Baizeklik means ˇ§halfway up the mountainˇ¨ in the Uygur language and ˇ§decorative paintingˇ¨ in the Turk language. Baizeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves were also known as Ningrong Grottoes. Located at the cliff of the west bank of the Mutougou River in the middle of the Flaming Mountains, Baizeklik is 45 kilometers east of Turpan city and 15 kilometers north of the ruins of ancient Gaochang city. It is one of the largest ruins of Buddhist grottoes in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Baizeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves were first built in the period of the 6th century of the Gaochang Kingdom (449-640) and had been the sacred place of Buddhism in the Gaochang area. There now exists 83 caves at the Baizeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves and more than 40 of the existing caves have frescoes, totaling more than 1,200 square meters. Majority part of the frescos was destroyed and damaged and the remaining part of the frescos was based on Buddhist legends and stories. Purpose of the Buddhist legend and story frescoes is to praise the power of Buddha and for the Buddhist followers to worship the Buddha.

Construction of the caves and creation of the arts lasted for as long as seven centuries from the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty. At the end of the 13th century, Islam was introduced to Turpan, resulting in the gradual decline of the Buddhism there and consequently the downfall of the Thousand-Buddha Caves. Although severely damaged and plundered for many times, the remained fresco arts still shine with their glamour and luster, reflecting that the ancient Huihe frescoes, just like the Dunhuang frescoes, used lots of different techniques. At the same time, the traditional Xinjiang concave-protruding dyeing technique was able to carry forward, and since remained the treasure of Chinese ancient painting arts. In addition, construction art of the Baizeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves is also of great historical value and is well recognized by world architecture circles.