Would you have ever imagined that all these intricate figurines were crafted from dough? This set of dough sculptures, featuring 30 figures, was inspired by the murals of the Dunhuang caves, where a wealth of Buddhist artworks was discovered.

Yang Kai, a 28-year-old inheritor of Kongtong dough sculpture from Pingliang City, northwest China's Gansu Province, transformed the ancient wall paintings from flat images into three-dimensional, vivid scenes using his exceptional skills.

The artwork, created for this year's Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, which kicked off on September 21, took Yang about one year to complete, with his mother helping him to build the scenes in which the figures are placed. He plans to add 13 more figures to further enrich the piece.