World Cultural Heritage: The Dazu Rock Carvings (3)

The Beishan Rock Carvings are two kilometers to the northwest of Dazu County and was built between the first year of the Jingfu reign period of the Tang Dynasty (892 A.D.) and the Shaoxing reign period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1162 A.D.). The Beishan Rock Carvings are made up of nearly 10,000 cliff side statues, which were mainly built for the purpose of respecting Buddha and funded by secular people. There are 51 kinds of statues, and most of them are mainly based on Tantric Buddhism, accounting for about half of the total. There are also statues of Sanjiejiao (teaching of the three levels) and Jintuzong.

These statues were built based on Buddhist stories popular among the folk, so they are the products of Buddhist secularization which is different from the early grotto art period in China. The Beishan Rock Carvings are famous for its delicate and elegant carved statues which show the development and changes of people's belief in Buddhism and grotto art during the end of the 9th century A.D. and the middle of the 12th century A.D. The most representative carving in Beishan is the No.136 grotto which was built between 1142 A.D. and 1146 A.D. The statues in the grotto show great curved and surface structures, and are full of national Chinese characteristics. They have been well preserved and look as if they are newly carved. The Beishan Rock Carvings are considered "a pearl in the crown of Chinese grotto art."