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Maijishan Caves
The Maijishan Grottoes (), formerly romanized as Maichishan, are a series of 194 rock-cut caves cut into the Maijishan hill in Tianshui, Gansu Province, northwest China. They contain over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals. The name ''Maijishan'' consists of three Chinese words (): ''mai'' () is the generic term for most grains, ''ji'' () means "stack" or "mound", and ''shan'' () means "mountain". ''Maijishan'' is often translated as "wheatstack mountain" or "corn rick mountain". The mountain is formed of purplish red sandstone. Construction of the grottoes began in the Later Qin era (384–417 CE). A team of Chinese archeologists from Beijing conducted the first modern exploration in 1952–53. They devised the numbering system still in use today. Caves #1–50 are on the western cliff face, while caves #51–191 on the eastern cliff face. The grottoes were later photographed by Michael Sullivan and Dominique Darbois, who subsequently publish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majishan Entire Hill 20090226
Majishan is an island part of Shengsi County, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. Geographically it is one of the Shengsi Islands The Shengsi Islands or Archipelago () are part of the Zhoushan Archipelago and located south of the mouth of the Yangtze (east of Hangzhou Bay). They comprise 394 islands, each with an area larger than , but of which just 18 are inhabitable. The .... The island has an area of 1.491 km2, including 0.467 km2 of land reclaimed during the construction project of Baosteel's ore transit base starting in 1997. It was originally an isolated island, after Zhoushan City implemented a relocation project of the island, most of the population on the island was moved to Maguan village on Shengsi Island just north. Most of the land is now used by the Baosteel ore transfer base, which opened in 2004. A bridge has been built to connect the island with Shengsi island. In 2006, the MS Berge Stahl, one of the largest ships at the time, visited the port of Majishan. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunhuang
Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves. Dunhuang is situated in an oasis containing Crescent Lake and Mingsha Shan (, meaning "Singing-Sand Mountain"), named after the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes, the singing sand phenomenon. Dunhuang commands a strategic position at the crossroads of the ancient Southern Silk Route and the main road leading from India via Lhasa to Mongolia and southern Siberia, and also controls the entrance to the narrow Hexi Corridor, which leads straight to the heart of the north Chinese plains and the ancient capitals of Chang'an (today known as Xi'an) and Luoyang. Administratively, the county-level city of Dunhuang is part of the prefecture-level city of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amitābha
Amitābha (, "Measureless" or "Limitless" Light), also known as Amituofo in Chinese language, Chinese, Amida in Japanese language, Japanese and Öpakmé in Tibetan script, Tibetan, is one of the main Buddhahood, Buddhas of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism and the most widely venerated Buddhist deities, Buddhist figure in East Asian Buddhism.阿彌陀 Amitâbha Digital Dictionary of Buddhism Amitābha is also known by the name Amitāyus ("Measureless Life"). Amitābha is the main figure in two influential Indian Buddhist Mahayana sutras, Mahayana Scriptures: the ''The Amitāyus Sutra, Sutra of Measureless Life'' and the ''Amitābha Sūtra''. According to the ''Sutra of Measureless Life'', Amitābha established a Pure Land, pure land of perfect peace and happiness, called Sukhavati, Sukh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luoyang
Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast. As of December 31, 2018, Luoyang had a population of 6,888,500 inhabitants with 2,751,400 people living in the built-up (or metro) area made of the city's five out of six urban districts (except the Jili District not continuously urbanized) and Yanshi District, now being conurbated. By the end of 2022, Luoyang Municipality had jurisdiction over 7 municipal districts, 7 counties and 1 development zone. The permanent population is 7.079 million. Situated on the central plain of China, Luoyang is among the oldest cities in China and one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. It is the earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties. Described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change", the Northern Wei dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439, bringing an end to the chaotic Sixteen Kingdoms period, and strengthening imperial control over the rural landscape via reforms in 485. This was also a period of introduced foreign ideas, such as Buddhism, which became firmly established. The Northern Wei was referred to as "Plaited Barbarians" (索虜; ''suǒlǔ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memoirs Of Eminent Monks
The ''Memoirs of Eminent Monks'' (), also known as the Biographies of Eminent Monks, is a compilation of biographies of monks in China by Hui Jiao 慧皎 of Jiaxiang Temple in Kuaiji Mountain, Zhejiang from the introduction of Buddhism to China up to the Liang Dynasty. Hui Jiao explains himself that the title is supposed to draw a contrast with monks who are famous but not eminent - an allusion to the lost work of his contemporary Baochang, ''Míngsēng zhuàn'' 名僧傳 (= Biographies of Famous Monks). The manuscript is 14 scrolls in length with the preface given in Scroll 14. It contains 257 major biographies, arranged in ten categories: (1) translators of scripture/ sutras 譯經 (yijing), (2) expounders of righteousness 義解 (yijie), (3) monks of miraculous spirit 神異 (shenyi), (4) practitioners of meditation 習禪 (xichan), (5) experts in the vinaya 明律 (minglu), (6) those who give up their bodies 遺身 (yishen), (7) chanters of scripture/ sutras 誦經 (songjin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bingling Temple
