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Dazu Rock Carvings

The Dazu Rock Carving is located in the southeast of the Sichuan Basin, 271 kilometers away from the west of Chengdu, 167 kilometers away from the east of Chongqing. The Dazu Rock Carving lies in Dazu County, which is 167 kilometers away from the urban area of Chongqing city. It's a general designation of the stone statues distributed in 76 places in the whole Dazu County. The number of the stone statues amounts to 60,000.

Construction began on the Beishan Hill in the late Tang Dynasty and lasted for more than 250 years, with some 300 niches containing some 10,000 statues of Buddha being carved. The cave bearing the openwork octagonal "soul chariot" which symbolizes the eternal turning of the wheel of Buddhist law is the most fantastic piece of work. Right in the center of the cave is the statue of Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, which is flanked by more than 20 statues including the Buddha of wisdom and universal benevolence.

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The Dazu Rock Carvings are located in Dazu County, Chongqing Municipality. The construction began in 650, and continued into the 17th century. Thriving since the end of the 9th century, when the grotto art of north China began to decline, the Dazu Rock Carvings are an outstanding representative of China's grotto art in the middle and late period of ancient China.

So far, a total of some 50,000 statues and 100,000 inscribed Chinese characters are extant, and 75 cliff statue sites are under state protection. The cliff statues on the North Hill, the South Hill, Bading Hill, Stone Hill and Stone Gate Hill are large in size, and well carved and preserved.

The Dazu Rock Carvings occupy an important position in the history of China's grotto art. They include not only Buddhist figures, but also Taoist and Confucian figures, which makes them different from grottoes dating from previous times. Its statues, which have strong national and secular features, and depict many activities of ancient people's daily lives, mark the completion of the localization process of China's grotto art and reflect great changes and developments in China's folk religion and grotto art.

The Dazu Rock Carvings mainly contain Buddhist statues, but there are also some Taoist, Confucian and historical figures, and many valuable inscribed tablets. The statues show maturity of carving and national features, breaking new ground in religious art.

The Dazu Rock Carvings provide rich and valuable material for research into ancient China's culture, arts, philosophy, religion and history. In the spring of 1945, Chinese historians made an overall investigation of the Dazu Rock Carvings, and published their findings, marking the beginning of full-scale research into the Grottoes. The Chinese Government has made great efforts to protect, research and publicize the Dazu Rock Carvings, and in recent years, the Grottoes have attracted a large number of foreign experts, scholars and visitors.

The Wei Jun Jing Bei, one of the numerous inscribed tablets at the Grottoes, was carved in 895, and is the first written record about the Dazu Rock Carvings. Another tablet (No. 104 of the northern section) carved by Cai Jing of the Song Dynasty. It was flanked by 22 chapters of Book on Piety in Ancient Characters, which were historically singular because they were inscribed in both ancient Chinese and a more modern one.

The artisans created these marvelous rock carvings not simply by replicating images that their predecessors had made. Instead, they broke the yoke of religion and created figures with life and dynamic. Their innovations will be recorded in the history of grotto art forever.

The Dazu Rock Tips

Beishan of Dazu Rock carving is 2,000 meters away from the north part of Dazu County. The fare of a ticket is 40 Yuan.
Baodingshan is worth seeing, but the temple next to Baodingshan isn't worth seeing. This temple is too small, there is nothing to watch, and the price is very high.

The Dazu Rock Carving is a piece of great work of China's grotto art. It's not only rich in content but also carved with marvelous technique. It skillfully combines the scientific principles of mechanics, optics, and clairvoyance with statues themselves and landform. The Dazu Rock Carving is reputed as "Artistic Palace of the Tang and Song Dynasties".
The Dazu Rock Carving was firstly excavated at the beginning of the Yonghui time of the Tang Dynasty. Experiencing the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, it was very popular in the Southern Song and Northern Song Dynasties (A.D.960-1278). In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, more statues were carved. Finally, a large rock-carving group, which gathered the pith of China's rock carvings, was formed. It's equally famous with the Yungang Grotto, the Longmen Grotto and the Duhuang Grotto. It's hailed as the "Magic Pearl of Oriental Art" home and abroad. Dazu is the home of rock carving, with more than 40 rock carvings and over 50,000 statues. Among them, two rock carvings, which are the most famous and on the biggest scale, are Baodingshan and Beishan. There are nearly 10,000 stone statues in Beishan. They mainly gather in Fowan, which is a U-shaped section of about 500 meters long and looks like a new moon. These rock carvings here were excavated in the Jingfu time of the Song Dynasty (A.D.892). They underwent the Five Dynasties, the Southern Song Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty. It has been built for 250 years. These statues are lifelike and excavated elaborately. The most wonderful statues are several statues of Guan Yin, Wen Shu and Pu Xian. The rock carvings in Baoshishan are rare in the grotto art in China.

Getting There

It's the most convenient to take a bus from Chongqing to Dazu. It just takes 2 hours to arrive there. There are tens of buses in the Chongqing West Bus StationDazu County is located 2-3 hours northwest of Chongqing city. Buses (45 RMB) depart from Chenjiaping Long Distance Bus Station every 40 minutes from about 7 am. These drop you off at the long distance bus station in Dazu where you must transfer to a local bus (3 RMB) or taxi to take you the final 15km out to Baodingshan or Beishan. On weekends there may be special tourist buses that can take you directly to the rock carving sites. The last buses returning to the city depart around 5:30 pm. I recommend leaving Chongqing early (around 8), explore Beishan first, then head over to Baodingshan to have lunch and walk around before catching a bus back to Chongqing.

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