Buddhist Themed Tourism Site-Dazu Stone Sculpture

I had the good fortune to visit the Dazu Stone Sculptures. It was listed into the World Heritage and was world-famous. These sculptures were under good preservation through thousand years of harsh weather. It was located in Dazu County, situated in the hills, 160 kilo meters far from Chongqing city. It was one of those significant Buddhist archeological locales. Presented excellent stone caving techniques and presented ancient Chinese grotto art. It was on a par with Mogao Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes, and Yungang Grottoes. This ruin had been admitted into the World Culture Heritage List in 1999 and attracted many tourists from home and abroad.

Great majority of Dazu Stone Sculptures were cliff-faced. The vividly sculptures displayed a poignant contrast between good and evil. Northern Hill and Baoding Hill sculptures were finished with exquisite craftsmanship and rich in shapes. The carvings started at the first year of Jingfu period of the Tang Dynasty, but only few figures at that time. It was protected well and avoided being destructed for thousand years due to its relocation. They sculptures mainly based on Buddhist image and Buddhist scripture, also including Confusian and Daoist images, and their founders also existed in the caves. Some historical figures were here, I was particularly interested in the statue of Lu Ban, who was a famous architect during Spring and Autumn and Warring States, he was accompanied by his disciples.

The Northern Hill looked like a museum of stone carvings and was rich in collections. It was known as Longgang Hill in ancient times. Since the first Buddhist shrine on the rocks been constructed, then more and more images were carved on rocks, and many people involved in. Fowan lied on the top of the Longgang hill, and it extended 500 meters. There were 290 caves and niches. There was a figure in memory of a general of the late Shu, Wei Junling, who started the carving program. On the left side there was an inscribed tablet and it was perceived as the earliest written record. There were many magnum opuses among those stone sculptures, such as: Thousand-hand Guanyin, Vajra Bodhisattva, Sakyamuni Buddha and so on. These masterpieces were done by outstanding artists, who made great efforts, also their names were inscribed in the caves or niches, and they would be remembered generation after generation.



Baoding Hill Stone Sculptures was located northeast of Dazhu and there were more than 10,000 statues, most of the sculptures gathered at Xiaofowan and Dafowan. Zhao Zhifeng was a famous monk and he directed carving sculptures of Shengshou Monastery, out of the stone walls, beams and pillars. I spend another day to manage a brief visit to Dafowan, it was close to Xiaofowan. So much information the tour guide gave us, and Dazhu Stone Sculptures were grand achievements in China and the world. It displayed not only as a form of art, but it was a world civilization which was a common wealth and shared by all humanity.