Art in China

The Shanghai Museum holds a number of national treasures, and make sure to check out China's provincial museums as well.

The Tomb of the First Emperor

Qin Shi Huangdi, the first unifier of China, is buried at the center of a complex designed to mirror the urban plan of the capital, Xianya.

Giant Buddha of Leshan

The largest Buddha in the world is at Mount Emei in China.

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, founded in the first half of the 15th century, is a dignified complex of fine cult buildings set in gardens and surrounded by historic pine woods

Hong Bian, the monk in the Library Cave, Mogao

In Mogao Cave 17 sits a statue of an eminent Buddhist monk from the ninth century named Hong Bian.

Jataka tales at Dunhuang

The past incarnations of the Buddha, known as jatakas, are painted across different caves at Mogao

Zisha “Ru Ding” teapot, Yixing ware

A tiny teapot made for a literati audience in Qing dynasty China

Zhao Mengfu, Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains, 1295

Zhao’s opened up artistic possibilities for the Four Yuan Masters, and literati painters in subsequent centuries.

Murals in two Liao Dynasty tombs

Representations of exquisite objects and human servants in Liao dynasty tombs are abundant

The Wirkak (Shi Jun) Sarcophagus

Few migrants’ lives along the ancient Silk Road have been known in such detail as those of Wirkak (Shi Jun) and Wiyushi (Kang Shi)

The art of salvation—Mt. Baoding, Dazu rock carvings

The monumental sculptural complex at Mt. Baoding, Dazu in China consists of nearly 10,000 painted and gilded images of Buddhist deities and narrative scenes carved out of sandstone.