Ancient Buddhist Caves in China Could ‘Turn to Sand’

THE ART NEWSPAPER
By Hannah McGivern

The caves were inhabited by Buddhist monks and used as temples between
the third and the eighth centuries, and are lined with murals providing a rich picture of early Buddhist culture

CHINA---Urgent conservation work is needed to save a series of caves in northwest China containing ancient murals by Buddhist monks, which are threatened with destruction from the forces of nature. The network of 236 sandstone caves extend over an area of two to three kilometres in the vast, sparsely-populated autonomous Xinjiang region of China, along the ancient Silk Road. The murals are particularly significant because of their stylistic similarity to Indian, rather than classical Chinese, art, which bears witness to the transmission of Buddhism to China from the south. [link]