The well known Baisha Ancient Frescos is one of the most precious heritages of Naxi ethnic group of Ming Dynasty. The fresco had been drawn since Ming Dynasty until early of Qing Dynasty which lasted for over 300 years. The development of Baisha Ancient Frescos had come to the summit in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty about 500 years before.
According to the record of historians dated 1962, over ten sites of fresco were found at Lijiang with more than 200 pieces of art works. Anyway, only 55 of them are remained nowadays. All these fresco are dotted at four temples surrounding the ancient town which include Dabaojigong (Great Treasure Palace), Liulidian (Glaze Tiles Temple), Dadingge (Dading Tower) and Dajuegong (Great Conscious Palace).
Most of the temples were constructed from the early age of Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) to early Qing Dynasty. In other word, the frescos of Lijiang were made within the period as well. During that time, Lijiang had encountered a rapid economic development and therefore resulted in mutual acculturation of multinational culture embedded within the fresco. People from different nations had contributed as the author of these frescos of Lijiang. Some of them were the local Naxi Dongba painters, Taoist painter Zhang, Tibetan Lama Artist Guchang, Han painters Ma Xiaoxian and Li Zeng as well as many other artists who were now a mystery to the public. As a result, the fresco generally depicted the different cultures and religious influences to the local as well as the artistic forms of Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism and Naxi Dongba religion.
Lijiang Fresco is different when compared with other frescos. Normally, there are at least one hundred portraits can be found within a single painting. Besides Buddha, there are also ordinary people like criminals, tourists and bureaucrats appeared in the lifelike portraits. Moreover, majority of the scenes are drawn from the daily life of local people like horse riding, weaving, dancing and fishing. The style of these true-life frescos is rural and unconstrained. While demonstrates the superb artistic skills and outstanding imaginations, the artists also allow us to know more or less about the daily life of local Naxi during that period of time.