The Bingling Temple () is a series of grottoes filled with Buddhist sculpture carved into natural caves and caverns in a canyon along the Yellow River. It lies just north of where the Yellow River empties into the Liujiaxia Reservoir. Administratively, the site is in Yongjing County of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province, some southeast of Lanzhou. This temple, along with other sites along the Silk Road, was inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site. The caves were a work in progress for more than a millennium. The first grotto was begun around 420 CE during the Western Qin dynasty. Work continued and more grottoes were added during the Wei, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The style of each grotto can easily be connected to the typical artwork from its corresponding dynasty. The Bingling Temple is both stylistically and geographically a midpoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Qin
The Western Qin (; 385–400, 409–431) was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Qifu clan of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. All rulers of the Western Qin declared themselves "''wang''", translatable as either "king" or "prince." They ruled an area corresponding to modern-day southwestern Gansu in Northwest China, also known as the Longxi region, along with parts of northeastern Qinghai in the later years. The state went by various different names as their rulers opted for lesser peerages while they were acting as vassals, and they were only known as "Qin" (秦) from 395 to 400, from 409 to 411 and from 414 to 431. The Western Qin was briefly discontinued in 400 after Qifu Gangui surrendered to the Later Qin before it was revived in 409. They also frequently shifted their capital from time to time, with Fuhan (枹罕, in modern Linxia, Gansu) as their longest-serving capital at 18 years without interruption. They are given the prefix of "Western" in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xianbei
The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multilingual, multi-ethnic confederation consisting of mainly Proto-Mongols (who spoke either pre-Proto-Mongolic,, quote: "The Xianbei confederation appears to have contained speakers of Pre-Proto-Mongolic, perhaps the largest constituent linguistic group, as well as former Xiongnu subjects, who spoke other languages, Turkic almost certainly being one of them."Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1983). "The Chinese and Their Neighbors in Prehistoric and Early Historic China," in The Origins of Chinese Civilization, University of California Pressp. 452of pp. 411–466. or Para-Mongolic languages), and, to a minor degree, Tungusic and Turkic peoples. They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the Wuhuan and Xianbei when they were defeated by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yao Xing
Yao Xing (; 366–416), courtesy name Zilüe (子略), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wenhuan of Later Qin (後秦文桓帝), was an emperor of the Qiang-led Chinese Later Qin dynasty. He was the son of the founding emperor Yao Chang (Emperor Wuzhao). For most of his reign, he did not use the title of emperor, but used the title Heavenly King (''Tian Wang''). During his reign, he destroyed the rival Former Qin and proceeded to expand his hegemony over nearly all of western China, as he temporarily seized all of Western Qin's territory and forced Southern Liang, Northern Liang, Western Liáng, and Qiao Zong's Western Shu () all to at least nominally submit to him, but late in his reign, defeats on the battlefield, particularly at the hands of the rebel general Helian Bobo (who founded Xia), and internecine struggles between his sons and nephews greatly damaged the Later Qin state, and it was destroyed soon after his death. Yao Xing was an avid Buddhist, and it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qiang (historical People)
Qiang () was a name given to various groups of people at different periods in ancient China. The Qiang people are generally thought to have been of Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman origin, though there are other theories. The Tangut people of the Tang dynasty, Tang, Song dynasty, Song and Yuan dynasty, Yuan dynasties may be of Qiang descent. The modern Qiang people as well as Tibetan people, Tibetans may also have been descended in part from the ancient Qiang. Etymology According to the Han dynasty dictionary ''Shuowen Jiezi'', the Qiang were shepherds, and the Chinese character for Qiang () was thus formed from the characters for "sheep" (羊) and "man" (人), and pronounced like the word for "sheep".Shouwen Original text: 羌：西戎牧羊人也。从人从羊，羊亦聲。 ''Fengsu Tongyi'' also mentions that character of Qiang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by the "Five Barbarians", non- Han peoples who had settled in northern and western China during the preceding centuries, and had launched a series of rebellions against the Western Jin dynasty in the early 4th century. However, several of the states were founded by the Han people, and all of the states—whether ruled by Xiongnu, Xianbei, Di, Jie, Qiang, Han, or others—took on Han-style dynastic names. The states frequently fought against both one another and the Eastern Jin dynasty, which succeeded the Western Jin in 317 and ruled southern China. The period ended with the unification of northern China in 439 by the Northern Wei, a dynasty established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan. This occurred 19 years after the Eastern Jin collapsed i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
