Mogao Grottos in Gansu Province,

7. Caves

The extant 492 caves preserve more than 2, 000 color statues and 45,000 square meters of murals. The mural themes depict Buddha portraits, stories and interpretations of Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist history, legends, portraits of devotees and various decorative patterns. They describe different ethnic groups, people's lives such as nobles' outings, singing, dancing and music, farming, fishing and hunting, acrobatics and martial art practice, foreign envoys and merchants on the Silk Road.