考古學(xué)家趙康民：修復(fù)兵馬俑第一人

Zhao Kangmin, an archaeologist who pieced together pottery fragments discovered by farmers and reconstructed the life-size terra-cotta warriors that have become one of China’s best-known ancient wonders, has died, the state news media reported. He was 81.

據(jù)中國官方新聞媒體報道，曾通過拼合農(nóng)民發(fā)現(xiàn)的陶片修復(fù)兵馬俑的考古學(xué)家趙康民去世，享年81歲。這種真人大小的陶俑已經(jīng)成為中國最著名的古代奇跡之一。

Mr. Zhao died of an unspecified illness on May 16, the state news media reported. His granddaughter, who declined to give her name, confirmed the death on Tuesday.

該媒體報道稱趙康民于5月16日病逝，沒有具體說明是什么疾病。周二，他的孫女證實了他的死訊，但她本人拒絕透露姓名。

The thousands of warriors were made more than 2,000 years ago and buried at the vast underground tomb complex of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, along with models of horses, weapons, chariots and other objects.

兩千多年前，成千上萬個兵馬俑制成后埋葬在中國第一個皇帝秦始皇的地下陵墓中，一同埋葬的還有戰(zhàn)馬、武器和戰(zhàn)車等物品的模型。

Qin Shi Huang had united much of the country under the short-lived Qin dynasty, which is generally considered the origin of the name “China.” The warriors’ job was to defend him in the afterlife.

在短暫的秦代，秦始皇統(tǒng)一了中國的大部分地區(qū)。人們通常認為，“秦”是China這個名字的起源。兵馬俑的任務(wù)是在秦始皇死后保護他。

Several thousand of the terra-cotta warriors are now on display in giant pits — the largest the size of an aircraft hangar — at the partly excavated tomb complex, which lies at the site of the Qin dynasty’s ancient capital, Xianyang, about 22 miles east of present-day Xi’an. Many others remain buried around the complex.

在秦朝都城咸陽(今西安以東約22英里)部分發(fā)掘的陵墓中，數(shù)千個兵馬俑在巨大的坑中展出，其中最大的坑與飛機庫面積相當。還有很多仍被埋在陵墓周圍的地下。

The complex, which was designed as a subterranean mirror of Xianyang, was named a Unesco World Heritage site in 1987.

整個陵墓綜合體是咸陽的地下翻版，1987年，它被聯(lián)合國教科文組織(Unesco)列為世界文化遺產(chǎn)。

Mr. Zhao was not the first person to see the pottery fragments, nor did he order the partial excavation of the complex, which became a national treasure.

趙康民并不是第一個看到陶器碎片的人，對這座后來成為國寶的陵墓進行部分發(fā)掘，也不是他的決定。

Yet decades later he was still signing his name with a grand title: “Zhao Kangmin, the first discoverer, restorer, appreciator, name-giver and excavator of the terra-cotta warriors.”

但幾十年后，他依然驕傲地帶著這樣的頭銜：“趙康民，率先鑒定、修復(fù)、命名和試掘兵馬俑的人。”

Qi Xiaodong, the office director at the Xi’an Museum, said that Mr. Zhao’s work had a significant impact in China and beyond. 西安博物院的辦公室主任齊曉東表示，趙康民的工作在中國乃至全世界產(chǎn)生了重大影響。

“It’s a great loss for us to lose a hard-working and responsible archaeologist like him,” Mr. Qi said.

“失去趙康民這樣一位認真負責(zé)、努力工作的考古學(xué)家是我們的損失，”他說。

The statues were uncovered in 1974, when a group of farmers in Lintong County hit a hard patch in the red earth while digging a well, according to a 2009 account in the state-run newspaper China Daily.

據(jù)中國官方報紙《中國日報》2009年的一篇報道稱，這些塑像是1974年發(fā)現(xiàn)的，當時，臨潼縣的一群農(nóng)民在挖井時在紅土中砸到一塊硬硬的東西。

One of the farmers, Yang Zhifa, recalled finding a warrior’s head, which was mistaken for a jar.

其中一位農(nóng)民楊志發(fā)(音)回憶稱，他發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個兵馬俑的頭，以為那是一個罐子。

“Another villager asked me to dig gently so he could take the ‘jar’ home to use as a container,” Mr. Yang told China Daily. “Then we dug out the body, which was like a statue in a temple.”

