Dunhuang is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves.
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years.
A Wisdom King is a type of wrathful deity in East Asian Buddhism.
The Longmen Grottoes or Longmen Caves are some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, they are located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China. The images, many once painted, were carved as outside rock reliefs and inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs of the Xiangshan (香山) and Longmenshan, running east and west. The Yi River flows northward between them and the area used to be called Yique. The alternative name of "Dragon's Gate Grottoes" derives from the resemblance of the two hills that check the flow of the Yi River to the typical "Chinese gate towers" that once marked the entrance to Luoyang from the south. There are as many as 100,000 statues within the 2,345 caves, ranging from 1 inch (25 mm) to 57 feet (17 m) in height. The area also contains nearly 2,500 stelae and inscriptions, hence the name "Forest of Ancient Stelae", as well as over sixty Buddhist pagodas. Situated in a scenic natural environment, the caves were dug from a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) stretch of cliff running along both banks of the river. 30% date from the Northern Wei and 60% from the Tang dynasty, caves from other periods accounting for less than 10% of the total. Starting with the Northern Wei dynasty in 493 AD, patrons and donors included emperors, Wu Zetian, members of the royal family, other rich families, generals, and religious groups.
Langdon Warner (1881–1955) was an American archaeologist and art historian specializing in East Asian art. He was a professor at Harvard and the Curator of Oriental Art at Harvard's Fogg Museum. He is reputed to be one of the models for Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones. As an explorer/agent at the turn of the 20th century, he studied the Silk Road. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1927.
Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, narrative scenes from their lives, mandalas, and physical objects associated with Buddhist practice, such as vajras, bells, stupas and Buddhist temple architecture. Buddhist art originated in the north of the Indian subcontinent, in modern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the earliest survivals dating from a few centuries after the historical life of Siddhartha Gautama from the 6th to 5th century BCE.
A Deer of Nine Colors is a story based on the Buddhish Jataka tale. In 1981, it was adapted into an animated film of the same name by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It is also referred to as "The Nine Colored Deer."
The Maijishan Grottoes, formerly romanized as Maichishan, are a series of 194 rock-cut caves cut in the side of the hill of Maijishan in Tianshui, Gansu Province, northwest China.
The Yulin Caves is a Buddhist cave temple site in Guazhou County, Gansu Province, China. The site is located some 100 km (62 mi) east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. It takes its name from the elm trees lining the Yulin River, which flows through the site and separates the two cliffs from which the caves have been excavated. The forty-two caves house some 250 polychrome statues and 4,200 m2 (45,000 sq ft) of wall paintings, dating from the Tang dynasty to the Yuan dynasty. The site was among the first to be designated for protection in 1961 as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site. In 2008 the Yulin Grottoes were submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Chinese Section of the Silk Road.
The Western Thousand Buddha Caves is a Buddhist cave temple site in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. The site is located approximately 35 km southwest of the urban centre and about the same distance from the Yangguan Pass; the area served as a staging post for travellers on the Silk Road. It is the western counterpart of the Mogao Caves, also known as the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" after the founding monk Yuezun's vision in 366 of "golden radiance in the form of a thousand Buddhas". The caves were excavated from the cliff that runs along the north bank of the Dang River. A number have been lost to floods and collapse; some forty are still extant. Twenty-two decorated caves house 34 polychrome statues and 800 m2 of wall paintings, dating from the Northern Wei to the late-Yuan and early-Ming dynasties. The site was included within the 1961 designation of the Mogao Caves as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site.
Chinese sculpture originated from the Shang, and has a history of more than 3,000 years. Chinese sculpture eventually influenced the sculpture of other nations such as Japan.
The Tianlongshan Grottoes are caves located in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China, that are notable for the Buddhist temples located within them. The temple complex spans two mountains: there are eight grottoes on the eastern mountain and 13 on the western mountain. The complex was constructed over a number of centuries, from the northern Qi dynasty until the Tang dynasty, and contains Buddhist art of high historic importance. The majority of the caves date to the Tang dynasty. The caves have been designated by the government as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.
The Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves is a series of rock cut Buddhist caves in Guazhou County, Gansu, northwest China. Of the twenty-three caves excavated from the conglomerate rock, eight have murals and sculptures dating from the Western Xia and Yuan dynasty; many of the statues were reworked during the Qing dynasty. The caves extend in two tiers along the cliffs that flank both sides of a now dry river gorge, fourteen on the west bank and nine on the east. Together with the Mogao Caves, Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves, the Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves is one of the five grotto sites in the vicinity of Dunhuang managed by the Dunhuang Academy.
Chinese Buddhist sculpture has been produced throughout the history of Buddhism in China. Sculptural pieces include representations of Siddhārtha Gautama, often known as the "Enlightened One" or "Buddha", Bodhisattvas, monks and various deities. China was introduced to the teachings of Buddhism as early as the 2nd century BCE, during China's Han dynasty, becoming more established during the 2nd century CE. The earliest representations did not start as sculptures of the human form, but rather an empty seat, footprint, tree or stupa, an architectural form eventually inspiring the creation of pagodas in China.
The Mogao Christian painting, also known as Painting of a Christian figure or Fragment of a Christian figure, is a fragmentary silk painting of a haloed man with crosses on his head and chest who has been interpreted as a Christian figure associated with the Church of the East. The painting dates to the end of the 9th century, during the Guiyi rule of Dunhuang under the Zhang family. It was discovered by the Hungarian-born British archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Library Cave of the Mogao Caves in 1908, and is now kept in the British Museum, London.
The Andingsi Grottoes is the name given to a Buddhist site commissioned in 1132 AD containing hundreds of Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Buddhas carved into the walls and columns of the two chambers of this small cave.
The Baoquansi Caves is a Buddhist site located on the western bank of Pingdingchuan, Taibai Township, Heshui County, Gansu in Northwest China. Built during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386AD–534AD) and excavated on an 8-meter tall cliff, Baoquansi consists of 25 horseshoe-shaped niches and 153 stone statues. Most of the niches have been well preserved, however some parts have been damaged by erosion and looting. The Baoquansi Caves is a valuable site to study the spread of Buddhism since it is located on one of the ancient northern Silk Road paths.
The Lianhua Temple-Cave, also known as the LianhuasiGrottoes is located 15 kilometers from Taibai Township in Heshui County. It is the historical and cultural site protected at the providential level by Gansu government.
Yingluo is a ring-shaped neck ornament or fashion jewellery of Buddhist origins in ancient China with its earliest prototypes having roots in ancient India. In China, the yingluo was first used as a Buddhist ornament in Buddhist decorative arts, including sculptures and paintings such as the Dunhuang frescoes. The yingluo depicted as decorative Buddhist art elements and was later imitated and turned into an actual elegant necklace by the Tang dynasty. It was then widely adopted as a classical necklace in Chinese society for centuries and as a head-wear. It was also used the hanfu of Chinese women where it was used as a neck ornament or jewellery, and was especially favoured by the Chinese court ladies in ancient times. The yingluo could also be used as a textile pattern which would applied on Chinese clothing. The yingluo gradually lost popularity as it lost its appeal due to the changes in people's sense of aesthetic and aesthetic needs in modern times. However, it currently continues to be worn as a common modern-day hanfu accessory by Hanfu enthusiasts since the Hanfu movement and can appear in various styles and materials.
The Western Paradise Illustration, also known as the Western Pure Land Illustration, is a Buddhist mural painting located on the south wall of Cave 220 of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. The 5.3 m × 3.5 m artwork was painted in the early Tang Dynasty and funded by the "Zhai" family. Its style is similar to that of the ancient Chinese painter Wu Daozi. The Western Paradise Illustration features the earliest and the most spectacular scenes of the Pure Land among all mural paintings in the Mogao Caves.
