 The
bizaklik Thousand-buddha Caves, forty-eight kilometers northeast of
the Turpan urban area, are located in the Flaming Mountains’
Mutou Valley. They were called the Ningrong grottoes in the Tang Dynasty.
There are seventy-seven numbered grottoes, about forty of which still
have murals in them. The group of grottoes in bizaklik, with a total
of 1,200 square meters of murals, has the most grottoes, most diversified
architectural styles and the richest mural content in the Turpan area.
The oldest grottoes were hewn in the period of Quhsi Dynasty in the
thirteenth century, it was an important buddhist gathering place;
its most prosperous period was under the reign of the Xizhou Huigu
government, which built the royal temple of the King of Huigu on this
site. Most of the existing grottoes were extended or reconstructed
during the Huigu period.
Even today, one can still see on the remaining buddhist murals the
features of the King and Queen of Huigu and people of different status,
as well as scenes of the lives of ancient Uygur people. Inscriptions
in the ancient Huigu, Chinese and brahmi languages and history of
Xinjiang’s various nationalities, and Uygur in particular.
The murals depicting “buddhist disciples wailing in mourning”
and “bhikku wailing in mourning” on the back wall of
the grotto No.33 are rare artistic pieces which depict the inner
feelings of the figures with vivid images and individual characteristics.
The ancient instruments shown in the mural depicting “Female
Dancers on Performance” in grotto No. 16 and the mural of
“Transformation in the Hell” in grotto No. 17 are seldom
seen in buddhist grottoes in China.
The bizaklik Thousand-buddha Caves became an important cultural
unit protected by the state in 1961.
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