Rock paintings of Mount Mandela

Mandela mountain rock painting is a key cultural relic protection unit in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is located in the Mandela mountain 14 km southwest of menggenbula Sumu, Alxa Right Banner, 210 km away from the seat of the banner. On the Alxa Plateau, there is a Mandela mountain with black rocks and rocks all over it. Within 18 square kilometers of the mountain, there are more than 4000 ancient rock paintings thousands of years ago. These rock paintings are the portrayal of nomadic life and spirit in ancient times. They were made by Qiang, Yueshi, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Huihe, Dangxiang, Mongolia and other northern minorities.

The modeling techniques of rock paintings include chiseling, grinding and line carving. The contents of the paintings include hunting, grazing, fighting, gods and Buddhas, sun, moon and stars, temple architecture, dance, competition and recreation. Rock paintings vividly record the economic culture, social life and natural environment of Alashan in ancient and modern times. Its wide range of subjects, rich content, can be called the northwest of China's ancient art gallery, is one of the world's oldest art treasures. Gai Shanlin, a famous Chinese expert on rock paintings, once praised rock paintings of Mt. Mandela as "living fossils of the art world".

However, driven by interests, nearly half of the rock paintings here have been stolen and destroyed.

Rock paintings of Mount Mandela

Mandela mountain rock painting is located in the Mandela mountain, 14 kilometers southwest of Mandela Sumu. Within 18 square kilometers, there are ancient rock paintings thousands of years ago. It is one of the oldest art treasures in the world and can be called "the second in the world and the first in Asia". The rock paintings on Mt. Mandela are exquisitely carved, vivid, simple and rugged. They can be traced back to the late primitive society and the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. They record the economy, style, life scene, natural environment and social features at that time. With a wide range of subjects and rich contents, it can be called the northwest ancient art gallery of China. It has a high artistic value for the study of the social development history, national history, animal husbandry history and art history of ancient nomadic people in China.

Introduction to rock paintings

On the Alxa Plateau, there is a mountain with a peculiar shape. On the mountain, the black rocks are jagged and the rock veins are winding. The huge rocks around are all round, like meteorites. There is no end to a rugged path. This is mount Mandela. Mandela in Mongolian means "Sheng Qi" in Chinese. According to experts' research, as early as the Neolithic Yangshao culture period, there were traces of human activities on the land of Alxa.

Mandela mountain is located in Menggen Sumu, Alxa Right Banner, Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, 14 kilometers southwest of Sumu. Mandela is a Mongolian language, which means rise, prosperity and take-off. Here it means high mountains. Mandela is most famous for his rock paintings. 4234 rock paintings were found in the mountains 3 km from east to west and 6 km from north to south. These rock paintings are known as "living fossils of the art world" for their long history, exquisite carving, realistic patterns and simple and rough features, ranking first in Asia and second in the world.

These rock paintings are the portrayal of nomadic life and spirit in ancient times. More than 6000 rock paintings, covering an area of about 18 square kilometers, are made by Qiang, Yueshi, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Huihe, Dangxiang, Mongolia and other northern minorities. The modeling techniques of rock paintings include chiseling, grinding and line carving. The content of the picture includes hunting, grazing, fighting, god Buddha, sun, moon and stars, temple building, dance, competition and recreation. Rock paintings vividly record the economic culture, social life and natural environment of Alashan in ancient and modern times. Its wide range of subjects and rich content can be called the gallery of ancient art in Northwest China.

Mandela mountain rock painting is a key cultural relic protection unit in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is located in the Mandela mountain 14 km southwest of menggenbula Sumu, Alxa Right Banner, 210 km away from the seat of the banner. On the Alxa Plateau, there is a Mandela mountain with black rocks and rocks all over it. Within 18 square kilometers of the mountain, there are more than 4000 ancient rock paintings thousands of years ago. These rock paintings are the portrayal of nomadic life and spirit in ancient times. They were made by Qiang, Yueshi, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Huihe, Dangxiang, Mongolia and other northern minorities.

The modeling techniques of rock paintings include chiseling, grinding and line carving. The contents of the paintings include hunting, grazing, fighting, gods and Buddhas, sun, moon and stars, temple architecture, dance, competition and recreation. Rock paintings vividly record the economic culture, social life and natural environment of Alashan in ancient and modern times. With a wide range of subjects and rich contents, it can be called the gallery of ancient art in Northwest China and is one of the oldest art treasures in the world. Gai Shanlin, a famous Chinese expert on rock paintings, once praised rock paintings of Mt. Mandela as "living fossils of the art world".

