Mogao Caves Mògāokū 莫高窟

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The Mogao Caves, dug in sandstone cliffs to the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). Dunhuang, an oasis in a outside Dunhuang from 366 ce to the Yuan desert where travelers along the Silk Roads stopped to rest dynasty (1279–1368), contain more than two and resupply, served as a workshop where for more than thousand statues and more than 45,000 square a thousand years Chinese and central Asian arts mixed. Some of the most impressive creations in Chinese art his- meters of murals. Texts discovered in 1900 pro- tory, such as the mural depicting the Flying Apsara 飞天 vide a rare source for the study of Chinese reli- Musicians, were born in the caves. Of the more than two gion, literature, art, history, and daily life. thousand statues and more than 45,000 square meters of murals, most depict Buddhist history, legends, and ways of life as China interacted via the Silk Roads with cen- he Mogao Caves, 492 of which are preserved, tral Asia and beyond. Today Dunhuang is an important were dug in the sandstone cliffs outside the city of center for the study of Buddhism, Buddhist arts, and the Dunhuang 敦煌 in Gansu Province, from 366 ce Silk Roads.

Thousand Buddha Cliff outside of Nanjing, Ji- angsu Province. This sacred place dates back to the fifth century, although many additions have been made over the centuries. Photo by Joan Lebold Cohen.

Section of the Diamond Sutra scroll, one of the many ancient texts found at the Mogao caves.

In 1900 Wang Yuanlu 王元路 (d. 1931), a Daoist monk, Dunhuang witnessed an exodus of some of its most val- discovered in a sealed cave more than fifty thousand ued relics, which are today held in Britain, India, Japan, pieces of paintings and handwritten texts dating from the the United States, France, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Fin- fourth to the fourteenth centuries. The texts were written land, Germany, Turkey, and Korea. The Museum of Dun- mainly in Chinese or Tibetan, but some were written in huang Hidden Library, located in Sanqinggong, opened Sanskrit and a half dozen other languages. In addition in 2000 to tell the story of the Dunhuang treasures. The to a large number of works on Daoism, Buddhism, and Mogao Caves are a United Nations Educational, Scien- Confucianism, the texts contain accounting books, his- tific, and Cultural (UNESCO) World Natural and Cul- torical records, court records, literary works, and works tural Heritage Site. on geography, astrology, mathematics, medicine, and so Jian-Zhong LIN on. The texts, encyclopedic in their scope, provide a rare source for the study of Chinese religion, literature, art, history, and daily life. Further Reading As part of Wang’s efforts to raise money to rebuild Gu Weiheng. (Ed.). (1998). Grotto art in Dunhuang. Bei- a nearby monastery, which he renamed “Sanqinggong” jing: China Tourism Press. (三清宫 the Daoist Trinity Palace), Wang sold some of Li Guishan. (Trans.). (1998). Frescoes and fables: Mural his discoveries to smugglers from Britain, the United stories from the Mogao grottoes in Dunhuang. Beijing: States, Japan, France, and Russia. Between 1907 and 1925 New World Press.

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