“另一個村民讓我小心點挖，他好把‘罐子’拿回家裝東西用，”楊志發(fā)在接受《中國日報》采訪時稱，“然后，我們挖出了身體，就跟廟里的神像一樣。”

Mr. Zhao, a local cultural official, rushed to the scene and had the pieces collected and taken to a local museum. He began reconstructing heads, torsos, arms and legs from the fragments, including pieces as small as a fingernail.

趙康民當時是當?shù)氐囊幻幕賳T，他迅速趕到現(xiàn)場，把那些碎片收集了起來，送到了當?shù)氐囊粋€博物館。他開始用碎片修復(fù)頭部、軀干、手臂和腿，包括指甲大小的碎片。

Soon the warriors were standing before him: life-size, armored and with half-clenched fists.

很快，兵馬俑的形象出現(xiàn)在了他的面前：真人大小，穿著盔甲，拳頭半握。

“My discovery marked the beginning of the enormous excavation project of the underground army,” Mr. Zhao wrote in a 2014 essay.

“我的發(fā)現(xiàn)拉開了發(fā)掘這個龐大的地下軍陣的序幕，”趙康民在2014年的一篇文章中寫道。

Zhao Kangmin was born in July 1936, his granddaughter said in a message on Sina Weibo, a site that is similar to Twitter. The state news media reported that he worked as an archaeologist for more than 40 years, but further details about his family and career were scarce.

趙康民的孫女在新浪微博上稱，趙康民生于1936年7月。中國官方新聞媒體報道稱，他從事考古工作40余年，但關(guān)于他的家庭和事業(yè)的細節(jié)卻很少。

When Mr. Zhao and his colleagues arrived at the tomb complex in 1974, he wrote, some villagers had already taken pieces home as trophies. Children were tossing other fragments around like toys.

趙康民寫道，1974年，他和同事們到達這個陵墓建筑群時，一些村民已經(jīng)把脆片拿回家當戰(zhàn)利品了。孩子們把碎片當成玩具四處亂丟。

At the time, Mr. Zhao wrote, he feared that reporting the restoration project to the central government could put him in the cross-hairs of a Cultural Revolution-era campaign to wipe out the “Four Olds”: ideas, customs, culture and habits. That campaign resulted in the widespread destruction of historical sites.

趙康民寫道，當時，他擔心向中央政府報告修復(fù)項目可能會讓他成為文化大革命時期除“四舊”運動的焦點：“四舊”包括舊思想、舊風(fēng)俗、舊文化和舊習(xí)慣。那場運動導(dǎo)致了歷史遺址被大面積破壞。

But a few months later, a journalist from a state news agency heard about the discovery while vacationing in Xi’an. The journalist described the find in an article, which caught the attention of a top official in Beijing. Soon a formal excavation was underway.

但幾個月后，中國官方新聞機構(gòu)的一名記者在西安度假時聽說了這個發(fā)現(xiàn)。這名記者在一篇文章中描述了這個發(fā)現(xiàn)，引起了北京一位高級官員的注意。很快，正式的挖掘工作開始了。

In 2003, three of the farmers who had found the statue fragments asked the museum authorities for a certificate that officially declared them the discoverers of the terra-cotta army. It didn’t happen, China Daily reported in 2009.

2003年，發(fā)現(xiàn)雕像碎片的三位農(nóng)民向該博物館當局索要一份正式證書，證明他們是兵馬俑發(fā)現(xiàn)者?！吨袊請蟆?009年報道稱，他們未能如愿。

Mr. Zhao told the newspaper that “seeing doesn’t mean discovering.”

趙康民在接受該報采訪時表示，“看見不等于發(fā)現(xiàn)。”

“What they want is money,” he said.

“他們就是想要錢，”他說。

The warriors have become a major draw for international tourists, and some are lent out for exhibitions around the world, including a recent one at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

兵馬俑已成為吸引國際游客的一項主要遺跡，有些還被租借到世界各地展覽，包括最近在費城富蘭克林學(xué)院(Franklin Institute)舉辦的展覽。

In February, an American man was charged with vandalizing one of the warriors on display at the Franklin Institute. An affidavit by an agent assigned to the F.B.I.’s art crime team said that the man broke off a thumb after putting his arm around the warrior and snapping a selfie.

今年2月，一名美國男子被指控在富蘭克林學(xué)院的展覽上故意破壞了一個兵馬俑。聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局(FBI)藝術(shù)犯罪團隊的一名特工在書面陳述中表示，這名男子用胳膊摟著兵馬俑自拍時，弄斷了兵馬俑的一個大拇指。

That statue alone is valued at $4.5 million.

單是那一座雕像就價值450萬美元。