Dunhuang Cave Series. 26, Transportation Scroll

Author: Dunhuang Academy Editor-in-Chief / Ma Debendi Volume Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: This book aims to comprehensively and systematically introduce the historical materials presented in the murals. However, the images in the cave murals are mostly used to depict Buddhist doctrines. At the same time, the murals have been artistically processed, naturally containing many imaginative elements. Especially some of the mural creators may not have seen the actual means of transportation they depicted, which creates a certain distance between the transportation images in the murals and the real transportation conditions. Moreover, the ancient transportation images in the murals do not equal an encyclopedia of ancient Chinese transportation, as many means of transportation and road facilities are not depicted in the murals, which limits the content of this volume. On the other hand, due to limitations in format and length, some other contents in the murals, such as urban streets, palace courtyards, garden paths, cave rope bridges, and cave figures related to transportation, as well as many records of ancient transportation from outside the murals, cannot all be included in this volume. Therefore, this volume only provides readers with some materials for research and appreciation.