Seventy-five kilometres northwest of Kuqa are the Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves, the largest Buddhist cave art site in Xīnjiāng. The interior murals date from the 3rd to the 8th centuries and as ancient Kuqa was an ethnically diverse place, artisans were inspired by Afghanisti, Persian and Indian motifs and styles. The heavy use of blue pigment in middle-period murals is a Persian influence, for example. Only the last phase shows any Chinese influence.
The caves are generally built the same way, with two chambers and a central niche. The front vaulted chamber roof contains murals of the Buddha's past lives (so-called jataka tales) and, unique to Kizil, the pictures are framed in diamond-shaped patterns. There are 236 caves at Kizil, but only a handful are open to the public. Several were stripped by German archaeologist Albert Von le Coq, while the others have been defaced by both Muslims and Red Guards.
The caves are 75km from Kuqa. A return taxi will cost around ¥200 to ¥300 and takes 90 minutes each way. Add on stops in Sūbāshí and the 13.5m-tall Han-dynasty watchtower (烽火台; fēnghuǒtái; admission ¥15) at Kizilgah if you can't bargain down a lower price.
