Xianfo Temple Grottoes

　　   The Xianfo Temple Grottoes are situated on the steep cliffs along the western bank of the You River in Guankou Village, Xiang Town, Laifeng County. The cliff face is 200 meters long in total, featuring four large, parallel central and main niches carved in the middle section, 18 smaller, parallel niches in the southern section, totaling 31 Buddha statues. The carvings date back to the early and high Tang Dynasty. Originally, there were three tiers of wooden eaves above the niches, which were demolished in the 1960s, and the statues also suffered partial damage. The northern, central, and southern niches are all over 6 meters in height. The central niche houses two seated Maitreya statues, two disciple statues, and two bodhisattva statues, with the Maitreya standing 5.3 meters tall. The southern and northern niches each contain one lotus-seated Buddha flanked by two standing disciples, with the Buddhas measuring 5 meters in height. To the south of the southern niche is a niche featuring two standing Guanyin statues, each 2.7 meters tall. The smaller niches each contain a standing Buddha, 1.5–2 meters in height. The Buddha statues feature low, flat ushnishas, round faces, and are draped in kasayas with hanging collars. The bodhisattvas wear tall crowns with scarves draping down to their waists over two layers, creating a full-bodied form with vivid expressions that exemplify the typical style of the early Tang Dynasty.

　　   The Xianfo Temple Grottoes are not only the only surviving Tang Dynasty cliff carvings in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Hunan-Hubei region, but also the largest in scale among existing cliff carvings. The artistic style of the carvings is rich with Central Plains characteristics, representing the pinnacle of stone carving art in the Hunan-Hubei area. They are an important historical relic of the southward spread of Buddhist culture and sculptural art in China, providing valuable physical evidence for the study of Buddhist and artistic exchanges between western Hubei and the Central Plains regions, as well as among Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan during that period.

　　   In 2006, they were designated as part of the sixth group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council.