纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 049新罗瓦当(5)（在线收听）

But, at ground level, there were other threats. There were always potential rebels within the state, the aristocrats who had been forced to live in Kyongju for example, and on the coast there were Japanese pirates.

但在地面上还有别的威胁：反叛势力一直蠢蠢欲动，那些被迫住在庆州的王公贵族就是其中之一，而沿海还有来自日本海盗的威胁。龙也许能保佑家宅平安。

Here again, as on our tile, a dragon would provide security, but every Silla king had to negotiate one great and ongoing political predicament-how to maintain freedom of action in the lowering shadow of his mighty neighbour, Tang China.

但每一任新罗王都不得不应对这些瓦当龙也无法解决的困境：如何在强大的邻国中国唐朝的阴影下保持独立自主。

The Chinese had supported the Silla in their campaign to unify Korea, but only as a preliminary to China taking over the new kingdom itself, so the Silla had to be both nimble and resolute in holding the Chinese emperor at bay while maintaining his political alliance. In cultural terms, the same subtle balancing act between dependence and autonomy has been going on for centuries, and continues to this day, and we can see it in our tile.

中国曾在新罗统一朝鲜半岛的战争中支持过他们，但这只是中国吞并朝鲜的前奏罢了。因此新罗国王一方面要摆出谦卑的姿态以巩固同盟关系，一方面又要严阵以防中国皇帝出兵。这种依赖与自主间的微妙平衡在朝鲜半岛持续了千余年，至今仍是影响韩朝两国外交政策的主要因素。

The tile is very similar to ones made in Tang China at the same time, but this is emphatically not a Chinese object. Unlike the broad grin of a Chinese dragon, the mouth here is small and aggressive, and the modelling of the tile has a rough vigour that's very un-Chinese.

在朝鲜半岛历史上，位于丝绸之路末端的统一繁荣的新罗王国开辟

了一个重要的创新与学习的时代，这也是建筑、文学、天文和数学发展

的“黄金时代”。

And it's this robust energetic engagement with the clay that made Korean ceramics so appealing to twentieth-century Europeans, and especially to potters. Here's Jane Portal again:

威猛的龙瓦当一直留在庆州的屋桅上，流传至今今天 在韩国仍能看到新罗国留下的遗产。韩国国家博物馆馆长崔光植告诉我们：

"All throughout Korean history, Korean ceramics tend to be lumpier, less perfect, more sort of spontaneous, whereas Chinese ceramics are perfect-and dead, in a way. And this is what attracted people in the twentieth century-folk potters, such as Bernard Leach-and they copied them, made studio pots which were very influenced by Korean ceramics."

瓦当所表现的文化因素至今仍留在韩国文化里。现在庆州市区的街道上仍能看到它们的身影。因此，从这方面看，这些物品虽然巳经算是古物，却仍然存活在文化中。