Flying Apsaras

The figures and frescoes in the Mogao Grottoes demonstrated the integration process of Buddhism and Chinese culture. The Flying Apsaras, among many others, provides a good testimony to the fact that Dunhuang was once a center of cultural communications. The flying Apsaras is a kind of unique style of Buddhist figure only seen in Dunhuang.

The figures and paintings in the beginning were basically done in Greek and western styles, but gradually changed to Chinese features. The Apsaras have distinct Chinese features. These fairies, different from western fairies, do not have wings. But they still look like they are flying because of the waving ribbons they hold and the shape of their bodies.

This was probably taken from the Chinese Taoist religion in which gods can fly freely in the sky without any other kind of help such as wings. The Chinese way of thinking was fully embodied in the Dunhuang Apsaras.

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