Blog entry # 6 Dunhuang Caves

Presented articles by S.Fraser and Ma Shichang describe the decoration techniques and specific locations of the caves discovered in Dunhuang. This fascinating discovery helps us to understand the religious life of people during Tang dynasty. Themes such Magic Competition (murals presented in 16 caves-shrines, that took over 90 years to complete ), The Cave of the Thousand Buddhas at Magao caves and other Buddhist motifs demonstrate that Buddhism played a major role at that time and thereafter. This could be seen from the amount of effort that was put into the decoration of the caves. The caves served for variety of purposes - from meditating, storing sacred scrolls and utilizing them as workshops for artists to appropriating them as homes for locals. This is even more helpful in studying Chinese history today. Around 500 caves were discovered in the region, most of which were decorated by professional artists that worked at these workshops. The artists used variety of techniques from sketching to copying paintings and others. Sketches made a very important discovery - looking at them, one can see how the mind of the artist worked, as they were made more freely and spontaneously. In the copying techniques, pouncing and paper cutting were used. Even though some of the caves were not made for the purpose of evident demonstration, all of them were thoroughly decorated. The techniques that were used were well developed, and professional artists were sometimes hired by local ruling families such as Zhang and Cao clan to work on them. Once again, that proves that Buddhism was as important for common citizens as it was for the upper class.