The Research Of The Wood Structure Tomb Murals Around The Tongwan City Of Northern Dynasties On Jingbian County In Shaanxi Province

Tomb murals of the Northern Dynasties were found around the Tongwan City in Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province in 2011. The tombs there are featured by strong religious flavor and styles shared by northern ethnic minorities. The wood structure of grottoes, wood-like chambers and exquisite tomb murals are of great uniqueness. Grave fresco is not only characterized by religious flavor, but also by the images of Hu people, namely northern ethnic minorities. More particularly, the image of tower also appeared in tombs frescoes, which are rarely seen in the tomb murals of Northern Dynasties.The paper takes tomb murals as the clue, focusing on the study and analysis of image factors in the tombs. Through analysis of related images, the artistic styles and connotations that those images in the tombs tried to express were finally clarified and its origin and development were also explored in the paper, so as to discuss the social conditions in the late period of the northern dynasties.The paper is divided into three parts: the first part makes descriptions of tombs, funerary objects and tomb frescos, and explores the origin of tombs and funerary objects through the comparison with the cotemporary tombs. It was also found that the tombs structure and funerary objects in Tongwan City and its surrounding areas were in accordance with those in the later period of Northern Wei Dynasty and all of them were popular styles at that time.The second part explores tomb murals. Firstly the content of mural is divided into dynamic, plants and characters and buildings, and then the murals were discussed as a whole.It is clarified that images in burial are the result of the blending of Chinese and western culture, particularly the tower of the image, which embodied artistic styles from both Central Plains region and western region and the ancient India; in terms of the specific meaning of the images, contrast was made among related images in Dunhuang, Datong, Xinjiang Autonomous Region and northeast China. As a result, the image of lotus flower, Lishi,Buddhist monks were significantly related to related to Buddhism, and Moni pearls with flame figure was possibly related to Zoroastrianism. The Hu people might be Soghdian basedon their clothes and facial features. Though the analysis of the overall image of the tomb murals, it was found that the owner of the tomb is a believer in Buddhism and he was involved in the Buddhist activities and practice in the mountains and went to the Buddhist world, therefore, it can be further determined that the owner of the tomb was a monk; in the aspect of the origin of images, the images of Dunhuang, Xinjiang, Datong and other regions also have influence here.In the third part, tomb murals and literature was combined to find the tomb structure in Tongwan City and its surrounding areas were consistent those of the Northern Dynasties, thus the importance of Tongwan City and its surrounding areas as a transportation hub connecting eastern and western world was also clarified. A certain number of Sogdian may live in the local areas in northern Dynasties; Buddhism is the major religion at that time.