A'erzhai

A'erzhai is a group of caves cut into a rocky hill on the Ordos plateau. Its painted chambers preserve Buddhist images alongside scenes of Mongol nobles, worshippers and funeral rites. The murals date from the Western Xia, Yuan and Ming periods and combine Tibetan Buddhist subjects with local artistic traditions. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the lama Danba Dorji renewed religious activity at the caves.