Music and dance image relics in Chinese grotto temples are key heritage carriers of Buddhist localization and Silk Road cultural exchange. Existing scholarship predominantly adopts qualitative approaches, while long‑term quantitative analysis of their spatiotemporal dynamics remains underexplored. This study employs weighted quantitative geographical and GIS‑based methods to examine the spatial distribution and spatiotemporal evolution of these relics from 220 to 1912 CE. Results confirm a hierarchical “two‑core and multipolar” spatial pattern, which manifests stable regional inheritance and clear phased migration characteristics. Its centroid shift closely follows national political‑economic shifts and is shaped by the synergy of geographical and socio‑humanistic factors. This work enriches the spatial understanding of grotto heritage and may provide helpful insights for evidence-based conservation and interdisciplinary heritage studies.
Ai et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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