Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, located at southeast
of Dunhuang city, were first constructed in Former Qin Dynasty. It reached more
than 1,000 caves till Tang Dynasty and was constantly built up the following 1,000
years till Qing Dynasty. Now more than 2,400 painted sculptures and more than 50,000
square meters frescos of past dynasties are saved in the 492 existing caves. If
they are connected together, that will form a magnificent gallery of 25 km.
Dunhuang joss, all painted sculptures made of mud, are divided into single and groups
ones, and have vivid shapes and different presence with the tallest to 33 m and
shortest to 0.1 m only.
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are the caves that have the most frescos in the world, and
Dunhuang frescos are the main part of Dunhuang art. With a grand scale and rich
contents, Dunhuang frescos can be mainly grouped under four heads which are:
- Joss Paintings, the main body of frescos, refer to huge paintings which organize
the central matter of Sutra to a complete story with clear arrangements. include
different kinds of Joss and Bodhisattva, among which the image of the flying god
with a pretty and dancing posture is even more memorable.
- Paintings of Folk
- Tradition and Myth
- Dependents Portraits paintings, refer to the portraits of dependents who
were Buddhist believers and financed construction of caves, and the portraits of
their families and servants.
In Dunhuang's 492 grottoes, almost every one of them has flying gods. Flying gods
in early caves are stocky with a big mouth and big ears, which is evidently influenced
by the flying gods in the Indic and Western Region. However, the artistic image
since Tang Dynasty has completely had the Chinese style, which is without wings
and feathers but with flyaway dress and colored ribbons.
The tint of Dunhuang frescos is magnificent and colorful but not vulgar. With stone
green, azurite and vermilion, etc. As its main colors, it still keeps its original
flamboyant and clear beauty after thousands of years because of mineral colors strong
steability.
Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are the most majestic and well preserved mine of Buddhism
art in the world till now and was included into the World Heritage List by UNESCO.
In 2000, the large-scale dance drama Dream of Dunhuang, created on the base
of Dunhuang Frescos, was shown in Beijing.
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