Lanlan Kuang's Official Page

Multimedia Components for Staging Tianxia: Dunhuang Expressive Arts and China’s New Cosmopolitan Heritage Indiana University Press, 2024

In front of Mogao’s landmark Cave No. 96, the nine-story building housing the 35.5 m high Maitreya Buddha statue constructed during the Tang dynasty, in 695 under the edicts from Empress Wu Zetian. Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang, on Buddha’s Day 佛诞日, 2023.
Cover of Staging Tianxia, a monograph by Lanlan Kuang, 2024.
Mural inside the UNESCO Mogao Caves, North Cliff.
Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang, 2020.
Conservation and preservation on site at Mogao Grottoes. Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang
UNESCO Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes at night, photo took in front of the the nine-story building on Lunar Calendar Mid Autumn Festival, 2021.
Daily on site maintenance at Mogao Grottoes, under the administration of Dunhuang Academy. Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang
Conducting fieldwork on media representation of the Dunhuang expressive arts at the Lanzhou Arts and Science College in China (2019). Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang
One of the most famous mural images from Mogao Grottoes. Image Courtesy of Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 7.2B. Directing a production team from Gansu Media Group during Fulbright-IIE Sponsored fieldwork in China (2008-2009). At the College of Dance, Northwest Minzu University, Gansu Province.

Click the image above for an interactive version of Figure 2.2

Click the image above for an interactive version of Figure 4.2

Landmark stone on-site at Mogao, Dunhuang, China. © Lanlan Kuang, 2023.
Fig. 1.2. Dancer featured in Mogao Cave 85’s southern-wall mural of the Great Skillful Means Sutra on the Buddha’s Repayment of Kindness. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 1.3. Mogao Cave 156, lower west side of northern wall, mural of the excursion of Lady Song of Henei Prefecture in the state of Song. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 1.4. A photograph of the present-day Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. Spring 2022. Courtesy of Sun Zhijun 孫志軍, Dunhuang Academy.
The author’s multisite fieldwork map since 2002.
Fig. 2.1. Mogao Cave 156, lower west side of southern wall, mural of Zhang Yichao leading the Return to Allegiance Army Parade. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 5.1. Nirvana Sutra. Calligraphic copy dated to the Northern Wei dynasty (220-265). Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
A screenshot of Professor Gao Jinrong’s demonstrating Dunhuang bihua yuewu for the author’s ethnographic documentary at Gansu Media Group’s filming studio. © Lanlan Kuang, 2009.
Fig. 2.3. Yulin Cave 25, southern wall, mural of the marriage of a Tibetan man and a Han woman in the Amitayurdhyana Sutra. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 5.3. Image of the author observing a Dunhuang bihua yuewu class conducted by Professor Gao Jinrong, with Professor Dong Xijiu, Jin Qiu, and the author’s late father, Kuang Jianren. Beijing Dance Academy. © Lanlan Kuang. 2009.
A screenshot of a Dunhuang bihua yuewu dancer demonstrating percussion moves inspired by mural images of percussion dancers, such as the one seen in Fig. 6.1. from the author’s documentary, at Gansu Media Group’s filming studio. © Lanlan Kuang, 2009.
Fig. 6.1. Mogao Cave 158, lower northern side of the altar, mural image of a percussion dancer. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 6.2. Cave 257’s Jataka of the Nine-Colored Deer King mural. Permission to use image granted by Dunhuang Academy.
Fig. 6.3. Professor Gao Jinrong producing Lotus Aloft at Northwest Minzu University in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. Photo credit: Lanlan Kuang, 2019.
Fig. 7.2A. The author multitasking during her Fulbright-IIE sponsored fieldwork, working with Professor Gao Jinrong. Photo credit: Kuang Jianren. © Lanlan Kuang, 2009.

Selected sequence on the creation of Dunhuang performing arts from China Central Television Station’s Documentary Series, The Local Records of China, Episode on Dunhuang, Gansu Province, directed by Yang Qian. Used with permission.