| In a complete sense, the art of Chinese painting are composed by two forms(aspects), one is the narrow sense of traditional scroll painting system, the other is the Qin and Han relief stone sculptures, relief brick sculptures, as well as the murals of palace, grotto , temple system of Southern and Northern Dynasties and Sui,Tang to Yuan Dynasty . In the latter system, Dunhuang frescoes are the most important and representative. Dunhuang frescoes are the main component of Dunhuang artist. From the second year of Jianyuan of Early Qin Dynasty (AD 366),beginning with LeZun Cave, going through 16 countries period, Northern Wei Dynasty, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Western Xia Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty, Dunhuang frescoes experienced a long time of more than ten Million years. Their rich contents, magnificent scopes provide the great significance for the study of Chinese painting, especially under the circumstances of the early days when was scare of credible traditional painting works of Central Plains.The practical purposes (utilitarian) of Dunhuang murals determined the landscape would not be the intention and the main body of performance. However, Dunhuang murals have had variety styles of landscape paintings according to the different contents of their performance. These landscape paintings, though not as alone theme appeared in the works, and only occupied a certain position of the figures, but still have their own inherent rules of evolution and development. Dunhuang murals preserved many landscape images since the fifth century, these images provided the keys of revealing the early landscape paintings. By studying them, we can rely on these true painting works but not only the history documented records. They provide us the combination evidences to research the origins, developments and inheritance of the early landscape painting. Moreover, by comparing and analyzing of which, we can explore the stylistic links and differences between Dunhuang mural landscape paintings and Central plain landscape paintings, which was the key meaning and purpose of studying Dunhuang mural landscape.Based on the religion purpose, Dunhuang murals landscape paintings have showed us the contents of complex and ever-changing landscape, expressed various rich types and the diverse forms. In order to research and uncover the evolution rules of murals landscape paintings, as well as the traditional Central Plains landscape paintings, this article classify mural landscape painting firstly. Only in this way, we could release the mural landscape paintings from the various and complex contents to get the overall cognition in the functional point of view. Through comparison and analysis, Dunhuang murals landscape paintings could be defined five categories: Adjunctive landscape painting, Thematic landscape painting, Integrated landscape painting, Real objective landscapes painting and Pictorial landscape painting. Adjunctive landscape painting is the origin of early landscape painting. As to Thematic landscape painting, landscape is not the content but has already been the main body of a painting. For Murals landscape painting, some landscape paintings of strict sense had been existed, no matter seeing in terms of composition, layout, perspective or the proportion , they have the essential distinction between the early Adjunctive landscape painting and Thematic landscape painting. Real objective landscapes painting is characterized by its record function, non-perfection, and remains as part of Buddhist paintings to express Buddhism, Real objective landscapes is not the purpose but the main body of the painting. Pictorial landscape painting is characterized by their simplicity, briefness, consistency and decoration. On the basis of classification of Dunhuang mural painting, we must analyze the major components of them deeply to understand the artistic expression completely. There are Many elements constitute of landscape painting, this article select some of the most important elements as the rocks, trees, space and color to analyze, so that classify the overall features , means of artistic expression and performance as well the formative reason in various stages.Researching on Dunhuang mural landscape painting to realize the process of the inherent development and the evolution of Chinese landscape paintings art history, to explore its inherent regularity is the most important role. In this paper, by contrasting and analyzing the Dunhuang landscape paintings with the landscape painting literatures, especially the documents of" the valued Chinese painting in histoy" to conclude that the development and evolution of Dunhuang murals landscape painting is tightly related to the landscape theories and the drawing practices of the artists'of that time. It was the painters of nobles and officials in the upper class exploring the field of landscape achieved the gradually independence in Tang Dynasty. Thus which made a significant impact in the northwest of the city located on the Silk Road -- Dunhuang. Simultaneously, with the frequent cultural exchanges in the Sui and Tang dynasties, Dunhuang murals had a certain impact on Central Plains landscape painting too. They were complementary and mutually learning from each other.5-10 century was an important stage for the landscape painting. This period, tradition Central Plains painting was budding and gradually given away the initial subsidiary status as figure painting and story painting to the independence, and formed a main new system --wash painting, which abandoned the conventional landscape of green mountain and water to became a separated system and ultimately reached the peak in Song dynasty. In this paper, by specifically contrasting and analyzing Dunhuang murals landscape painting and traditional Central Plains landscape painting, we found that their developments were not synchronized in a same level before Sui dynasty. Although the expressional means of some landscape features and the frames of the cross-roll devices were great similar, but such as the layout of the space and the use of color in Central Plains paintings were significantly advanced than Dunhuang murals paintings. In Tang Dynasty, both Dunhuang murals painting and Central Plains landscape painting made great achievements, and the most great were that wash paintings appeared and developed, the theories and practices of Dunhuang murals painting were on a greater impact and integration by Central Plains painting. Both groups flourished simultaneously. After Five Dynasties, landscape painting in Central Plains developed rapidly, thus formed the North and the South groups which were different styles with the representative branches of Jing, Guan, Dong, Ju, then the brilliant achievements followed naturally in Song Dynasty. As to the Dunhuang murals landscape painting, even experienced Tang Dynasty Five Dynasties and Song dynasty ,it was still stagnation in the style of Tang Dynasty, but lack of the grand and the splendid manner of which. They were obviously lagging behind Central Plains painting.In the period of XI XIA Dynasty, a small number of cave murals changing the manner of Tang Dynasty, obviously taking the tradition of landscape painting from Northern Song Dynasty, showed a mature trend in techniques, space performance etc. Dunhuang grotto art declined in Yuan Dynasty, landscape murals painting were going down too. But in Central Plains regions, under the guidance of the theory of literati painting, the aspects of the artistic interesting and the artistic imagery were put stress on the paintings, which became the dominant painting elements in Yuan Dynasty.In summary, this paper studied and classified Dunhuang landscapes murals by researching the relevant literature and contrasting the real works. It still clarified the links of Dunhuang landscape murals painting in the early, middle and late stages between the traditional Central Plains landscape painting. This Article has three main parts: the ontic studies of the early, middle and late stage of landscape mural paintings; the comparisons of the early landscape murals painting with the Central Plains literatures; the comparative analysis the middle and late landscape murals with the real works of the same period of Central Plains. The main methods used were analogy analysis, image comparison, literature studies.
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