Dragon Cave Cliff Carvings

Dragon Cave Cliff Carvings

The Dragon Cave Cliff Carvings are a cultural relic protection site of Suining municipality.

Dragon Cave Cliff Carvings (formerly known as: Dragon Cave Stone Carvings)

Era: Qing

Category: Grottoes and Stone Carvings

Announcement date: August 15, 2012

Address: Longtan Village, Mingxing Town, Shehong County

Introduction: The Dragon Cave cliff statues and carvings are located about 300 meters east of Group 6 in Longtan Village, Mingxing Town, and 800 meters west of the village committee. The carved statues and inscriptions are chiseled into the yellow sandstone cliff on the right bank of the Dragon Cave River, a hill known as Dragon Cave Mountain, which stands 4 meters high and stretches 50 meters wide. The niches are 1.3 meters high, 0.7 meters wide, and 0.02 meters deep. Aligned from west to east, there are four niches. Niche K1 is 1.2 meters high, 0.6 meters wide, and 0.01 meters deep, featuring an inscription in regular script carved in relief, partially blurred. Niche K2 is 1.2 meters high, 0.6 meters wide, and 0.01 meters deep, with an upright inscription in regular script carved in relief, spanning 18 lines and 398 characters, each character about 0.04 meters in size, describing renovation works. Niche K3 is a stone dragon, 2.4 meters long, 1.3 meters wide, and 0.01 meters deep, illustrating the scene of playing with a Buddhist pearl. Niche K4 is 2.4 meters high, 1.3 meters wide, and 0.1 meters deep, featuring three Buddha statues inside. The middle one has a damaged head, stands 1.1 meters tall, and is seated cross-legged gracefully on a lotus base. To its left is another statue 1.1 meters tall, while the one on the right has no head but also sits gracefully cross-legged. At the foot of the mountain, there are two stone carvings, both made on the steep cliffs on the left bank of the Dragon Cave River, oriented from southeast to northwest. Both are inscriptions in regular script carved in relief with horizontal layout, read from right to left. The right one is “Fangsheng Chi” (Release Pond), carved in the 17th year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1812); the left one is “Fangsheng Tan” (Release Pool), carved in the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943). Each character measures 0.4 meters in length and width.

Longtan Village: …… Longtan Village detailed information++