Top 4 Buddhist Grottoes in China

Originated from India, the grottoes were built to serve Buddhism. In China, many grottoes are located in Gansu, Xinjiang, Chongqing, Henan, and Shanxi etc. Among them, there are top 4 Buddhist Grottoes well known not only in China but also all over the world. The top 4 are: 

• Mogao Grottoes
• Longmen Grottoes
• Yungang Grottoes
• Maijishan Grottoes

Let's check out the details listed below.

No.1 Mogao Grottoes
Location: Dunhuang, Gansu Province;
Feature: the best preserved of Chinese Buddhist grottoes with 1900 years' history; listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987

Dunhuang Caves

Magao Grottoes, or Mogao Caves, located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road,
Form a system of 492 temples, 25 km southwest of the center of Dunhuang. It is known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.

The grottoes contain some of the finest example of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The rooms of the grottoes were decorated with sculptures and frescoes in style, which changed over the centuries.

Mogao Grottoes

No.2 Longmen Grottoes
Location: Luoyang, Henan Province
Feature: with 1500 years, owns the largest number of statues among the four; listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000

Longmen Caves

Longmen Grottoes, or Longmen Caves, has over 2100 niches, more than 100,000 statues, some 40 pagodas and 3600 tablets and steles in the caves of Guyang, Binyang and Lianhua. Over 100,000 images can be found in the approximately 1,300 caves of Longmen.

It is "an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity" for its perfection of an art form, and for its encapsulation of the cultural sophistication of Tang China.

Longmen Grottes

No.3 Yungang Grottoes
Location: Datong, Shanxi Province
Feature: listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001

Yungang Grottoes

Yungang Grottoes are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture. It is considered by UNESCO a “masterpiece od early Chinese Buddhist cave art and represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religion symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under imperial auspices”.

All together the site is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes.

Yungang Grottoes in Datong

No.4 Maijishan Grottoes
Location: Tianshui, Gansu Province
Feature: typical Danxia Landform
Maijishan Grottoes is was named for its shape – like that of a pile of wheat. There are a series of 194 caves, containing over 7200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1000 square meters of murals. The artist style of these grottoes show the influence of central Asian cultures.

Maijishan Grottoes

The other grottoes like Dazu Grottoes in Chongqing, the rock carvings at Feilai Feng within the Lingyin Temple site in Hangzhou are also very popular.

It is hard to describe the magnificence, beauty of grottoes. Let's get closer and discover them with China Discovery.