Since then, with the progress of history and the inheritance of this culture by the ruling classes in previous dynasties, many famous grottoes have appeared. Xixia grottoes culture was born under this cultural background, and it is also an organic part of the diversified grottoes culture of the motherland.
Due to the prosperity of Buddhism in Xixia, Xixia left many religious grottoes integrating architectural art, painting art and sculpture art. The existing Xixia grottoes are mainly distributed in Gansu and Ningxia provinces. There are Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Yulin Grottoes in Anxi, Giant Buddha Cave in Dongqian, five temples in northern Jiangsu, Manjusri Mountain in Jiuquan, Horseshoe Temple in Zhangye, Tiantai Mountain in Wuwei and Bingling Temple in Yongjing. There are Xu Mi in Guyuan, Tiandu Mountain in Haiyuan, Helan Mountain and Shanzuigou Grottoes in Yinchuan.
In addition, caves in the Xixia period were also found in Baiyanjiao Grottoes in Otog Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Among the many Xixia Grottoes, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu and Yulin Grottoes in Anxi have the largest number, the most complete types, the richest content and the most representative. There are 62 Xixia caves in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, one rebuilt by Xixia in Yulin Grottoes 10, and five caves built by Xixia in Dongqian Buddha Grottoes and Wu Si Grottoes.
The early grottoes in Xixia mainly followed the shape of the previous generation, with little innovation; Influenced by the tantric Buddhist culture at that time, later grottoes basically abandoned the tradition of setting niches in grottoes and placed various statues on the central Buddhist altar, forming the characteristics of grottoes in the late Xixia Dynasty. There are a large number of exquisite Xixia murals in these Xixia Grottoes, among which Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Anxi Yulin Grottoes have the largest number, the largest scale and the most distinctive features.
The murals in Xixia Grottoes are mainly based on Buddhist themes and decorative patterns. There are dozens of caves and hundreds of works in Dunhuang Xixia murals, most of which are in the early and middle period. Most of the styles of early murals inherited the traditions of the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, and the contents basically inherited the popular changes and sayings in the Tang and Song Dynasties, with little innovation; Influenced by the style of Uighur murals in Gaochang, the mid-term works began to innovate; The murals in the late Xixia period absorbed some elements of Tibetan tantric school and began to form the style and characteristics of national murals.
People who come to Dunhuang will be attracted by the ingenious conception, unique modeling and superb painting skills of Xixia murals. For example, its representative Xixia mural "Shui Yue Guan Yin Tu" depicts the story of Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures. Among the Western Xia murals written by The Journey to the West Zhong Wu Cheng'en years ago, there is a picture of Tang Priest learning from the scriptures, which shows that the story of Tang Priest learning from the scriptures has been circulated among the people in China for a long time, and it has found a historical origin for Wu Cheng'en's writing of The Journey to the West.
Since Zhang Jian's mission to the Western Regions in Han Dynasty, the opening of the Silk Road has influenced and promoted the eastern and western cultures. Hexi region is a transit point of the Silk Road, and its culture is characterized by the blending of East and West. Xuanzang's western learning spread eastward, and Buddhism was introduced to China, passing through Zhangye in Hexi. Besides, the Liusha River where Xuanzang bathes is the Heihe River in Zhangye, and Pig Bajie and Friar Sand on the Journey to the West are all disciples here.
This painting inherits the tradition of painting in the Central Plains. It integrates man and God in the image of Guanyin, and organically combines landscape and characters. It uses special painting skills to make the picture achieve extraordinary artistic conception. The representative works of Western Xia murals include the Water Moon Guanyin Map, and the representative works of Western Xia landscape paintings include Pu Xian Jingbian, Manjusri Jingbian and Tong Zifei, which depict the naive image of Weiss.
