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Only a few of Chinese people have their belief. But for those who have, for most of time, it is the Buddhism. As is known to all that, Buddhism was initiated in ancient India and it was introduced to China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (A.D. 420 - 589). Chinese people also worship Buddha in their way, and Dunhuang culture and art is one of the best demonstrations. The following article quoted from my website is the introduction on Dunhuang painted sculptures and the development of Buddhism in China. If you are also interested in this subject, just slow down and enjoy reading it!


Famous mountains and places of historical interest spread all over China, and some of which are expected to link with Buddhist culture. The burning incense of the temples excesses everywhere, but the grottoes of Dunhuang, Gansu Province of China, were the very first place that Buddhism was introduced to the ancient civilization. The first one, who excavated grotto in Dunhuang, was Right Reverend Lezun. His initially aim was simply to find a place to learn the Buddhist Sutra, but he also launched the commencement of Dunhuang Art. Afterwards, the grottoes gradually exceeded his original intention to become a place to worship Buddhism by people. Later, the custom was spread from Dunhuang Grottoes to the rest temples around China. Therefore, people went to temples to worship Buddhism by burning incense since then. We can say, people’s custom of worshiping in temples was developed from Dunhuang Grottoes.

Since Dunhuang is a holy place to worship, Buddhism and Buddha statues are the objects to worship by the followers. The most popular figures of the grottoes are usually the Buddha and Bodhisattva. In the deserts of northwestern part, there were few stones and lumbers that could be used for sculpture. Therefore, clay Buddha figures became a major technique. And the statue was called “Painted Sculpture” added with color paintings. Sculpture artist always tried to make Buddha figures solemn and kind to attract more followers to worship the Buddhism.

In early Dunhuang Buddhist art, there were many painted sculpture in the style of Western Regions.

In late Northern Wei Dynasty, southern Han style became popular in the northern part of the country because of the reform of Emperor Xiaowen. The representative was Longmen Grottoes, in which the Buddha sculptures are slim in figures and comely in facial features. The representatives are Buddha figures in the 259th and 254th grotto.



The grottoes in Sui Dynasty were comparatively broad, and the painted sculptures were tall and magnificent, which represented the features of the new era. The sculpture then served as a link between the past and the future. The artistic style of Western Regions and the Central Plains were had been adopted in painted sculptures since Northern Dynasties. But it was in Sui Dynasty that the above two styles were completely melted with each other. An art with the features of a much richer content of the new era began since then. The sculpture developed from threefold body to multifold bodies, like the figures in the 419th, 420th, and 427th grottoes.

Since Tang Dynasty, Dunhuang painted sculptures had become more mature. The artists sculpted figures according to Chinese aesthetic appreciation habit, pursuing realistic effect. They molded the figures of Buddha, Bodhisattva and Heavenly Emperor that far away from the realistic human world according to the figures of particular human beings, which made Buddha and Bodhisattva look like common person. The beauty of humanness apparently became the point of the art of Tang Dynasty. In addition, the painted sculptures of this period were mainly group sculptures, but each had their own characteristics.

After Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, the culture of the Central Plains had little influence on Dunhuang, since the relationship between the two regions was interrupted some time. It was also because the grottoes at that time were mostly sculpted at the bottom of Mogao Grottoes, which made them subject to damage, and few of them could be remained to today. Thought artists tried hard to inherit the Tang style, the sculptures of that period were still lack of natural expressions and rich spirits.

Nowadays, we find that although the painted sculptures of Dunhuang display the Buddha far from the reality, while through the delicate craftworks of ancient artists, the Buddha, Bodhisattva, and disciples, who were originally full of divinity, became real and vivid with human characteristics. That is the reason why these significant sculptures lead us to a fantastic world with their distinctive artistic state.