Flying in Dunhuang murals and the creation of grottoes appeared at the same time. Starting from sixteen countries and going through ten dynasties, it lasted for more than a thousand years. Until the end of the yuan dynasty, it disappeared with the suspension of Dunhuang grottoes construction. In this long history of more than 1000 years, Tian Fei's image, posture, artistic conception and style are constantly changing due to dynasty change, political power transfer, economic development and prosperity, and frequent exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures. Its evolution history is roughly consistent with the whole history of Dunhuang art development, and it is divided into four stages.

1. Rising period. It took about 170 years from the Sixteen Kingdoms Beiliang to the Northern Wei Dynasty (366 ~ 535). The Dunhuang flight in this period was deeply influenced by India and the flight in the western regions, and it was generally a flight in the western regions. However, the flight characteristics of the two dynasties were slightly different during this period.

Flying in the northern cool period of Mogao Grottoes is mostly painted on the top of the grottoes, the decoration of algae wells on the top of the grottoes, the upper edge of the niches and the heads of the main characters in bunsen burner's story paintings. Its modeling and artistic features are: round head, oval face, straight nose and big eyes, big mouth and big ears, earrings with rings, a bun on the head, or a Hua Teng or a five-treasure crown of India, short stature, half-naked upper body, long skirt wrapped around the waist and a large towel on the shoulders. Due to the color change of smudge technique, it has become a white nose and white eyes, which is very similar to Tian Fei in caves such as Qiuci in the Western Regions in terms of modeling, face, posture, color and painting techniques. When the Mogao Grottoes were first built, the painters in Dunhuang area were not familiar with Buddhist themes and foreign art, and were in the stage of imitation, bold in pen and color, which seemed rough and simple. Such as flying in caves 275 and 272 of Beiliang in Mogao Grottoes.

The scope of Tian Fei's paintings in the Northern Wei Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes has been expanded. It is not only painted on the top of the cave, the top of the cave, the story painting and the niche, but also painted on the narrative map and inside and outside the niche. Generally speaking, the image of flying in the Northern Wei Dynasty still retains the characteristics of flying in the western regions, but in some grottoes, the image of flying in the sky has changed obviously and gradually changed to China. Tian Fei's face has changed from plump to slender, with fine features, a plump nose, a small mouth and symmetrical facial features. Have a round head, or wear five jewelry crowns, or a bun. The proportion of the body is gradually slender, and some legs are equivalent to twice the waist. There are also all kinds of flying postures, some roaming in space, some soaring with arms, some flying with hands, heroic and generous, like flying clouds and cranes. Flying up and down, fragrant flowers falling, quite poetic. For example, Tian Fei in Cave 25 1 of the Mogao Grottoes and Cave 260 of the Northern Wei Dynasty.