The Yungang, Longmen, Gongxian and Xiangtangshan grottoes are all situated in the areas of political and cultural centers of the Northern Wei to the Tang periods. Showing clearly the evolutionary lines of various types of Buddhist clothes, they provide important clues for further researching into the influence between the north and south and between the west and east of China in the age of split, as well as that of the central authority upon the local ones in the period of unity under the Tang Dynasty. The Liangzhou region and the territories of the Southern Dynasties were the main source of the Buddhist fashions of Northern and Southern Dynasties period depicted in the above four groups of grottoes, and the newly-formed dress styles resulting from amalgamation, development and reform were spread to the western regions from the four groups of grottoes as the centers. The standard styles of Buddhist dress formed on the basis of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period fashions were gathered in the regions of the two capitals of Tang Dynasty and prevailed extensively in the West and South China.
