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The Chinese sheng (Chinese: 笙; Pinyin shēng) is a mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.<br/><br/> Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (simplified Chinese: 五代十国; traditional Chinese: 五代十國; pinyin: Wǔdài Shíguó) was an era of political upheaval in China from 907–960/979 CE, between the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the founding of the Song Dynasty.<br/><br/> During this period, five dynasties quickly succeeded one another in the north, and more than twelve independent states were established, mainly in the south. Only ten are traditionally listed, hence the era's name, 'Ten Kingdoms'. This era also led to the founding of the Liao Dynasty in the north.
The Yulin Caves (Chinese: 榆林窟; pinyin: Yulin kū) are a Buddhist cave temple complex in Guazhou County, Gansu Province, China. The site is located some 100 km east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. It takes its name from the eponymous elm trees lining the Yulin River, which flows through the site and separates the two cliffs from which the caves have been excavated.<br/><br/> The forty-two caves house some 250 polychrome statues and 4,200 square metres of wall paintings, dating from the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty (7th to 14th centuries). The site was among the first in China to be designated for protection in 1961 as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site. In 2008 the Yulin Grottoes were submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Chinese Section of the Silk Road.
The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Chinese: mògāo kū, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and Dunhuang Caves) form a system of 492 temples 25 km (15.5 miles) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China.<br/><br/> The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out in 366 AD as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient sculptural sites of China. The caves also have celebrated wall paintings
The Caos controlled Hexi and Dunhuang in the 10th century. They formed alliances with their neighbours at Khotan, often by intermarriage. The Cao womenfolk portrayed in the Mogao Caves were all painted with elaborate attire and jewelry. Even the make-up on their faces is still clearly visible today.