The Three Rabbits in China

Wei Zhang and Peter Rasmussen

The Three Rabbits at Dunhuang

Every visitor to the oasis town of Dunhuang in northwestern China encounters a very unusual image of three rabbits that appear to be chasing each other in a never-ending circle. This motif is prominently displayed in marble at the entrance to the Dunhuang Museum (below) and is a popular decoration on the scarves, paintings, carpets and t-shirts sold in the local tourist markets.

While each individual rabbit has two ears, the three rabbits together have a total of only three ears. So, in effect, 3 times 2 results in 3 instead of 6. Of course, the answer to this riddle lies in the fact that the three ears are arranged to form a triangle, with each pair of adjacent rabbits sharing an ear.

Beginning in the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE), Dunhuang was an important stop on the Silk Road, the ancient trade route which stretched from Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) in the east to Central Asia, India, Persia—and, eventually, the Roman Empire—in the west. And in the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms (366-439), at Mogao, less than a day's journey from Dunhuang, Buddhist monks began digging out hundreds of cave temples from the cliffs along the Daquan River. The caves were decorated with statues, murals and decorative images, and construction of new caves continued at Mogao for over 500 years.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), three-rabbits images were painted on the center of the ceilings of at least 17 caves. Typically, the circle of rabbits is surrounded by eight large lotus petals and forms the focal point of a large painted canopy covering the entire ceiling. The following photos show what these images look like today.

The beautiful image from Cave 407 is the most familiar of all the three-rabbits designs at Dunhuang. The rabbits are surrounded by two bands of lotus petals against a background of feitian (apsaras) flying in the same direction as the rabbits. Interestingly, this is the only cave image in which the three rabbits are clearly running in a counterclockwise direction. Notice the rabbits’ eyes, all four legs, and the white scarves trailing from around their necks.

The three-rabbits image of Cave 305 is so badly deteriorated that one has to look closely in order to see that it was once there. But close study clearly reveals the white triangular silhouette indicating the rabbits’ ears as well as parts of their bodies. In Cave 420, all that remains is the triangle formed by the rabbits’ three ears along with parts of their heads. With both Caves 305 and 420, it takes some concentrated effort to determine that the rabbits are running in a clockwise direction.

In Cave 397, the white silhouette of one rabbit and parts of the other two are still clearly visible. It appears that bits of the original pigment remain, although its tone may have changed over time. In some places all the paint has peeled off, exposing the beige clay. In all three of these images the rabbits are clearly running in a clockwise direction.

The images of the three rabbits in Cave 205 are very well preserved. Less so for the images in Caves 144 and 99, but, again, the rabbits are clearly running in a clockwise direction in all three of these caves.

In addition to the caves shown above, the three rabbits motif also appears in Caves 200, 237, 358 and 468 from the Middle Tang dynasty (781-847) and Caves 127, 139, 145 and 147 from the Late Tang dynasty (848-906). The rabbits are running in a clockwise direction in all eight of these caves. (In Cave 127, the artist—either by carelessness or design—has created a unique variation of the three-rabbits image. The ears of each individual rabbit are together, and the ears of all three rabbits form a Y-shaped pinwheel instead of the usual triangle.)

Of all 17 three-rabbits images, the one in Cave 139 is the most detailed. This image is also the best preserved—perhaps because the cave is accessible only through a small elevated opening on right side of the entryway to Cave 138. The three rabbits are tan against a light green background and are surrounded by eight lotus petals. Each rabbit is beautifully drawn in pen-like detail, with clearly visible features, including mouth, nose, eyes (with eyeballs!), all four legs, feet (including toes!), tail, outlines of muscles, and fur on the stomach, breast, legs, and top of the head.

Four Rabbits at Guge

There is also at least one site in present-day Tibet with images of rabbits sharing ears. Images of four rabbits sharing four ears can be found in the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Guge, which thrived from the mid-10th century until its defeat in 1630. On the ceiling of Guge’s White Temple are 314 painted panels, and one of these panels has two roundels, each showing four rabbits chasing each other in a clockwise direction. We’re grateful to Zhang Jianlin of the Shaanxi Archaeological Institute for bringing this image to our attention.

Other Buddhist Images of Three and Four Rabbits

Other Buddhist images of three and four rabbits occur in Ladakh, within the present Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. At Alchi on the bank of the Indus River is a temple complex that was built in the late 12th to early 13th century while Alchi was within the western Tibetan cultural sphere. Within this temple complex, inside the Sumtsek, or Three-Tiered Temple, is a sculpture of Maitreya. On Maitreya's dhoti are painted more than 60 roundels depicting scenes from the life of Buddha Sakyamuni. Each space between four such roundels is decorated with images with long-eared animals chasing each other in a clockwise direction. Some of the spaces show three animals sharing three ears, while others show four animals sharing four ears. These fat animals appear to have hooves and don't look much like rabbits. Roger Goepper calls them "deer-like" and Pratapaditya Pal calls them "leaping bulls." However we'll call them "rabbits" because they share their ears in exactly the same manner as their Dunhuang cousins.

Another structure within the Alchi complex is the Great Stupa. Its wooden ceiling is constructed in the so-called "lantern form" and consists of seven layers of beams, each placed diagonally across the corners of the lower tier, the resulting triangles being closed by boards. Some of these triangular panels are decorated with the same animals found in the Sumtsek. Again, sometimes three animals and sometimes four are chasing each other in a clockwise direction.

The fortress of Basgo Gompa is 30 kilometers upstream from Alchi. Two of Basgo's temples, built in the mid-16th century, contain sculptures of Maitreya and have very colorful four-rabbit designs painted on their ceilings. These rabbits are also chasing each other in a clockwise direction.

The Origin, Meaning and Migration of the Three Rabbits

Guan Youhui, a retired researcher from the Dunhuang Academy, spent 50 years studying the decorative patterns in the Mogao Caves. He believes the three rabbits image came to Dunhuang indirectly from the West (Central Asia) by way of Central China—even though no ancient examples of the motif have been found in Central China. "The three rabbits are just a small part of the whole decorative art of Dunhuang, and when we look at the surrounding patterns on the ceilings we notice that a lot came from the West. But the ceiling designs were not transported as a whole to Dunhuang. The local artists chose the artistic elements and assembled them into the Dunhuang designs. The rabbits—like many images in Chinese folk art that carry auspicious symbolism—represent peace and tranquility."

We hope you enjoyed seeing these Buddhist paintings of three and four rabbits sharing ears and—except for Cave 407—chasing each other in a clockwise circle. Surely these images had significant meanings to the artists who created them. But what were those meanings? And where did the images originate? Our hope is that other researchers will bring to light additional examples of these images and will discover clues about their origin, meaning and migration. We would love to hear your ideas.

For Further Reading

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Adapted from a presentation at the International Conference on Grottoes Research, Dunhuang, China, August 2004.
Special thanks to Fan Jinshi, Peng Jinzhang and Zhang Xiantang of the Dunhuang Academy.
First two photos © Chris Chapman 2004.

 Wei Zhang and Peter Rasmussen are directors of the Classical Chinese Puzzle Project in Berkeley, California, and Beijing.
Ms. Zhang and Mr. Rasmussen may be contacted by email at: and

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www.threerabbits.com
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with help from The Three Hares Project