Yulin Grottoes

Yulin Grottoes are located 75 kilometers southeast of Guazhou in the vast Gobi desert at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. Guazhou is another important station on the Silk Road.
Yulin Grottoes are also called Ten-Thousand Buddhas Cave, one of the treasure houses of Buddhist grottoes art in China. The caves were built on bank cliffs at two sides of the Yulin River valley. There are now 42 major caves in existence together with hundreds of others scattered around, 31 on the east bank and 11 on the west bank. Clear water runs through between banks where thick woods of elms grow, hence the name of Yulin Grottoes ( Elm Grottoes) was called.
It is not yet clear when the caves were first cut. Judging from the background and the cave formation, experts have determined that the cutting to these caves were not later than that of the Mogao grottoes. The first group of caves was built in the Northern Wei dynasty and in the following dynasties more caves were cut or restored. The forms of caves and contents of paintings show close connection with those in the Mogao Grottoes so they are important constitute parts of Dunhuang art complex, and have great historical and art value.
In the grottoes preserves nearly one thousand statues and more than one thousand-square-meters frescoes. Caves No. 25, N0. 3 and N0. 29 are representative works in Yulin Grottoes. Frescoes well preserved in the three caves are masterpieces which reflect an outstanding level of wall paintings. In 1036 AD, the Western Xia occupied Gua and Sha ( present day Anxi and Dunhuang). After founding his kingdom, Emperor Li Yuanhao who was conversant in the classics and history, expert in painting, and a devout believer in Buddhism under a larger scale construction of grottoes and mural painting.
Murals of his period are unique and exquisite--the highlights of Yulin grotto art. Murals in these grottoes consist of huge scripture drawings, portraits if Buddha, rare animals and plants, and scenes of plowing, harvesting, weddings, banquets, chess, brewing, iron smelting, music and dancing. The big scripture drawings on the southern and northern walls of Cave No. 25, in composition, technique of expression, line drawing, coloring and human image reveal the artists' skillfulness and accuracy. They are authentic portrayals of the highly developed art of painting in the tang dynasty more than 1300 years ago and are praised as the essence of the Yunlin grottoes. In the drawing of the "western pure land", the artist with great skill of condensation, decried the various scenes in the grand, tranquil, and illusory Buddhist after-world. On the northern wall is the drawing Mitreya Buddha depicting the ideal world to come predicted by the Buddha.Manjusri and Samantabhadra with female devas on the western wall and Buddha losana and Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara on the eastern wall are all life-like.
During the reign of Jiaqing in the Qing dynasty an ivory sculpture of Buddha was found in a cave. It had been a treasure handed down from generation to generation, and was presented to the state by the latest abbot. The appearance of the sculpture shows a Buddha riding on an elephant. The whole statue is 15cm in height, 11. 4cm in length and 3. 5cm in breadth. This precious ivory Buddha was evenly halved and carefully carved with hundreds of scripture drawings inside and Samantabhadra on an elephant with a treasure pagoda in his hands outside. On the inner face of each half carved are Jataka narrations telling the good deeds performed by Sakyamuni. Ali together there are 279 figures and 12 horse-drawn carriages. They all have vivid gestures, but not alike to each other. According to the obvious Indian art style, it should be an art treasure made in India about one thousand years ago and was brought to china by monks in the tang dynasty.
The original article was preserved in the grottoes for more than a thousand years before being transferred to the Palace Museum in Beijing, and there is a reproduction on display in Anxi County Museum.