The Dunhuang Feitian, spanning a millennium, is a spectacle in the history of art!

There are 735 caves preserved in the Mogao Grottoes to date, with more than 270 caves featuring Feitian, totaling over four thousand five hundred figures. Through the evolution of Feitian images over the dynasties, one can see the integration and development of Indian culture, Western Regions culture, and Central Plains culture. Feitian is the calling card of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, imbued with rich imagination. The early Feitian represented people's liberation from the traditional Confucian constraints since the Han and Wei dynasties, embodying their longing and pursuit of freedom. Cave 272's western wall on the south side features a Bodhisattva Feitian listening to the law, belonging to the early Northern Liang Feitian of Dunhuang, which adopted the Western Regions' halo dyeing technique, consistent with the murals in the Kizil Grottoes. Cave 285 is a Western Wei grotto, known as the 'Pantheon with Buddhism as the main body.' On each side, there is a flying Apsaras beast, shaped like a heavenly horse. On both sides of the Feitian, there is a beast-headed human-bodied thunder god, tapping a circle of connected drums. From the Western Wei to the Sui Dynasty, it was known as the innovative period of Dunhuang Feitian. The Feitian inside niche 285 adopts the Western Wei's Central Plains style of painting, emphasizing the portrayal of line drawing, while the form and dynamics have the characteristics of the Central Plains style, but the painting technique is Western Regions style. By the middle and late Sui Dynasty, the Feitian had already shed the robust and rounded style introduced from India, becoming more graceful and nimble.