The cave content, theme and artistic style of Xixia murals have formed their own characteristics. Some people think that "Xixia Painting School existed as early as the Tang Dynasty, but did not enter the early Song Dynasty. Being able to create by yourself and get married "shows that Xixia has its own mural artist. The painting style of Xixia murals combines the characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism painting and Central Plains the Han nationality Buddhism painting. First, rich colors, equal emphasis on color and line drawing, and strong mystery are typical characteristics of Tibetan Buddhist painting; Second, it inherits the painting tradition of Han nationality in Central Plains, which is dominated by line drawing and supplemented by color.
For example, the third cave of Yulin Grottoes, The Change of Western Pure Land, gives full play to the expressive force of line drawing art in architectural painting, which is delicate and smooth. Another example is the Manjusri Bodhisattva Sutra and the Pu Xian Sutra on both sides of the East Gate of the Western Wall. Figure painting pays attention to line drawing, basically does not depend on color, and has both form and spirit. In addition, the decorative patterns in Xixia murals account for the largest proportion in the whole grottoes in history.
In the design of open caisson, the traditional patterns and expressions of the Han nationality in the Central Plains are innovatively integrated with the themes and artistic styles of Tibetan Buddhism, which constitutes an artistic product with unique Xixia national characteristics. The typical representative works are the algae well patterns in Cave 3 of Yulin Grottoes, some of which are the first batch, which first appeared in the whole Dunhuang art, such as Cave 400 of Mogao Grottoes. The pattern of the algae well in the center of the ceiling is that two dragon-shaped monsters chase each other and hover, which looks like a crown dragon.
The head or dragon body was a popular decorative pattern at that time, but this single combination of dragon and phoenix first appeared in Dunhuang art, reflecting that the Tangut Qiang people in Xixia were a nation full of imagination and creativity.
Xixia painting has various artistic forms and rich contents. In addition to grotto murals, there are scroll paintings, prints, wood carvings and rock paintings. Its contents reflect the changes of Buddhist scriptures, and a few reflect other religions and secular contents. The scroll paintings left by Xixia have obvious artistic characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism. Xixia scroll painting, Ningxia 108 Tower, Baisikou Twin Towers in Helan Mountain and Red Buddha Pagoda in Helan County were found in Heishui City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
There is only one secular scroll painting in Xixia, which is the Black Water City in Portrait of the Noble. If the exquisite Xixia murals and scroll paintings in Dunhuang Grottoes are masterpieces of Xixia court painters, then the wood carvings in Wuwei, Gansu, Xixia rock paintings in Helan Mountain, Ningxia, and Wula Mountain in Na Ren, north of Ordos Grassland in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are all folk arts.
With the development of engraving and printing Buddhist scriptures in Xixia, Xixia woodcarving rose. However, some contents of woodcarving have gone beyond the scope of religion, including armed soldiers, male and female attendants, horse leaders, poultry and livestock. Some wood carvings have ink paintings and Chinese characters on the back or side. These woodcuts were created by many authors. The carvings are rough, but there are also some exquisite works, such as mugwort old man, samurai and male and female attendants. These woodcuts are simple in composition, vivid in image and smooth in lines, showing a strong flavor of life.
"The epic stone carvings have lasted for thousands of years, and those paintings with great changes are more vivid." There are thousands of rock paintings of Helan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain in Helan Mountain, leaving many rock paintings of Qiang nomads in Tangut. Themes are faces, livestock and wildlife. The overall painting style is simple and rough, and the composition does not deviate from the original painting style, reflecting the spiritual and cultural life of backward herders in Xixia society. Around the rock paintings, Xixia inscriptions related to Buddhism are engraved, and Helan Mountain has become a sacred mountain in the hearts of Xixia people.
Sculpture has a long history and fine tradition in China. As early as the Neolithic Age, clay sculptures were used to shape characters. After Qin and Han Dynasties, a large number of pottery sculptures appeared. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China's sculpture art reached the highest level in the ancient history of China.
Influenced by traditional sculpture culture, Xixia sculptures are rich in content.