Analysis Of Indian Sculpture's Influence On The China Yuan Dynasty's Sculpture

Indian influence has had an effect on Chinese sculpture since the time Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty. After evolving for nearly a thousand years in China, the inland Buddhism sculpture artwork was on the decline as the Yuan Dynasty approached. This does not mean, however, that the influence of Indian art on Chinese sculpture was eliminated. On the contrary, its continued influence during the Yuan Dynasty is demonstrated by a study of Tibetan Buddhism statues and Hinduism sculptures. These show that strong Indian influence continued with the help of open religious and cultural policies of the Mongolian governors.This thesis focuses on this strong Indian influence during the Yuan Dynasty. It is divided into three sections. The first section summarizes the communications between China and India in early times and the history of Chinese traditional sculpture development during this time period. It also reviews the routes of these communications and the effect on early Chinese sculpture because of the introduction of Buddhism to the East. The second section contains research about the impact of the Indian sculpture on Chinese sculpture and how it was implemented through the spread of Tibetan Buddhism statues and Hinduism sculptures. This was facilitated during the Yuan Dynasty because of its special social and political situation. The final section analyzes the reasons for this sort of effectfrom two perspectives: politics and religion.It is clear from research on the Tibetan Buddhism statues of Hangzhou' s Feilaifeng caves, Tibetan Buddhism' s gold & bronze statues, and Quanzhou' s Hinduism sculptures that during the Yuan dynasty Indian sculpture figure characteristic was a strong contributor to Chinese sculpture artwork in the diversity of shape and use of alien characters. This thesis, using sociological methods, explores the complicated relationship between the spread of the Indian style and how it was supported by the social, political, and religious policies and values of the Yuan Dynasty. This will enable the reader to better appreciate Indian sculpture' s influence as represented in Chinese sculpture during the Yuan Dynasty.