An international seminar on Maijishan grotto art and Buddhist culture along the Silk Road is being held in Lanzhou University in northwestern China's Gansu Province.
The forum marks the 1,600 anniversary of the building of the Maijishan grottos, Zheng Binglin, director of Dunhuang Studies Institute under Lanzhou University, said at the opening of the meeting Monday. Some 120 Chinese and overseas experts attended the opening.
The participants will visit grottos along the Silk Road and discuss the artistic value of those grottos.
Maijishan grottos, 50 km southeast of Tianshui city of northwestern China's Gansu Province, house a large number of murals and sculptures dating from the 4th-15th century. Maijishan grottos are China's most famous grotto complexes along with Mogao grottos, Yungang grottos and Longmen grottos, respectively located in Gansu, Shanxi and Henan provinces.
Zheng said the meeting aims to promote the communication between domestic and overseas experts on grotto art and China's grotto studies.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2002)
