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The Yungang Grottoes (), formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes (), are ancient Chinese
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
temple grottoes built during the
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, impe ...
dynasty near the city of
Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...
, then called Pingcheng, in the province of
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
. They are excellent examples of
rock-cut architecture Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures by excavating solid Rock (geology), rock where it naturally occurs. Intensely laborious when using ancient tools and methods, rock-cut architecture was presumably combi ...
and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao. The site is located about 16 km west of the city of
Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...
, in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. There are 53 major caves, along with 51,000 niches housing the same number of Buddha statues. Additionally, there are around 1,100 minor caves. A Ming dynasty-era fort is still located on top of the cliff housing the Yungang Grottoes. The grottoes were excavated in the south face of a sandstone cliff about 2,600 feet long and 30 to 60 feet high. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
. The Yungang Grottoes are considered by UNESCO to be a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... nd...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices." It is classified as a
AAAAA scenic area AAAAA () is awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, given the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2025, there are 359 tourist ...
by the
China National Tourism Administration The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) was a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism affairs and was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters were in Beijing. History The predecessor was the ...
.


History

After the decline of the Western Jin dynasty, the northern parts of China came under the control of the
Tuoba The Tuoba (Chinese language, Chinese) or Tabgatch (, ''Tabγač''), also known by #Names, other names, was an influential Xianbei clan in early imperial China. During the Sixteen Kingdoms after the fall of Han and the Three Kingdoms, the Tuoba e ...
-ruled
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, impe ...
. They made the city of Pingcheng (), now known as Datong (), their capital. Due to its promotion, Pingcheng saw an increase in construction work. The Northern Wei early adopted Buddhism as their state religion. Buddhism arrived in this location via travel on the ancient
North Silk Road The Northern Silk Road is a historic inland trade route in Northwest China and Central Asia (historically known as the Western Regions), originating in the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an (modern day Xi'an), westwards through the Hexi Corrid ...
, the northernmost route of about 2600 kilometres in length, which connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in
Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...
before linking to ancient
Parthia Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...
. The work on this first period of carving lasted until the year 465 AD, and these caves are now known as caves 16–20. Beginning around the year 471 AD, in a second construction phase that lasted until 494 AD, the twin caves 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10 as well as the caves 11, 12, and probably 13 were constructed under the supervision and support of the imperial court. The imperial patronage ended 494 AD with the move of the Wei court to the new capital of
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 Zheng ...
. All other caves emerged under private patronage in a third construction period, lasting until 525, when the construction came to a final halt due to uprisings in the area.


Deterioration and conservation

Since the end of the works, the sandstone of the grottoes has been exposed to heavy weathering. Many of the grottoes are exposed to the open air, and are therefore vulnerable to various forms of pollution and deterioration. Windblown dust and
air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
from the industrial city of Datong, as well as dust from mines and highways near the site pose a threat to the preservation of the ancient statues.  The site is also in proximity of the Gobi Desert, the storms of which can contribute to the decay of the statues. The ensuing centuries therefore saw several attempts to preserve the caves and to repair sustained damage. During the Liao dynasty the caves saw some renewing of statues and, from 1049 to 1060, the buildup of the "10 temples of Yungang", which were meant to protect the main caves. However, they were destroyed again some 60 years later in a fire. The wooden buildings extant in front of caves 5 and 6 were constructed in 1621, during the early
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. Since the 1950s, cracks in the sandstone have been sealed by grouting, and forestation has been implemented in an effort to reduce the weathering due to sandstorms. During the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
,
Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...
damaged many of the carvings, and bullet marks are still visible to observers. During April and May 1991,
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
personnel conducted air pollutant measurement experiments in the Yungang Grottoes. It was found that nearly all of the airborne matter was mineral dust or carbon particles, allowing a focus of attention on sources of these kinds of matter.


Cave 6

Cave 6 is one of the richest of the Yungang sites.  It was constructed between 465 and 494 C.E. by Emperor Xiao Wen.  The cave's surface area is approximately 1,000 square meters.  The entire interior of the cave is carved and painted.  There is a stupa pillar in the center of the room extending from the floor to the ceiling.  The walls are divided into two stories.  The walls of the upper stories are host to carvings of standing Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and monks among other celestial figures.  All of the carvings were painted, but because the caves have been repainted evidently up to twelve times, determining the original scheme is difficult.


Gallery

File:Yungang 12.JPG, Top of the column (
dougong ''Dougong'' (Chinese language, Chinese: 斗拱; pinyin: ''dǒugǒng''; lit. 'cap ndblock') is a structural element of interlocking wooden Bracket (architecture), brackets, important in traditional Chinese architecture for both its struct ...
) in the building protecting the caves of Yungang Grottoes File:China Yungang Grottoes IMG 3534.jpg, Yungang Grottoe Buddha File:Buddhist paintings Yungang.jpg, Buddhist paintings in the Yungang Grottoes File:Yungang cave9 dougong.jpg, Stone carved dougong inside Cave 9 File:Datong 14 grotta.jpg, One of the larger statues at Yungang File:Side wall statues Yungang.jpg File:Buddhas in collapsed cave Yungang.jpg File:Statue at the Yungang Grottoes.jpg, Statue at the Yungang Grottoes File:Yungang painting 2010.JPG File:云岗11.JPG File:Datong 145.jpg, Cave 12. Phase II, after 650 AD. Yungang Grottoes, Datong: a riot of decoration is illustrated here, with Buddhas, musicians, and apsarasas. File:Datong 146.jpg, Cave 12. Phase II, after 465 AD. Yungang Grottoes, Datong: musicians playing the
pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rangi ...
and sheng overlook the passing scene. File:Yungang11 2010.JPG, Cave 20


In Popular Culture

The site was heavily featured, as was the rest of Shanxi province, in the settings visited by the character The Destined One from the globally renowned AAA game Black Myth: Wukong. Tourism greatly increased as the grotto went from the least visited of the major three grottoes from the Northern Wei to its most visited within a few weeks of the game’s launch. Shanxi has promoted it, in comparison with the game visuals very heavily, as seen in its 2024 tourism council advertisements to great results.


References


Further reading

* * * "The Oldest Buddhist Stone Monuments known to China - fifth-century sculptures at Wu Chou Shan", well-illustrated feature in ''The Illustrated London News'', 10 October 1931.


External links


Official website

UNESCO World Heritage page about Yungang Grottoes


{{Authority control Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanxi Buddhist grottoes in China Buddhist temples in Shanxi Buddhist pilgrimage sites in China Sites along the Silk Road World Heritage Sites in China AAAAA-rated tourist attractions Northern Wei History of Datong