#Dunhuang

[rongzhi]

Women wearing Tang Dynasty hanfu modeled after the depictions of patrons in the mural art of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang (敦煌莫高窟).

They are posing in front of the Longmen Grottos (龙门石窟) in Luoyang, Henan.

[ruibaozha]

I’ve been stricken with numerous personal life circumstances that have made it difficult to produce solid research pieces as well as answer questions, but I still want to share information.

This type of dance is called Dunhuang and mixes traditional ethnic dancing styles with modern art. The style of the dance itself is influenced heavily by Buddhism. Specific body movements are inspired by fresco paintings found inside the caves of the west China province of Gansu. The dance style owes it’s name to the musical scores found within the city of Dunhuang.

Dunhuang itself used to be a massive center for Buddhist teaching and practices between 500AD-1000AD, being home to several monasteries during that time period. Pilgrims from China, India and Tibet would congregate here leaving behind massive amounts of Buddhist written text and art that would form the strongest body of primary works regarding Buddhist communities in China.

This group here is performing The Thousand Handed Guanyin, and actually happen to be hearing impaired! It’s actually quite mesmerizing to watch.

[breadolloban]

OC art.

Character: Ban Yuwen (班雨雯)

he is my silly son hehe. The art style is inspired by the Dunhuang cave art.

[renegade-hierophant]

The frontispiece to the world’s earliest dated printed book, the Chinese translation of the Buddhist text the Diamond Sutra. This consists of a scroll, over 4.8 meters long, made up of a long series of printed pages. Printed in China in 868 CE, it was found in the Dunhuang Caves in 1907, in the North Western province of Gansu.

[whatevergreen]

"I'd rather be a dog’s or a pig’s wife than yours!" In this 4th-c. letter, a Sogdian woman writes to the husband who abandoned her in Dunhuang. Alas, it was found in a lost postbag and never reached its recipient!"

International Dunhuang Programme:

https://x.com/idp_uk/status/1275715285606182914

[jttwaudiodrama]

Tracing the origin of the monk, the monkey and a horse

To give you an idea of how multi-sourced the story of Journey to the West is, this is a Dun Huang cave painting from the Western Xia Regime (A.D.1038-1227) featuring one of the earliest depictions of Xuan Zang heading west accompanied by a monkey-esque creature and a horse.

Check the link below to see the painting in the actual cave:

It is on the upper left edge of the wall that is left to the entrance of the cave.

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[pangeen]

" Dunhuang Camels Safari " //© allaboutchina88

Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring is a famous scenic spot located in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. It is situated at the foot of Mingsha Mountain and derives its name from the crescent-shaped spring at the base. This attraction is a vast desert area characterized by continuous sand dunes and desert landscapes. When the wind blows across the dunes, it produces a singing sound, hence the name Mingsha Mountain (Singing Sand Mountain). The Crescent Spring is a lake that has formed within the sand dunes, taking the shape of a curved crescent, creating a spectacular contrast with the surrounding sand dunes. This destination attracts numerous visitors who come to admire the magnificent desert scenery and experience the unique natural phenomenon.

Music: © Will Smith - Arabian Nights 2019

[mkchronos]

[Myth]

[aquarion135]

SPPPIIIINNNNIIINNNGGG Nikki

[unpopradicalism]

Appeal to Rāhu (罗睺 - luó hóu), the Demon of eclipses - 10th century, Dunhuang, China.

[tchai-castor]

My version of a deity (I think) of the Dunhaung Mogao cave murals. I'm still working on the background.

[fashionhanfu]

Chinese Hanfu Dance Dunhuang Style Feitian Dress

Dunhuang style Hani Exotic Costume;

Pair with armbands and waist chains;

High quality fabric feels comfortable against the skin.

