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The Exhibition of Exquisite Dunhuang Flying Apsaras Murals kicks off in Jiaxing. [Photo/Tide News]

The Exhibition of Exquisite Dunhuang Flying Apsaras Murals opened on June 6 in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, marking an extraordinary cultural dialogue across space and time quietly unfolding.

The Flying Asparas are ancient depictions of female gods of song and dance on the walls of the Mogao Caves — a renowned UNESCO World Heritage Site — located in Dunhuang, Northwest China's Gansu province.

The exhibition features 40 high-definition reproductions of Flying Apsaras murals from the Northern Liang period (397-460) to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

These allow visitors to intimately experience the ethereal beauty once hidden in the Mogao Caves — transformed into a flowing epic of Chinese aesthetics.

At the heart of the exhibit stands a 1:1 replica of Mogao Cave 3, the only Guanyin (bodhisattva of compassion)-themed Yuan Dynasty cave in Dunhuang. Surrounded by Flying Apsaras, the Eleven-Headed Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue is drawing big crowds.

The restoration team used laser scanning and AI stitching to create ultra-high-resolution images — printed onto special antique-style rice paper that replicates the texture and dimensionality of the original murals.

Curator Sun Hongcai, a veteran murals restorer with over 40 years of experience in Dunhuang, said that the pigments were recreated with strict adherence to ancient techniques, achieving over 95 percent color fidelity.

The exhibition also includes painting workshops and cultural lectures, aiming to spark young visitors' interest in traditional Chinese culture.

Running through to Sept 6, the exhibition invites all beauty seekers to experience the timeless music and dance of Dunhuang, reborn along Jiaxing’s tranquil waters.