壁画 Fresco

Related news: Dunhuang Research Academy has released a series of photos of frescoes that depict child’s life to mark International Children’s Day on June 1. The academy is an institution responsible for conservation, management and research at the Mogao Grottoes (a World Cultural Heritage site at Dunhuang), the Yulin Grottoes (a nationally protected key cultural heritage site at Guazhou), and the Western Thousand-Buddha Grottoes at Dunhuang. There are 183 caves with wall paintings of child, 37% of all caves in Dunnhuang, spanning a period of 1000 years.

Fresco 壁画 bì huà

Have you seen the Dunhuang frescoes, which are magnificent, exquisite, brightly colored and varied in style? They are painted on the walls of caves. The earliest frescoes appeared in primitive society wher the ancients drew various graphs on cave walls as records. The most representative of Chinese frescoes are found in the grottoes of Dunhuang(敦煌石窟dūn huáng shí kū ) in Gansu province.

The frescoes at Dunhuang total more than 50,000 square meters. They depict a large variety of contents such as joss sticks, fables and legends, figures, stories and landscapes with a focus on deities. Among the many deities depicted, feitian(飞天 fēi tiān ) or the flying goddess is the most famous. It originated in India and was a combination of two deities. The two, one good at singing and the other good at dancing, always stayed together and eventually became one deity. The feitian at Dunhuang combines a number of cultures. It is an image created by Chinese artists who had drawn on the merits of Chinese as well as foreign experiences. The artists didn't draw wings, feathers or magic circles for the flying goddess at Dunhuang, She flies with the help of clouds but mainly relies on fluttering dresses and colored strips to float in the sky. People can only marvel at the scene. The flying goddess at Dunhuang is like a name card for the Dunhuang Grottoes and a symbol of Dunhuang art. The sight of the flying goddess is an immediate reminder of Dunhuang art.

Frescoes are not only works of art but also have served as the inspiration for the production of music and dance. Images from the frescoes are also used on adornments that are becoming quite popular among more people.