 10-day stay in Bangkok and – on a more objective level – reflect more generally on the status quo and future of Chinese temples in contemporary Thailand. We will discuss how Chinese temples are integrated into the urban landscape of contemporary Bangkok, how the temples link the interests of multiple social groupings in the area (such as between local residents and administrative units), how the temples have developed multiple extra-religious functions (such as turning into social gatherings/festivities/commemorative spots), and how the temples have engaged highly syncretic repertoires of the lore of deities and of their related ritual practices. Based on our field work experience, we will reflect on how the data that we have collected during our visits to the Chinese temples in Bangkok on the ground can be used to present the evolution of certain religious traditions in Thailand in a diachronically perspectives: in particular, we can trace how certain traditions commonly thought of as “authentically Chinese” have declined in certain areas over the last few decades, while other such traditions have flourished and/or merged with diverse popular believes and practices.

Between 7 and 23 November 2023, our researchers Dr. Anna Sokolova and Massimiliano Portoghese conducted a period of academic fieldwork and scholarly engagement in Taiwan.

During this time, they were invited to present their research at the 2023 DRGPA Conference (Documenting and Researching Gravesites in Pacific Asia), held at National Kaohsiung University (國立高雄大學). The invitation was extended by Professor Oliver Streiter. Massimiliano’s presentation, entitled “How to Treat a Dead Body: The Introduction of Buddhist Funerary Practices in Six Dynasties (220–589) China”, explored early Buddhist mortuary rituals in China and the cultural tensions surrounding the treatment of the body after death during the Six Dynasties period. Anna’s talk, titled “Stone Epigraphy as a Historical Source of Material on Death Rituals in Tang Dynasty China”, highlighted how inscribed stone stelae provide insight into funerary practices and cultural attitudes toward death in Medieval China.

In conjunction with the conference, Anna and Massimiliano also participated in a four-day fieldwork training session on Kinmen Island (金門). This practical component of the DRGPA program provided valuable hands-on experience in grave documentation and analysis, offering new methodological insights.

In addition to the conference and field training, Massimiliano was honored to be invited by Professor Lin Peiying to deliver a guest lecture at National Chengchi University (政治大學). The lecture, titled “Etiquette of Bodily Postures in Ancient and Early Medieval China: Debates on Sitting Positions,” was presented as part of the MA course “Buddhism and Society.” The session was well attended and stimulated a lively discussion on the ritual and symbolic dimensions of bodily comportment in premodern Chinese religious and philosophical traditions.

This trip provided Anna and Massimiliano with an invaluable opportunity to share their research with a broader academic audience, receive constructive feedback, and develop interdisciplinary connections. Moreover, the fieldwork in Kinmen significantly enhanced their practical understanding of burial contexts and material evidence.