Wall Paintings of the Arzhai Caves in Ordos: a Brief Analysis of Chinese Historiography

The article presents outcomes from an in-depth historiographical examination of recent Chinese studies on the Arzhai Cave complex (Ch. Ā'ěrzhài shíkū 阿尔寨石窟), a relatively obscure site in international scholarship, situated in Otog Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, PRC. This ensemble includes several dozen artificial caves excavated from a red sandstone formation. Motifs in the mural paintings exhibit strong resemblances to occurrences during the nascent Mongol Empire amid Chinggis Khan's second Tangut expedition (1226–1227). Notably, Chinese researchers associate the scenes in three caves (Cave No. 10, plus murals in Caves No. 28 and No. 31) with narratives from primary texts such as the Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty (Ch. Yuán cháo mì shǐ 元朝秘史), the Brief Account of the Black Tatars (Ch. Hēi dá shì lüè 黑鞑事略) by Peng Daya (?–1245, Southern Song) and Xu Ting (?–?, Southern Song), and Ye Ziqi's (1327–1390) Caomu zi (草木子, "Master of Grasses and Woods"). Through integrated comparative iconographic, ethnographic, and toponymic scrutiny of the caves' historical-cultural elements, motifs, and artifacts—juxtaposed with Chinese source materials—the analysis affirms the Arzhai complex's profound scientific and artistic significance as the likely location for Chinggis Khan's rest and recuperation in the 1226–1227 Tangut campaign, framed by Buddhism's early adoption in the Mongol Empire and the formative sacralization of Chinggis Khan within Mongol political traditions. It is determined that the Arzhai caves represent the sole extant tangible relic permitting observation of the evolving process whereby a historical individual becomes a holy emblem, and a real event morphs into a mythologeme central to national and religious self-conception.