There are paintings depicting the Buddha's past lives before attaining enlightenment, including stories of forbearance, sacrifice, and saving people and the world; and paintings depicting the karmic stories of the Buddha's salvation of sentient beings.
There are paintings depicting stories based on traditional Han Chinese mythology, including some Taoist myths; and paintings depicting historical events related to the spread of Buddhism, including the deeds of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and eminent monks.
These cultural relics not only reflect the high level of ancient art, but also the history of the development of painting and sculpture art in that era.
However, in modern China, these exquisite murals were severely damaged several times, including by fire, smoke, carving, and graffiti.
With the establishment of the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute, dedicated personnel began to manage and copy murals, reinforce dangerous cliffs, and scientifically protect and manage the damage to murals and sculptures.
The Mogao Caves have been listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
Master Li's old friend worked at the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute and dedicated his life to protecting the Mogao Grottoes. He was a true ordinary hero.
Their purpose in going there was to help them restore and reinforce the murals in the Mogao Grottoes.
These murals were preserved thanks to Dunhuang's unique climate, which is characterized by high summer temperatures and low winter temperatures. Summer highs reach over 40 degrees Celsius, while extreme lows can drop to -30.5 degrees Celsius.
Dunhuang receives little rainfall but has a high evaporation rate. For decades, the annual rainfall has been very low, while the annual evaporation rate has been very high.
With very little rainfall and low relative humidity, the murals are less damaged. In addition, since they were carved into the cliff face, the cave can maintain a relatively constant humidity, which allows them to be preserved for a longer period of time.
Although they had prepared themselves for a very difficult living environment before they came.
But when people actually arrived at the Mogao Caves, they truly understood the hardships involved.
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