[azrail-secundus]

Фендом - Suddenly Became A Princess One Day Персонаж - Claude de Alger Obelia, Athanasia de Alger Obelia, Jennette Margarita Косплеер - Azrail, Катя Графова, Марина Сахар Фотограф - Марк Иванов Город - Москва Помощник - Александр Александров Грим - Eugenie's ArtStudio | Bodyart Makeup Craft

[sixminutestoriesblog]

Singing Sand

I thought we’d do something different today.  Let’s take a trip across the world and back in time.

The story goes like this:

The desert heat was dry, first soaking into every crevasse and fold of clothing and then become a heavy weight there, pressing down from above, pressing in from the sides.  As the day progressed, the heat soaked into lungs, breathed down through covered noses, filling the body, baking the travelers from both the outside of their bodies and now the inside as well.  Their shadows ran long before them and then trailed, even longer and darker behind them.  Wind blew off the sand dunes and the grit of that sand seeped, like small, persistent fingers, past barriers of cloth.  The only sound was the sighing of the wind over the sand, the soft steady chime of the bells on the camels blankets and the occasional clicked tongue from one of the camel’s guides.  It was like traveling through time, backward and backward again into the past.  It was like being caught in amber, a moment that stretched on and would never end, never change to the next moment.

At first the sound might only be the wind.  A low, solemn sound, coming from somewhere far away.  A droning rise and fall that vibrated through the air, that hit the chest and shook persistently through the lungs and heart there.  Slow, as the travelers seemed to grow nearer, the sound clarified into low chanting, sometimes louder, sometimes fading, following a song that  changed without warning or pattern.  Low, always vibrating low, filling the air with the continuous, sad song.  

It was a song that Marco Polo recorded in his journals and one the locals knew well.  

A song sung in the quiet, secret, hidden places of the desert.

We’re talking about singing sand, a rare, naturally occurring phenomena that science can - almost - explain.  

Singing sand can happen on beaches but the most impressive songs come from sand dunes lost in the desert. Ancient people described the noise as moans, drums, chanting or thunder.  Marco Polo, traveling along the Silk Road, wrote that the sounds were caused by evil spirit and sounded like musical instruments or the clash of arms.  The songs aren’t just limited to the China either.  Singing sand can be found world-wide and no two places will sing the same song.  According to science, the ‘song’ of the dunes and beaches are caused by very specific types of sand grains, ones with a silica, caught in very specific circumstances, rubbing against each other as they move.  The makeup of the sand influences what sounds it will produce, with small sand grains making the softest sounds and large grains vibrating more bass.  Sand grains of different sizes will create different harmonies while uniform grain size creates uniform sound.  And though the sand usually has to be very dry to sing, a small amount of water can apparently change the pitch of the song.  The ‘singing’ is believed to happen when wind or footsteps start the sand sliding, the avalanche causing minuscule layer to rub against minuscule layer of sand until the grains resonate and create sound.  Singing sand can be found in the US, Africa, Wales, Hawai’I, China, Japan, Australia and the Middle East - anywhere the sand and the climate is right for the music to start.  While science is still trying to figure out, exactly, how singing sand works, the people of the past already knew.

In Dunhuang, China the stories say that the area around its famous Crescent Moon Lake was once mountainous and full of temples.  One day the chanting and singing from the temples woke a Yellow Dragon Prince who was sleeping in the nearby desert.  Angry at being woken, he covered the entire area with desert sand, entombing everyone in the temples.  The sounds you hear in the region are the spirits of those still trapped below the dunes, eternally chanting their songs.

The Bete Grise Beach in Michigan also sings.  Local legend says that a Native American woman lost her lover to Lake Superior and every day after he drowned, she would stand on the beach and call his name into the wind coming off the water.   The sand still calls for him to this day and whenever it is disturbed, the long dead ghost of the woman whispers her lover's name in memory. The sand, it is said, will not sing if you remove it from its beach.

We know that people sing. Whales sing. Birds sing. And now, apparently, even the sand has something to add to the choir.

[paulpingminho]

[ai-realms]

Oriental style beauties,Jiutian Xuannü,Dunhuang.