Rock paintings in Mandela mountain have been preserved for thousands of years, which provides a basis for understanding the life of nomadic people in ancient times. However, the time when ancient people carved rock paintings is still uncertain. Relevant experts believe that the creation time of rock paintings is from ancient times to Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a span of about 6000 years.

However, driven by interests, nearly half of the rock paintings here have been stolen and destroyed.

history

According to the data of color, water temperature and water level of rock paintings on Mt. Mandela, it can be inferred that a few years ago, Mt. Mandela was surrounded by lakes with abundant water and grass. At that time, there were many nomadic and hunting people living here, leaving traces to be found. The exquisite and vivid artistic patterns of this rock painting reflect the history of these ethnic tribes. The modeling techniques of rock paintings are different, including chiseling, grinding and line carving. Rock painting is simple and rough, which not only depicts what it sees, but also expresses what it thinks. It is quite naive and natural. It achieves the artistic effect of solemnity, activity and change. It vividly records the economy, culture, life style, natural environment and social features of Alashan in ancient and modern times. Its wide range of subjects and rich content can be called the northwest ancient art gallery. The discovery of rock paintings in Mt. Mandela is of great value to the study of Chinese art history, social development history, ethnic history, animal husbandry history, cultural history and religion, especially the history of nomadic tribes in Northwest China. These works are one of the oldest known art treasures in the world.

Art

Alashan Mandela mountain rock paintings are distributed in the east of Badain Jaran Desert, Alashan Right Banner in the middle of Alashan League, connecting with Ejina Banner and Hexi corridor. Mandala mountain in Mongolian means "Sheng Qi" in Chinese. Here, the veins meander from east to west, and the mountains are covered with black rocks. There are many ancient cultural sites and cemeteries nearby, and rock painting, as a historical cultural phenomenon, is more prominent. The Piedmont hills in the west of Mandela mountain gradually increase from west to East, and the terrain is sometimes high and sometimes low. In Mandela's rock paintings, the spots, livestock and riders appear in the same picture. This kind of rock paintings are found in Yinshan Rock Paintings and Wulanchabu rock paintings in Inner Mongolia. There is a lot of consistency in the image of the above spot rock paintings, most of which belong to the bronze age. These spots may be related to reproduction or astronomy. But in any case, it can be said for sure that they are not scattered and randomly portrayed. Unfortunately, their cultural mysteries are still unknown.

Rock painting is a kind of cultural phenomenon, from which the ancient national customs are reflected. The tent and yurt in Mandela's rock painting are the traditional residential style of northern nomads, which is similar to the traditional residential "xioren column" of Oroqen and Ewenki. This kind of primitive residence is distributed from northern Europe, Northeast Asia to North America, which is a typical feature of the material culture of the hunting people. From the tent rock paintings, we can see the remains of ancient human settlements.

With its large quantity, large content and long history, Mandela mountain rock painting occupies an important position in the history of Chinese rock painting and even in the history of world rock painting.

The rock art area of Mt. Mandela covers an area of 18 square kilometers, and there are nearly 10000 pieces of rock art. The content of rock art mainly depicts animals, including cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, rabbits, deer, snakes, eagles, turtles and other animals. Their images are static or moving, standing or lying, or single or multiple. The diversity of species and shapes are amazing. There are also pictures of human activities in the rock paintings. Some people are grazing, some are hunting, some are fighting, some are singing and dancing, and their images are vivid and lifelike. In the rock paintings, there are also some images of celestial bodies such as sun, moon and stars. In addition, there are also some characters and patterns of various nationalities and generations, showing various meanings.

The painting techniques of these rock paintings mainly include click forming method, line forming method (outline method) and metal cutting method, which reflects that their painting time lasts for a long time. Through textual research, it can be seen that their painting time mostly comes from Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties and continues to Ming and Qing Dynasties, while the authors of rock paintings are mainly ethnic minorities who lived here in the past dynasties, such as Xiongnu, Qiang and Turk As for the upper limit of painting time, it is still unknown.

The mandala mountain, which stretches for several kilometers, was once the nomadic land of Qiang, Yueshi, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Huihe, Dangxiang, Mongolia and other northern minorities. In their long-term life and work, they left this mysterious symbol and created a splendid rock painting culture. According to the research of rock art experts, the production time of rock art started from the early Neolithic period in the late primitive society (as evidenced by the image of ostrich and elk in rock art), went through the hunting period of the Neolithic age and the budding period of animal husbandry in the primitive society, and went through the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, ten states, song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, which has a history of more than 6000 years

Chinese PinYin : Man De La Shan Yan Hua