Dazu Rock Carvings

Dazu Rock Carvings

The Dazu Rock Carvings are a National AAAAA Tourist Attraction, a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Dazu Rock Carvings are located in Dazu County, Chongqing Municipality. Originating in the late Tang Dynasty, flourishing through the Five Dynasties and reaching their peak during the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, the Dazu Rock Carvings are an outstanding representative of China’s late-period grotto art. There are as many as 76 grotto sites, with over 60,000 statues and more than 100,000 characters of inscriptions, collectively known as the Dazu Rock Carvings. Among them, the Beishan Cliff Carvings and Baodingshan Cliff Carvings are the most concentrated.

Beishan, also known as ancient Longgang Mountain, features 290 niches. Famous niches include the Xinshenche Cave, where the “Xinshenche” dragon in the center of the cave is particularly majestic. Among them, the statues of Jingbaoping Guanyin, Tara, Manjushri, Yuyin Guanyin, Ruyizhu Guanyin, Samantabhadra, Riyue Guanyin, and Shuzhushou Guanyin are symmetrically and meticulously carved, forming a harmonious whole. Eight bodhisattva statues, plump, round, elegant, and refined, represent the essence of the carvings here. The “Zhao Yijian’s Spirit Way Stele,” inscribed by the famous Northern Song calligrapher Cai Jing, stands 3.7 meters tall and 1.37 meters wide, and holds high artistic value in calligraphy.

Baodingshan features serene scenery with 13 grotto sites, among which the Great Buddha Bay and Little Buddha Bay are the largest. Great Buddha Bay is a deep, horseshoe-shaped mountain bay, with carvings distributed on the east, south, and north sides. Initially designed based on Little Buddha Bay, the carvings here were later created. A large-scale group sculpture composed of 19 sets of Buddhist scripture stories includes over 15,000 statues, all exquisitely designed without a single duplicate, breaking the notion of “a thousand Buddhas with one face.”

The Baodingshan Yuanjue Cave is a hollowed-out whole rock, spacious like a room. The main wall inside the cave features three Buddha statues, with a kneeling Bodhisattva in front of the central Buddha, bowing with clasped hands, reverent and devout. The left and right walls depict twelve Yuanjue (Enlightened) Bodhisattvas seated on lotus thrones, graceful, solemn, and varied in posture, with realistic textures on their clothes and muscles, appearing as if draped in thin gauze, with flowing and unrestrained robes. The walls also feature carvings of pavilions, towers, figures, birds, beasts, flowers, trees, secluded springs, and strange rocks—all nearly lifelike, representing the essence of the carvings in Great Buddha Bay.

The Dazu Rock Carvings “include everything recorded in Buddhist scriptures,” and in artistry, achieve a high unity of “the deification of humans and the humanization of gods.”

The Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing are renowned worldwide for their grand scale, exquisite carving, diverse themes, rich content, and excellent preservation. They embody the essence of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian statue art in China, characterized by distinct national and life-oriented features, making them a shining pearl in China’s grotto art. With a wealth of physical images and textual historical materials, they showcase the styles of Chinese stone carving art and the evolution of folk religious beliefs from the late 9th century to the mid-13th century from various perspectives. They have made important contributions to the innovation and development of Chinese stone carving art, possessing irreplaceable historical, artistic, and scientific value unmatched by earlier grottoes. Many Europeans, especially the French, hold the Dazu Rock Carvings in high esteem.

The Dazu Rock Carvings are a general term for the grotto art mainly featuring cliff carvings within Dazu District. Dazu is known as the “hometown of stone carvings,” with over 40 stone carving sites and more than 50,000 statues across the county. Among them, the two most famous and largest sites are Baodingshan and Beishan. Both are Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level and are representative works of China’s grotto art after the late Tang Dynasty. Dazu County, a suburban county under Chongqing’s jurisdiction, has 75 cliff carving sites designated as cultural relics protection units, with over 50,000 statues and more than 100,000 characters of inscriptions. Among them, six are Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

The Dazu Rock Carvings were first carved in the first year of the Yonghui era of the Tang Dynasty (650 AD) and flourished during the Song Dynasty. There are currently over 50,000 extant cliff-carved statues and more than 100,000 characters of inscriptions, spread across more than 100 sites. Among the more significant ones are the Beishan (including the North Pagoda), Baodingshan, Nanshan, Shimen, and Shizhuan Mountain carvings, which are the largest and most artistically valuable representatives among the Dazu Rock Carvings.

The carvings are primarily Buddhist statues, along with some Confucian and Taoist statues. They exhibit the characteristics of grotto statues and fall within the category of grotto art. The early “temple hall” style structures are entirely cliff carvings—for example, the statues in Great Buddha Bay are all exposed, integrated with the mountain cliffs, giving a very direct impression. They break away from certain religious constraints, making the statues more humanized. The carving techniques include round carving, high relief, low relief, convex relief, and intaglio, but are mainly dominated by high relief, supplemented by other forms. There are countless depictions of figures from all social strata, numerous scenes of social life, and a wealth of accompanying textual records, presenting a vivid historical panorama.

The Dazu Rock Carvings represent the highest level of world grotto art from the 9th to the 13th centuries and stand as the final monument in the history of human grotto art. They showcase the major developments and changes in the styles of China’s grotto art during the Tang and Song periods from various perspectives, possessing irreplaceable historical, artistic, and scientific value unmatched by earlier grottoes. They are also renowned for their grand scale, exquisite carving, diverse themes, rich content, and excellent preservation.

In December 1999, the Dazu Rock Carvings, represented by the “Five Mountains”—Baodingshan, Beishan, Nanshan, Shimen Mountain, and Shizhuan Mountain—were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, making them Chongqing’s only World Cultural Heritage site.

The Dazu Rock Carvings are now a National AAAAA Tourist Attraction, a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, one of Chongqing’s Top Ten Cultural Symbols, and were awarded the “Best Comprehensive Order Scenic Area” during the 2016 National Day holiday tourism season. On December 7, 2018, they were selected for the 2018 “Charming China City” Cultural Tourism Charm List, hosted by CCTV’s Finance Channel and Yingke Travel. On November 18, 2020, they were named a “New Landmark of the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor.”

Further Reading:

· China’s National First-Class Museums

· China’s Top Ten World Cultural Heritages