Chinese historians and relics experts claim they have discovered pictorial evidence for the study of ancient Chinese sciences and technologies from the frescoes inside the world-renowned Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang , in Northwest China's Gansu Province.

The Mogao Grottoes, also popularly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, consist of some 500 man-made caves that have survived some 1,600 years of volatile climate changes and other damage. Dunhuang's frescoes, painted on the ceiling and walls of the caves, carry the best preserved trove of Buddhist art in the world.

"We discovered frescos containing scientific and technological content in almost all of the caves which have frescoes," said Wang Jinyu, an associate research fellow with the Dunhuang Research Academy.

Wang said, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes' frescoes date from the 4th to the 14th centuries, containing scientific and technological inventions by ancient Chinese in the spheres of math, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, agronomy, architecture, textiles, traffic and transportation, arms and military equipment and medical sciences.

A number of frescoes showing how craftsmen made pottery in the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907), the Five Dynasties period (AD907-960 and Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), fill in blanks in the written historical record of intricate Chinese pottery-making.

Another fresco depicting wine production by distillation dates back to the Western Xia Dynasty (1038-1227) providing material evidence proving China could make distilled liquor in the 10th century.

Researchers also found the earliest pictures of weaving machines, tooth-brushing and boiling milk, which had dated back to more than 1,000 years ago.

Based on the rich and rare pictures of scientific and technological inventions, Chinese relics experts have called the Dunhuang frescoes "the largest scientific and technological gallery of ancient China."

"Though some academic works have been published, the study of the pictorial evidence for ancient Chinese technology in the Dunhuang frescoes is still very limited and we long for more finds and achievements as this study is furthered," acknowledged Wang.

(China Daily October 20, 2004)