Which sentence best describes how buddhist cave temples along the silk road reflect the beliefs of the chinese people?
a: they housed statues of emperors and their wives, whom the chinese believed were divine.
b: they provided retreats for monks and temples for travelers to worship.
c: they protected chinese armies during the han dynasty wars.
d: they were built to be burial tombs for chinese emperors
i think it is b.

Option: B: They provided retreats for monks and temples for travelers to worship.

Explanation:

The Buddhist cave temples along the Silk Road built as religious shrines and retreats and temples for monks and travellers. Dunhuang bore as an observer to commercial, cultural exchange and religion along the trade routes linking the East and West from 4th to 14th century. The Buddhist caves came to be known as the Magao Caves. These caves built during the Tang Dynasty in the southeast of the centre of Dunhuang. Dunhuang was a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road. The Mogao caves consist of 492 temples with Buddha sculptures along with painting on the wall and ceiling.  

relief sculpture - images are set against a flat background.

a coin is a good example: the inscription, the date, and the figure are slightly raised above a flat surface. the ancient egyptians sometimes carved figures into a flat surface.  

pro: they take significantly less time to make and do not require as much tools or skills as free-standing

cons: not nearly as realistic, as it is not fully 3-d, and does not have the details that a free-standing one does.

freestanding sculptures (also called  carved in the round) are not attached to any  background.   they are 3-dimensional  and fully rendered.