Development and Integration of Qiuci Culture in Tang Dynasty: Take Mineral Pigment in Kizil Wall Painting as An Example

The socio-economic and cultural development of the western region in the Tang Dynasty entered a flourishing period of diversification and openness. As the gateway of the opening of the Chinese civilization to the west and the hub of the eastern civilization of the Silk Road, Qiuci has formed a unique Qiuci culture in the historical process.The Qiuci grottoes, which was born during this time, represents the highest achievement of Qiuci buddhist art from the 3rd to the 9th century A.D. Through an analysis of the socio-political, economic and cultural processes of the Tang Dynasty and the spread of buddhism in the west, the regional characteristics of the use and development of the various types of mineral pigments unique to the frescoes in the Qiuci grottoes are summarised, as is the convergence of Asian and European cultures. This paper examines the mineral pigments of cinnabar, red lead, red clay, lapis lazuli and atacamite that appear in the most representative of the Kizil frescoes in the grottoes of Qiuci, and provides an account of the economic and cultural exchanges between the origin of the minerals and Qiuci and the reasons for them, with a view to restoring the characteristics and processes of the spread and localisation of Qiuci culture during the Tang Dynasty.