絲路 與 石窟
絲路 與 石窟
SilkRoad and Grottoes
Xi Yu (The Western Regions, 西域)
The Northern Silkroad traversed much of what's now known as the XinJiang Province of China. In 2000 years ago, it was known as XiYu, which literally meant the Western Regions. XiYu was covered with uninhabitable deserts and dry grasslands, with dotted oases at the foot of Tian Shan, Kunlun Mountains and Altai Mountains. It was surrounded by Pamir Mountains and Karakoram in the southwest, the Kunlun Mountains in the south, and the Altai Mountains in the northeast. The Pamir Plateau was the most formidable natural barrier to buddhist missionaries who devoted to propagate buddhism from ancient India to China. The Kingdom of QiuCi (GuiZi in Mandarin, Kizil in English) was the first stop that the monks found 2000 years ago after they overcame the Pamir Plateau. At QiuCi, they excavated the Kizil Grottoes with buddhist sculptures and murals which had strong influence of ancient India, Greek and Persian cultures. The Kizil Grottoes later became an important source of art for buddhist grottoes built in ancient China.
Gaochang is the site of a ruined, ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in present-day Xinjiang. The origin of the city dated back to the 1st century BC as a garrison built by military of Han Dynasty. It was later converted to a small civilian village under Han administration. After that, Gaochang gradually developed to a stopping point for merchant traders, buddhist missionaries and envoys traveling on the Silk Road from the 1st to the 13th century AD. During this time, all of its kings were devotees and patrons of Buddhism. Gaochang was destroyed in the 14th century by Mongolian armies fighting for control of the area.
The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Grottoes is a complex of Buddhist grottoes dating from the 5th to 14th century near the ruins of ancient Gaochang. As it was built by the King of one of the many Gaochang Kingdoms, it was regarded as a royal temple. There were over 70 rock-cut caves at the site. Almost all had rounded arch ceilings divided into four sections, each with a mural of the Buddha. Many murals showed a large Buddha surrounded by other figures that were Indians, Persians and Caucasian. This indicated that at the time the Bezeklik Grottoes were built, people of these races were commonly seen in the area and most importantly they were believers of Buddhism. Murals of the Bezeklik Grottoes were largely stolen by German expeditions in early 20th century AD and were later destroyed in Allied bombing of Berlin during WWII.