USEFUL TERMS

Mogao Caves: a system of 492 temples near Dunhuang, the oasis town on the eastern side of Tarim Basin.

Mingsha Mountain: “Singing Sands” mountain, located on the outskirts of Dunhuang.

Aurel Stein (1862--1943): German-born British archeologist, who in the service of the colonial British administration of India, explored ancient Central Asian Silk Road from 1900 through 1916, bringing many artifacts back to the British Library.

Le Zun: the itinerant monk, who created the first cave at Dunhuang in 366. According to legend, Le Zun passed Dunhuang and saw a shining light, in which a thousand incarnations of the Buddha were revealed, and he claimed the area as a sacred site for Buddhists.

Gobi Desert: desert in East Central Asia in Mongolia & China.

Yumen Guan (Jade Gate): the final Imperial Chinese garrison at the westernmost end of the Great Wall.

Yueya Spring: the crescent-shaped spring, located on the northern side of Mingsha Mountain, which is about 150 feet long and 15 feet deep. A temple complex has long been maintained beside the tiny oasis.

Hetian (or Khotan) kingdom (1^st-11^th cent.): ancient Buddhist oasis kingdom on the side of the Tarim Basin. Hetian famously was the home of Princess Xi Ling, who, according to legend, smuggled silk worm cocoons out of China in her headdress.

Questions:

#1. What are some of the particular features of Dunhuang’s Buddhist statuary that indicate “Silk Road”-esque cultural borrowing?

#2. How do native Chinese motifs mix with Buddhist imagery? Why might the cave artists have mixed these images?

#3. In addition to its roles as a site of Buddhist pilgrimage, how else did travelers use Dunhuang, the surrounding settlements, and their resources?

Material Culture:

See the British Library’s International Dunhuang project web site and its images from Dunhuang at: http://idp.bl.uk/education/silk_road/SR/dunhuang/dunhuang_fs.htm

Interesting Japanese site: http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/photograph/dunhuang/