Mural painting is one of the oldest forms of painting. For example, in primitive societies, humans carved various figures on cave walls to record events and express emotions; these are the earliest surviving murals. Ancient civilizations such as Egypt, India, Babylon, and China have preserved numerous ancient murals. Mural creation flourished during the Italian Renaissance, producing many famous works. In my country, since the Zhou Dynasty, palaces and even tombs have been decorated with murals. With the rise of religious beliefs, murals were widely used in temples, monasteries, and grottoes (such as the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and the Yongle Palace in Ruicheng). my country preserves a large number of famous Buddhist and Taoist mural relics. Some of these relics have been listed as World Heritage Sites, serving as testaments to our ancient civilization.
As an adjunct to architecture, the decorative and beautifying functions of murals make them an important aspect of environmental art. Most extant prehistoric paintings are cave and cliff murals, the earliest dating back approximately 20,000 years. Fragments of murals from the Qin Dynasty palace in Xianyang, Shaanxi, China, date back 2,300 years. Murals also flourished during the Han Dynasty and the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, with many unearthed since the 20th century. The Tang Dynasty witnessed a golden age of mural painting, exemplified by works such as the Dunhuang murals and the Kizil Caves, representing the pinnacle of mural art at that time. After the Song Dynasty, mural painting gradually declined. Following 1949, it experienced a revival and development. The mural complex at Beijing Capital International Airport was completed in 1979. Subsequently, murals were continuously added to new buildings, with many works demonstrating innovation and development in artistic expression, production techniques, and the integration of tradition and foreign experience.
