| Maijishan grottoes is one of the four major grottoes in China, and the focus ofheritage conservation units. It is a worldwide famous art treasure, and a pearl ofBuddhist grottoes in the east of the Silk Road as well. Located in the west of Qinlingmountains, about45km southeast to Tianshui City, Gansu province, it lies in the fortof the Silk Road with Chang’an to its east, Xiyu to its west and Sichuan to its south.Tianshui has a rich cultural heritage, among which the most prominent part is theBuddhist grotto art represented by Maijishan grottoes which contains very highhistoric and artistic value.Sui and Tang Dynasties are the prosperous eras for the Chinese Buddhist culture.This period is also the important stage for the development of ancient Chineseaesthetic thoughts. This critical stage saw the rapid spread, development, and graduallocalization of the Buddhist art, too. Buddhism plays a promoting role in the changeand development of the aesthetic thoughts and artistic creation. The spirit ofBuddhist culture infiltrates the costumes of the Buddhist characters, and thesecostumes, in return, embody the Buddhist cultural traits. The existing Buddhismsculptures and valuable paintings provide the physical data and theoretical basis forthe study of ancient Chinese dress culture.Through the archaeological method, this thesis observes, compares andsummarizes the statues’ costumes of Maijishan grottoes in Sui and Tang Dynasties,hoping to show the detailed dress cultural characteristics of this significant historicalperiod. Research has shown that the round faces and plump figures of the sculpturesand paintings of Maijishan grottoes, with long and colorful skirts, can give people awarm, soft feeling of the graceful and beautiful ladies. The male figures with simpleclothes, open and persistent character, can give people a healthy, resolute and steadfastfeeling. Of the dress culture embodied in the clothing of the Maijishan statues, thedress of Sui and Tang dynasties statues with its diverse styles, beautiful and exoticcolors and gleaming skin, contains bold and innovative ideas everywhere. Meanwhile,it promotes the development of China’s clothes and dress to its peak.In order to better adapt to the change of the natural and social environment,human beings have created the clothing culture. With the development of people’scapacity of understanding and transforming of the objective world, clothing and dressculture is being innovated in the inheritance, and progressed in innovation. Aimingat deepening the understanding of Chinese ancient costume culture connotation,filling the blank in the research of costume culture in Sui and Tang dynasties blank,the thesis hopes to lay a foundation to the study of the dress culture. |
