China: Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Turfan, Xinjiang Province

The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (Bozikeli Qian Fo Dong) are complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to the 9th centuries. Some ceilings are painted with a large Buddha surrounded by other figures, including Indians, Persians and Europeans. Some ceilings are painted with a large Buddha surrounded by other figures, including Indians, Persians and Europeans. The Turpan Oasis was a strategically significant center on Xinjiang's Northern Silk Route, site of the ancient cities of Yarkhoto (Jiaohe) and Karakhoja (Gaochang). (Gaochang). Chinese armies first entered Turpan in the 2nd century BC, during the reign of Han Emperor Wu Di (141-87) when the oasis was a center of Indo-European Turpan retained a distinctly Buddhist character until the time of the Chagatai Khanate in the 13th century, when Islam gradually became the dominant religion. religion.