Yulin Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China

 These caves are fewer in number and off the beaten path from Dunhuang.  They are very beautiful and distinctly different from the Mogao Caves.
The Yulin Grottoes, whose 1000-year construction spanned the Northern Wei (CE 386-533) to the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasties, but the most interesting thing about the Yulin Grottoes is that they contain works belonging to the Western Xia (CE 1038-1227) Dynasty, aka the Tang Empire.   The painting of this period is distinctive in the prominent use of a light green pigment, and the combination of different cultural elements that might be expected of a non-native occupying force.

The Tanguts espoused a form of Buddhism that represents a hybrid mix of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with elements of animism, or the belief that all things, animate or inanimate, possess a spirit. The source of Tangut Buddhism's scriptures is the Chinese interpretation of Buddhism, translated into the Qiangic language of the Tanguts, though in practice, the Tanguts mixed elements of both the Chinese and the Tibetan interpretations of Buddhism, a development that is not at all surprising, given that the area occupied by the Western Xia Dynasty was formerly ruled by the Tibetans.